Apple releases minor updates to the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Today Apple released an update to some of MacBook Pro laptops. Specifically, the MacBook Pros with Touch Bar. These are minor updates, and are only updates of the processors. There is also a change surrounding the keyboard, but more on that in a bit.

The 13-inch MacBook Pros with Touch Bar have gotten a processor bump. You now get an 8th generation 2.4GHz quad-core Core i5 processor with 128GB of eDRAM. You can configure a 2.8GHz quad-core Core i7 with 128GB of eDRAM. The remainder of the items like the memory, video card, and storage all remain the same as the previous models.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro models has two different tiers. The less expensive tier comes with a 9th Generation 2.6GHz six-core Core i7 processor. The improvement with the processor comes with the L3 cache, which has 33% more, at 12MB. The more expensive tier comes with a 9th Generation 8-core 2.3GHz Core i9 processor with 16MB of L3 Cache. This is an increase of 77%, up from 9MB.

Both of these 15-inch are configurable with an 8-core 2.4GHz Core-i9 processor. The remainder of the items like memory, video card, and storage remain the same as the previous models.

Apple indicates that these new processors are twice as fast as the previous quad-core models, and 40% faster than the 6-core models.

The Keyboard

I am going to quote Matthew Panzarino of TechCrunch:

Today, however, they told me they’re taking three explicit steps to help with the keyboard situation:

1. The MacBook Pro keyboard mechanism has had a materials change in the mechanism. Apple says that this new keyboard mechanism composition will substantially reduce the double-type/no-type issue. Apple will not specify what it has done, but doubtless tear-downs of the keyboard will reveal what has been updated.
2. Though Apple believes this change will greatly reduce the issue, it is also including all butterfly keyboards across its notebook line in its Keyboard Service Program. This means that current MacBook Pros and even the models being released today will have keyboard repairs covered at no cost, in warranty and out of warranty.
3. Apple tells me that repair times for keyboards have been longer than they would like. It is making substantial improvements to repair processes in Apple Stores to make repairs faster for customers with issues.

Closing Thoughts

These new MacBook Pros are available for order today. The processor updates are minor ones, but it is good to see Apple keeping the processors up to date. More importantly, I think it is good to see Apple taking real action with the keyboards. Will this new keyboard ultimately fix the problems that have been occurring with the MacBook Pros? We will not know for a while, or until Casey Johnston tries out the new MacBook Pros and see if she has any issues, because she seems to be the one who has the most experience with the problematic keyboards.

Source: Apple and TechCrunch.