Since the release of the first MacBook Pro, users have been clamoring about its butterfly keyboard. Now, Apple is ditching it in favor of the new Magic Keyboard.
Apple has been using Magic Keyboard on some of its products. Most notably, the 16-inch MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air devices. However, this is the first time this new type of keyboard arrives on the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Aside sporting a new keyboard, Apple’s latest mid-sized laptop is also getting quite a lot of upgrades under the hood. The laptop receives a spec upgrade on its processor, graphics card, storage, and memory.
Upgrades under the hood
The high-end variant of the 13-inch MacBook Pro is getting the latest processor from Intel. The new 10th-generation Core i5 is a quad-core processor with Turbo Boost speed of up to 3.8GHz. It can be upgraded to a quad-core Core i7 with Turbo Boost speed of 4.1GHz.
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Unfortunately, these processor upgrades are limited to the high-end models. The base models of the 13-inch MacBook Pro still has the aging 8th-generation Core i5 processor. It can be upgrade for a Core i7 with Turbo Boost speed of 4.5GHz.
In terms of storage, the high-end model comes in two SSD storage variants: 512GB and 1TB. An upgrade to 4TB option is available for both variants.
For the base model, they come in either 256GB or 512GB SSD configuration. Both models support up to 2TB upgrade. As for graphics, the high-end model sports an Intel Iris Plus Graphics integrated GPU. An Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645 will handle the graphics load for the base model.
The high-end model of the new MacBook Pro features 16GB LPDDR4X memory, with an optional upgrade to 32GB. The base model features 8GB LPDDR3 memory, with an optional upgrade to 16GB.
In terms of ports, the high-end model has four Thunderbolt 3 USB Type-C ports. The base model only has two. These ports support charging, DisplayPort, and data transfer of up to 40Gbps.
Goodbye Butterfly Keyboard
What makes the MacBook Pro laptops extremely thin is the use of Butterfly Keyboard, instead of mechanical ones. While this type of mechanism keeps the laptop thin, it also presents a lot of problems.
Since its first release, criticism about how easy the keyboard breaks is fairly common. It has even come to a point that users launch a class-action lawsuit against the tech giant.
Now, Apple is bidding farewell to the Butterfly Keyboard. The new MacBook Pro lineup all supports Magic Keyboard mechanism.
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