Apple declares new 14-inch MacBook Pro with a notch

Apple has introduced a redesigned MacBook Pro, which now features a 14-inch display screen, Apple’s new M1 Pro and Max chips, a notch, squared-off design, and a wider collection of ports along with the usual Thunderbolt ones — it brings again the HDMI port and SD card reader and provides a MagSafe 3 connector for charging (although you too can cost it with the Thunderbolt ports if your home is affected by USB-C energy bricks). It begins at $1,999 and can be ordered “today.”

It has a 14.2-inch 120Hz ProMovement Mini LED show, which Apple is branding as “Liquid Retina Pro XDR.” It has slimmer bezels than the earlier era but in addition features a notch, which homes a 1080p webcam however not Apple’s Face ID system. Resolution-wise, the 14-inch mannequin runs at 3024 by 1964, and it may possibly run at 1,000 nits sustained brightness and 1,600 nits peak brightness.

You can configure the 14-inch MacBook Pro with Apple’s new M1 Pro or M1 Max chips. Both can function 10 CPU cores — the Pro can have a 14- or 16-core GPU, whereas the Max has 24- and 32-core GPU choices. The new MacBook Pro comes with 16GB of RAM commonplace, and you may improve to 32GB with the M1 Pro or 64 GB with the M1 Max. However, the M1 Pro included with the $1,999 base mannequin is a trimmed-down model of the CPU — it solely options eight CPU cores and 14 GPU cores.

The base additionally comes with a weaker 67W energy adapter — to improve to the “real” M1 Pro with 10 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores, you’re taking a look at spending at the very least $2,300 earlier than tax (and that mannequin will include a 512GB SSD). There’s additionally the $2,499 pre-built mannequin, which comes with the absolutely loaded M1 Pro, a 1TB SSD, and a 96W charger (although the upgraded charger is included within the base mannequin should you configure a CPU improve).

In addition to all the brand new (effectively, returning) ports, the 14-inch MacBook Pro provides a 3rd Thunderbolt port in comparison with its 13-inch counterpart. The Thunderbolt ports are actually Thunderbolt 4, an improve from the Thunderbolt 3 ports on the earlier fashions. The 14-inch additionally features a “high-fidelity” speaker system, and a headphone jack that helps “high impedance” headphones, although Apple’s spec page doesn’t specify what number of Ohms that interprets to.

The redesign is the primary main one in Apple’s professional laptop computer lineup since 2016, the 12 months that introduced ill-fated butterfly keyboards, the Touch Bar, and Thunderbolt 3 as the usual and solely port sort (aside from a headphone jack, in fact). It additionally marks the return of the midsize 14-inch display screen, which Apple hasn’t placed on a laptop computer because the 2005 iBook G4.

Compared to that redesign, although, Apple’s new laptops appear to be an about-face — the 2016 redesign ditched the ports, and now they’re again. Apple additionally added the Touch Bar in 2016, and that’s additionally been changed by a set of operate keys. And the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro had limitations that the 14-inch would not — it may solely drive one exterior show, the place Apple says that the M1 Pro-equipped MacBook Pro can drive two Pro Display XDRs, and the M1 Max model can drive three.

It’s good to see Apple extra clearly differentiating the smaller MacBook Pros. The lineup has been a bit complicated for the previous few years — the two-port MacBook Pro and four-port 13-inch computer systems had been awkwardly lumped collectively however had been fairly completely different computer systems with completely different processors and costs. Now, the display screen measurement distinction makes the excellence clear: folks in search of portability can get the Air or 13-inch Pro, and the 14-inch Pro exists for these in search of extra horsepower.