Apple MacBook Pro 13 (Late 2016, 2.9 GHz i5, Touch Bar) Notebook Review

Besides the differences compared to the MacBook Pro 13 without Touch Bar and the predecessor (which is still available), we are particularly interested in the new dynamic OLED display above the keyboard. Does it really improve workflow, or is it more of a gimmick that actually complicates things in practice?

Change log

• 11/26 20:00 CET – Basic display measurements, PWM, CPU+GPU benchmarks, System Noise, Wi-Fi battery runtime
• 11/29 09:30 CET – Temperatures, thermal images, Gaming benchmarks, video runtime and stress test added
• 11/30 23:30 CET – Wi-Fi performance, power consumption added
• 12/02 22:30 CET – Battery runtime load, input devices, color gamut
• 12/05 23:30 CET – Case, viewing angles, SSD, Pros & Cons, Verdict, Rating

Only the two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports at the right side of the chassis indicate the more expensive model with the Touch Bar, otherwise, the two cases of the new 13-inch MacBook Pros look identical. Besides the familiar version in "Silver", Apple also offers the system in the slightly darker "Space Gray". Opening the device is subjectively not different from the old model, even though the hinge is now much thinner. Underneath the display is once again space for the "MacBook Pro" lettering, which was not the case for the previous Retina models. Once you open the lid, you will immediately notice the Touch Bar above the keyboard as well as the huge trackpad.

Not much changed in terms of quality, because the aluminum unibody chassis is still excellent. This is the case for the design, the tactile feel as well as the stability. The Apple logo on the lid is not illuminated anymore and is now glossy, similar to the MacBook 12. Apple does not use a plastic cover for the hinge of the new model anymore, because it is now completely made of aluminum. The bottom panel is still secured by Pentalobe screws.

Due to the internal differences (different cooling system with second fan, smaller battery etc.), we can measure a weight difference of 22 grams between the two models of the new MacBook Pro 13, but it does no matter at all in practice.

Compared to the other models from Apple's lineup, the new Apple MacBook Pro 2016 has much more compact dimensions, both compared to the direct predecessor as well as the MacBook Air 13. At up to 17 millimeters at its thickest spot, the latter is even 2 millimeters thicker than the new Pro. The weight of the Air 13 and the new MacBook Pro is roughly on par, and the previous MacBook Pro 13 is about 200 grams heavier. The new 15-inch model tips the scale at about 1800 grams and therefore 400 grams more than its 13-inch counterpart, but it is just one millimeter thicker.

The port selection of the new MacBook Pro is probably one of the most discussed and criticized changes. Apple equips the new MBP 13 Touch Bar with a total of four Thunderbolt 3 ports. They are extremely versatile, but you will most likely require (expensive) adapters in the foreseeable future. Contrary to the bigger MacBook Pro 15, there seems to be a difference in respect to the Thunderbolt ports, because Apple says that only the two ports on the left side support the full Thunderbolt 3 bandwidth. The two ports on the right side on the other hand only support half of that. Last but not least, you also get a classic 3.5 mm headset port on the right side.

Although the ports are obviously very versatile, we would have preferred a less radical approach, because even Apple's own hardware (e. g. iPhone or iPad) cannot be attached without an adapter. Here are some examples for adapters from Apple: USB-C to USB-A adapter: $19, Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 (mDP): $49, USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet: $34.95.

The transfer rates of the MBP 13 Touch Bar are excellent in our standardized WLAN test (router Linksys EA8500). At around 950 Mbps (send/receive), the test model shares the top spot in our comparison with the MacBook Pro 15 (Late 2016). The model without Touch Bar falls behind by about 30 %; the Windows competition is even further behind. There is no reason for criticism at an increased distance, either. The performance in the 2.4 GHz network was even better compared to the MacBook Pro 13 Late 2013, which was at the top so far.

However, the 13-inch model with the Touch Bar is also affected by the 2.4 GHz WLAN problems when a USB-C device is attached. There can be occasional signal problems both with macOS and Windows. Besides a software issue, this could also be a hardware problem if the USB ports or the WLAN antennas, respectively, are not shielded properly (more information is available here).

Apple grants a one-year warranty for the MacBook Pro 13. It is possible to extend the warranty period to three years (including phone support) for $249.

The MacBook Pro 13 is also shipped with the new Butterfly keyboard. Similar to the 12-inch MacBook, the shallow travel of the individual keys will be a shock when you use it for the first time. The very even stroke does leave a positive impression though. This second generation of Apple's own Butterfly mechanism was noticeably improved compared to the 12-inch MacBook, but you still have to get used to the typing experience. After this has happened, the switch back to the old MacBook pro is actually pretty difficult, because we now found it to be rather spongy in comparison. We did not notice any differences in typing speed compared to the previous MacBook Pro models, and quick inputs without typos were no problem even in the first session. The typing noise will depend heavily on your usage scenario. It is slightly louder compared to the old model with ten fingers, but we do not consider it to be disturbing even in quiet environments. If you type forcefully with just two fingers though, the noise will be much louder. You can see a comparison in the video below this section.

Because of the shallow travel, the 16-level keyboard illumination of the individual keys is well implemented into the case and it will not dazzle.

As expected, the 13.3-inch IPS displays of the two MacBook Pro models are very similar. We can find another Panel ID (APPA033 vs. APPA034), but our measurement results do not differ much. We can also see the big difference compared to the previous model: The resolution is still 2560x1600 pixels (227 PPI), but the new models are much brighter at around 550 nits and also beat the Windows competition pretty clearly. Our model without Touch Bar was slightly brighter, but the differences can be explained with the usual variation.

You will be happy about the low minimum luminance at just 6.1 nits if you like to work in the dark. The downside of the high luminance is the high black value (0.56 cd/m²) though, so the contrast ratio (~1000:1) is still on the (good) level of the previous version. Some rivals like the Dell XPS 13 (1489:1), however, manage better results. Despite the enormous luminance, which is also available on battery power, we can measure a very good brightness distribution of 90%.

The two 13-inch models of the MacBook Pro are equipped with different components, and the Touch Bar model gets faster components in general. This is supported by the processor clock (2.0 vs. 2.9 GHz for the entry-level models), the graphics card (Intel Iris Graphics 540 vs. 550) and the speed of the memory (LPDDR3-1866 vs. LPDDR3-2133).

Quad-core processors or dedicated graphics adapters are not available for the MacBook Pro 13 though; they are reserved for the bigger MacBook Pro 15. The memory configurations do not differ between the models and you can get up to 16 GB RAM and up to 1 TB SSD storage, but the updates are expensive. The fully-equipped model with Core i7 processor, 16 GB RAM and 1 TB SSD retails for $2899.

The dual-core processor of our test model carries the designation Core i5-6267U. Contrary to the popular ULV processors with a TDP of 15 Watts, this processor can consume up to 28 Watts, so it has more headroom for the clocks as well as the integrated GPU. The processor is still based on the Skylake architecture, which was introduced in September 2015. Intel's new Kaby Lake chips are not yet available in 28-Watt configurations, so we will probably have to wait for the next refresh to see them. The high base clock of 2.9 GHz (Turbo up to 3.3 GHz) is noticeable, so the chip should have an advantage compared to the standard ULV models, especially in multithread scenarios.

The processor leaves a very good impression in our initial Cinebench R15 tests in macOS. After 20 runs (loop), we can see scores between 335-339 points (338 on average), and the maximum score is also reached in the 10th run. Throttling is therefore not a problem. The processor is roughly 10% ahead of the Core i5 in the MacBook Pro 13 without Touch Bar.

We evaluate the system performance with PCMark 8 running on Bootcamp Windows. Thanks to the lower display resolution, the Touch Bar model can actually beat the MacBook Pro 15 in the Home test and is at the top of the ranking. The score in the Work test is also very good and all systems are pretty close. No limitations here.

Graphics calculations are handled by the integrated Intel Iris Graphics 550 GPU. It is the GT3e model of the Skylake GPU (Intel Gen. 9) with 48 Execution units clocked at up to 1050 MHz. Contrary to the very popular ULV versions like the HD Graphics 520, for example, the Iris Graphics 550 is equipped with 64 MB eDRAM and therefore offers much more performance. More technical information about the GPU is available in our Tech section.

The 3DMark benchmarks running on Windows (Bootcamp) determine very good results and the MacBook can beat all Windows devices equipped with the Intel iris Graphics 550. The MacBook Pro without Touch Bar falls behind by 11-16% depending on the test, while the advantage over the previous model with Iris Graphics 6100 is pretty significant (minus 37-40%).

The gaming benchmarks show an advantage over the MBP 13 with Function Keys, but the test model with the faster Iris 550 GPU is still not a great gaming machine. You should focus on older or less demanding titles like Bioshock Infinite or DOTA 2, which will also run smoothly with High details. Contrary to the synthetic benchmarks, the dedicated GeForce 940MX is faster than the Iris GPU in the gaming tests.

More benchmarks are available in our gaming list.

The MacBook does not warm up at all while idling or with light workloads and does stay conveniently cool. Apple was able to compensate the faster components with the second fan, because we can determine almost identical average temperatures of around 36 °C compared to the version without Touch Bar. The rear area of the top in particular does get a bit warmer at up to 45 °C, but both the palm rest as well as the trackpad are cooler in return. There should once again be no problems when you want to use the MacBook on your lap.

We use the tools Prime95 and FurMark running on Windows for our stress test, and the MacBook performs very well. After about 2.5 hours, we can measure 36.8 dB(A). The tool HWiNFO was unfortunately a bit not working as expected and did not log the whole test, so we cannot give you exact figures for the clocks. One interesting aspect is the power consumption though. Similar to other MacBooks, the processor is not limited by the 28-Watt TDP and can consume more power. We saw a steady value of 35 Watts, so throttling is no problem for the test model.

We have already seen the different speaker setups of the two 13-inch models, and the location inside the case differs as well. In practice, you mainly notice the higher maximum level (86.9 vs. 83.2 dB(A)), but otherwise, they sound very similar. This is also supported by our measurements and the Touch Bar model does convince with very good sound quality, especially for such a thin base unit.

Contrary to our test model of the new MacBook Pro 15, we did not have any speaker issues on the 13-inch model caused by the Windows installation via Boot Camp.

Frequency comparison (checkboxes select/deselectable)

The MacBook pro 13 Touch Bar manages excellent results in our consumption measurements. Despite the enormous luminance, both the model without Touch Bar as well as the predecessor are beaten in the idle tests. We can notice the faster components under load though, and we can measure up to 60 Watts. The provided 61-Watt power adapter is therefore just sufficient, but there is not much headroom if you want to charge the battery in this case.

Apple advertises a runtime of 10 hours for both 13-inch models of the new MacBook Pro. The smaller version with the function keys easily lasts that long (11.5 hours), but the Touch Bar model just misses it. Our WLAN test determines little more than 9.5 hours. This is still a very good result, and it even beats the old MBP 13, despite the significantly lower battery capacity. Dell's XPS 13 is pretty close, while the two rivals from Lenovo are clearly beaten.

The Touch Bar models performs a bit worse in the video test (8:03 hours) compared to the WLAN test. Not only the does the less expensive version without the additional OLED panel lasts longer, but also the predecessor as well as the X1 Carbon from Lenovo. Here we can notice the reduced battery capacity.

The MacBook can maintain its performance level in demanding games, but the battery is drained pretty quickly in return. The Witcher 3 (lowest details) ran at a steady 20-21 FPS and 152 nits for 1 hour and 14 minutes. The remaining battery capacity was 7 %, and the system shut down 1-2 minutes and could not be started due to the low battery capacity. by the way, the MacBook Pro 13 without Touch Bar lasted much longer with similar settings (1 hour 51 minutes).