Apple MacBook Pro 15 (Late 2016, 2.6 GHz, 450) Notebook Review

Smaller and lighter, but still clearly a MacBook: This is the first impression of the new case. 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. You have to look at some details to find differences compared to the previous model. 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. However, Apple does not use a plastic cover for the hinge of the new model anymore, because it is now completely made of aluminum. 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. The Apple logo on the lid is not illuminated anymore and is now glossy, similar to the MacBook 12. The bottom panel is still secured by Pentalobe screws.

Compared to the predecessor from 2015, we can see that the new MacBook Pro is a bit thinner (minus two millimeters) and the footprint is a bit smaller as well. The difference compared to the current MacBook Pro 13 is about 400 grams, just 1 millimeter in thickness and about 30-40 millimeters in terms of width and length of the device, respectively.

The port selection of the new MacBook Pro is probably one of the most discussed and criticized changes. Apple equips the new MBP 15 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 smaller MacBook Pro 13 with Touch Bar, the ports on the right side can use the full bandwidth. The system also supports two external 5K displays.

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 previous MacBooks were already at the top of our WiFi tests, but the new Apple MacBook Pro 15 sets an impressive new benchmark: With 948 Mbps (receive) and 949 Mbps (send), it leaves the old reference, the MacBook Pro 13 from 2013, in the dust and is about 24 % faster. The MacBook Pro 13 (Late 2016, without Touch Bar) also manages good results, but is almost 30 % slower.

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.

Besides the two 13-inch versions, Apple also uses the same new keyboard with Butterfly switches for the MacBook Pro 15. There is unfortunately still no numeric keypad. 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.

Similar to the predecessors, the resolution of the 15.4-inch Retina display did not change from 2880x1800 pixels. One aspect that was increased compared to the last model from 2015 is the luminance. We can measure 465 nits on average, which is an increase of 32%. Apple also managed to improve the contrast (1464:1). The recently reviewed MacBook Pro 13 (Late 2016) does have a slightly brighter panel, but it also has a lower contrast ratio in return.

The biggest differences between the current Apple MacBook Pro 13 and the 15-inch model we review here are Intel quad-core processors as well as dedicated graphics cards from AMD (Radeon Pro 450, 455 or 460), while the 13-inch system is shipped with ULV dual-cores with integrated Intel Iris GPUs. Every SKU of the MacBook Pro 15 is equipped with 16 GB RAM (13-inch also with 8 GB) and either 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB SSD storage.

Just with the mentioned hardware options, the prices for the Apple MacBook Pro 15 Late 2016 are between $2399 for the entry-level model and $4299 with all the options.

The MacBook Pro 15 is a little bit slower than the previous model in the PCMark benchmark test (Bootcamp Windows). It is on par with other powerful multimedia notebooks like the Dell XPS 15 9550, Asus N552VX or the ZenBook UX510, for example.

The graphics calculations of our entry-level model are handled by the new Radeon Pro 450 in combination with the integrated Intel HD Graphics 530. Similar to previous models, Windows can only use the Radeon graphics card, while macOS switches dynamically depending on the application. It is not really confirmed how the system works (probably via multiplexer like in the times before Optimus or Enduro, respectively).

The Radeon Pro 450 shows its performance in the Unigine Valley GPU benchmark and is 63% ahead of the Intel Iris 540 inside the small MacBook Pro 13. Windows laptops with the Quadro M1000M (950M) or M2000M (960M) manage comparable OpenGL scores. Our test model with the Radeon Pro 450 performs surprisingly well in 3DMark 11 and is roughly on par with the GeForce GTX 960M, while the more challenging 3DMark Fire Strike Test determines a performance comparable to the Geforce GTX 950M. The latter seems to be a more realistic comparison, which is also supported by the following gaming benchmarks.

One big advantage of the Radeon 450 Pro in Windows 10 is the missing driver support of the generic Radeon driver (so far). Bootcamp comes with the old Radeon 16.6 driver and cannot be updated to the latest 16.10.4 at the moment. Some modern titles like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, for example, give a warning that you should install a newer driver version. Intel Iris based MacBooks 13 have an advantage here, because we could just install the latest driver from intel.com in our review.  

The optional Radeon Pro 460 in the top configuration of the MacBook Pro 15 (Late 2016) should be a bit faster than a GTX 960M, but still behind the GTX 965M according to initial benchmarks on the Internet.

We could not determine throttling of the GPU performance in the Unigine Valley benchmark. The GPU reaches a decent temperature of 70 °C and even managed a slightly higher score once the system was warmed up.

Based on the gaming benchmarks we ran (Bootcamp Windows), the performance of the Apple MacBook Pro 15 (Late 2016) with the Radeon Pro 450 graphics card is comparable to a multimedia laptop with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 950M GPU. The results can vary a bit depending on the game and the settings.

The surface temperatures always remain uncritical during our tests. The aluminum chassis is pretty cool while idling, and even the hot spot after a continuous loop of Cinebench R15 for more than 1.5 hours is still pretty cool at 40 °C. The palm rest stays at a very convenient 27 °C in this case. Extreme workloads (FurMark + Prime95 in Windows 10) will result in the highest temperatures, even though 43 °C are still far away from problematic. The bottom stays even cooler (up to 40 °C at the hotspot above the CPU /GPU), so there should not be any issues when you use the system on your lap. However, the fans now dissipate the heat towards the bottom rear, so a very soft surface can affect the air flow and therefore cause higher temperatures.

The sensors show much higher values for the internal temperatures. The GPU reaches uncritical 70 °C in Unigine Valley, but the CPU will level off at 91 °C in Cinebench R15. The scores do not collapse in macOS though, so there should not be any problems with throttling. The two fans also have some headroom in terms of rpm. macOS is pretty conservative with the fans in general and accepts higher temperatures, but the cooling system can keep them away from the surfaces quite effectively.

You might not believe it due to the size, but Apple created a new reference in terms of audio quality with the MacBook 12. The subjectively first-class sound quality is confirmed by our measurements: The Apple MacBook Pro 15 is consistently louder than the MacBook 12, but the result is not quite as linear in return. The two visible peaks in the chart are a result of the speaker setup (2x2). All in all, still an excellent performance – especially when you consider the thin base unit.

During the Bootcamp installation, however, we noticed a big issue. The left speaker started to produce loud crackling sounds (during the installation of drivers and software). Since then, the woofer on the left side is damaged and does not work in macOS anymore, either. It seems we are not the only ones with this problem, but a colleague (RA!) with the 512 GB version did not notice any problems. It seems that not all systems are affected.

Frequency Comparison (Checkboxes select/deselectable!)

The power consumption of the 15-inch model is excellent in our tests. Compared to the smaller 13-inch model, we can only measure a difference of 1 Watt at around 150 nits without load. The bigger screen and the quad-core processor do not have a big effect here. This changes under load though, where the dedicated Radeon Pro 450 is active as well. Compared to the XPS 15, however, the results are still very good.

Despite the smaller battery, the MacBook Pro 15 2016 does manage the promised 10 hours in the WLAN test. Video playback is only possible for 8.5 hours though. Both tests were performed with a luminance of 140 nits (the next level would be 192 nits). A full business day should be possible with one battery charge, except you have to use very complex application.

Even though the battery capacity was reduced by almost 25 % compared to the predecessor, Apple still managed to improve the overall runtimes with the 76-Wh battery. Our WiFi test determines an advantage of 130 minutes, so little more than two hours. Dell's XPS 15 (9550) is also beaten (despite the bigger battery). The current MacBook Pro 13 (i5, without Touch Bar) lasts around one hour longer.