Apple refreshes the 15-inch MacBook Pro

The updated MacBok Pro comes with new AMD Radeon R9 M370X discrete graphics, offering up tp 80% more performance than the old models.

Arkadiusz Piasek, Published 05/20/2015

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Apple announced that it has updated the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina with new Force Touch trackpad, faster SSD storage, improved battery and more powerful discrete graphics.

The Force Touch trackpad features built-in force sensors and a Taptic Engine that delivers haptic feedback. The result is a uniform feel across the whole touchpad as well as option to customize the amount of pressure needed to register each click.

The refreshed MacBok Pro comes with new AMD Radeon R9 M370X discrete graphics, offering up tp 80% more performance than the old models. A more affordable version with Intel Iris Pro graphics is also available.

Storage has been upgraded to PCI-e SSD, delivering transfer speeds of up to 2 Gbps. The new battery allows an additional hour of operation, summing up to 9 hours of wireless web browsing or movie playback. The CPU selection remains unchanged.

Prices start at $1999 for a version with 2.2 GHz, quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, integrated Intel Iris Pro graphics, 256 GB of SSD storage and 16 GB of memory. The 2.5 GHz Core i7 variant with AMD Radeon R9 M370X, 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of flash storage is priced at $2499. Configure-to-order options include 2.8 GHz Core i7 CPU and up to 1TB of SSD storage.

Source(s)

Apple press release

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Press Release

Apple Introduces 15-inch MacBook Pro with Force Touch Trackpad & New $1,999 iMac with Retina 5K Display

CUPERTINO, California―May 19, 2015―Apple® today updated the 15-inch MacBook Pro® with Retina® display with the new Force Touch trackpad, faster flash storage, longer battery life and faster discrete graphics, delivering even more performance and capabilities to the MacBook Pro line. Apple also today introduced a new $1,999 configuration of the 27-inch iMac® with Retina 5K display featuring a breathtaking 14.7 million pixel display, quad-core processors and AMD graphics, and lowered the price of the top-end iMac with Retina 5K display to $2,299.

“The response to the new MacBook and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display has been amazing, and today we are thrilled to bring the new Force Touch trackpad, faster flash storage and longer battery life to the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers love the groundbreaking iMac with Retina 5K display, and now with a new lower starting price, even more people can experience the best desktop we’ve ever made.”

The updated 15-inch MacBook Pro features the amazing Force Touch trackpad that brings a new dimension of interactivity to the Mac®. With built-in force sensors and a Taptic Engine that delivers haptic feedback, the Force Touch trackpad allows you to click anywhere with a uniform feel and customize the amount of pressure needed to register each click. The new trackpad supports a range of new gestures, including the new Force click, and APIs are available for third-party developers to incorporate Force Touch capabilities into their apps. The updated 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display also features up to 2.5 times faster flash storage than the previous generation, with throughput up to 2GBps, and offers an additional hour of battery life, with up to 9 hours of wireless web browsing and up to 9 hours of iTunes® movie playback.* In addition, MacBook Pro with Retina display discrete graphics deliver up to 80 percent faster performance using new AMD Radeon R9 M370X graphics for editing video in Final Cut Pro® X, rendering 3D images in pro graphics apps or playing high-resolution games.**

With a resolution of 5120 x 2880, the new $1,999 iMac with Retina 5K display has 67 percent more pixels than a 4K display, and features a 3.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost Speeds up to 3.7 GHz and AMD Radeon R9 M290 graphics. The new iMac also includes 8GB of memory and 1TB of storage, as well as four USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports that deliver up to 20Gbps each, twice the bandwidth of the previous generation. The top-end iMac with Retina 5K display now starts at $2,299 and features a 3.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics and a 1TB Fusion Drive.

Every new Mac comes with OS X® Yosemite, the world’s most advanced desktop operating system, redesigned and refined with a fresh, modern look, powerful new apps, and Continuity features that make working across your Mac and iOS devices more fluid than ever.

Photos, iMovie® and GarageBand®, and iWork® come free with every new Mac. Photos for OS X keeps your growing photo and video collection automatically organized, easy to navigate and accessible across all of your compatible Apple devices using iCloud® Photo Library. iMovie lets you easily create beautiful movies, and you can use GarageBand to make new music or learn to play piano or guitar. The iWork suite of Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote® makes it easy to create, edit and share stunning documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Pages, Numbers and Keynote for iCloud let you create a document on iPhone® or iPad®, edit it on your Mac and collaborate with friends, even if they are on a PC.

Pricing & Availability

The updated 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is available today through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers with a 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.4 GHz, 16GB of memory, 256GB of flash storage and Intel Iris Pro graphics starting at $1,999 (US); and with a 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, 16GB of memory, 512GB of flash storage and AMD Radeon R9 M370X graphics starting at $2,499 (US). Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 2.8 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.0 GHz and flash storage up to 1TB. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/macbook-pro.

The new 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display is available today through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers with a 3.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost Speeds up to 3.7 GHz, AMD Radeon R9 M290 graphics and 1TB of storage starting at $1,999 (US). The top-end iMac now starts at $2,299 (US) and features a 3.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics and a 1TB Fusion Drive. Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 4.0 GHz with Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.4 GHz and flash storage up to 1TB. Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/imac.

*The Wireless Web protocol testing was conducted by Apple in May 2015 using preproduction MacBook Pro with Retina display configurations. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings. For more information visit www.apple.com/macbook-pro.

**Testing conducted by Apple in May 2015 using preproduction MacBook Pro with Retina display configurations. For more information visit www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.