MacBook Pro 2020 First Look: A Good Update Few Will Love

Here's why the new laptop is an important milestone for the company, even though it resembles the old one.

Apple has been expecting a global update for the MacBook Pro this year. Prior to the announcement, the laptop was credited with a 14 ‑ inch mini ‑ LED screen for the same size, a reliable keyboard, and significant performance gains. However, Apple did not give users what they expected.

The 2020 MacBook Pro looks like another minor upgrade, but is it really? We share our first impressions of the novelty.

Design

The new MacBook Pro is built on the chassis that Apple has been using since 2015. The body is machined from a single piece of aluminum and anodized in space gray. Also, the novelty is available in silver.

This design has not lost its relevance. The laptop is still superbly built, although paint durability is questionable: previous versions in gray have peeled off over time.

Also confusing are the wide bezels around the screen. Many expected Apple to fit a 14-inch display into the old chassis, but the company has kept it the same. The novelty fits into a small

But the touchbar has changed: now the Escape button is physical, which is much more convenient. It is a pity that there is no version without a touchbar in the Pro line, but now all laptops are equipped with a Touch ID fingerprint scanner. It still works perfectly.

The keyboard has also been updated. It now uses a scissor mechanism that has proven itself well in the MacBook Pro 16 ″ and new MacBook Air. It is a pleasure to type on it, although the depth of pressing could be greater. The touchpad was left the same for obvious reasons: it has already been perfected.

The lower configuration is equipped with two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left and an audio jack on the right. We are testing an older model, which received two more Thunderbolt 3 connectors on the right side. They all support charging for easy cable management.

Screen

The new MacBook Pro features a 13.3-inch Retina display with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 pixels. The brightness of the panel reaches 500 nits, which is an amazing result. Also pleased with the 16: 10 format, convenient for web surfing and working with documents.

The screen is made using IPS technology and is perfect for working with content: full coverage of DCI ‑ P3 is declared, the settings provide for many color profiles. Needless to say, the display will satisfy the needs of the average user.

The only omission is the lack of HDR10 support. Even 500 nits of brightness is still not enough to display such content correctly.

Performance

The younger MacBook Pro configuration runs on eighth-generation Intel Core i5 chips, while the older one has the latest Intel Ice Lake, made using a 10-nanometer process technology. The cooling systems also differ: the more expensive model is equipped with two fans instead of one.

In the GeekBench 5 test, the new product demonstrates an excellent result for one core and simply crushing - with a load of all cores. For comparison: Huawei MateBook X Pro gives out a similar score in a single-core test, and in a multi-core test it is inferior by 17%.

Also in the older version is the integrated Intel Iris Plus G7 graphics, 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM with a frequency of 3 733 MHz and a 512 or 1,024 GB solid-state drive.

Other features

The MacBook is still the leader in speakers: there are four of them, including two woofers. The sound is very loud, distortion is not heard even at maximum values, the bass is sufficient. Also, engineers have improved the microphone system. Unfortunately, the webcam hasn't changed: the resolution is 720p, the quality is poor.

The battery capacity is 58 Wh. MacBook Pro never set battery life records: powerful components consumed a lot of power. However, the laptop now has a more advanced processor architecture, which may affect battery life. Let's check this during long-term testing.

Subtotals

The 2020 MacBook Pro wasn't as radical an upgrade as many wanted. The design is the same, the screen and the battery have not changed either. However, Apple decided not to fix what was not broken. Instead, the company has fixed the shortcomings of past models, namely the keyboard and performance.

Perhaps this is the latest incarnation of the MacBook Pro we've known since 2015. And Apple probably wanted to unleash its full potential. Ahead are ARM processors, mini-LED displays and a completely new chassis.

Buy

The author thanks Apple for the device provided. The company had no way to influence the test result.