Apple MacBook Pro announced in 3 new flavours; price Rs 1,29,900 onwards

At its Special Event today, Apple announced its all-new MacBook Pro. As expected, Apple went with a complete redesign to make its new MacBook Pro lighter, thinner and more powerful than the previous ones. The new MacBook Pro will be available in three flavours, a 13-inch new MacBook Pro with traditional function keys, a 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Touch Bar and the bigger and more powerful 15-inch model. All models have been marked as ‘coming soon’ on the Apple India website.  But fear not! As the price tags are official. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with traditional function keys will start from Rs 1,29,900 while the 13-inch and 15-inch models with the new Touch Bar start from Rs 1,55,900 and Rs 2,05,900 respectively. The new MacBook Pro offers Force Touch trackpads that are 46 percent larger on the 13-inch MacBook Pro and twice as large on the 15-inch MacBook Pro. And, the second-generation butterfly mechanism makes typing more responsive and comfortable. Futhermore, macOS Sierra brings new features like Siri integration, Universal Clipboard, Apple Pay on the web and Photos, and more. The 13-inch MacBook Pro with traditional function keys will offer:

• 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display
• 2.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 or 2.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 1TB SSD
• Force Touch trackpad
• weighs just 3.02 pounds

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with the new Touch Bar offers:

• Touch Bar and Touch ID
• 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display
• 2.9GHz or 3.1GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 or 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 1TB SSD
• Force Touch trackpad
• and weighs 3.02 pounds

Coming to the most powerful MacBook Pro in the line up, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar, you get:

• Touch Bar and Touch ID
• 15.4-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Retina display
• 2.6GHz, 2.7GHz, or 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 3.8GHz
• Up to 10 hours battery life
• Up to 2TB SSD
• Force Touch trackpad
• and it weighs in at 4.02 pounds

 Indeed the highlight of the new MacBook Pro models, would be the Touch Bar, which basically acts like an additional layer of touch-based interaction similar to 3D Touch.  Apple also showcased with third-party software developers like Adobe’s Photoshop, how useful the new Touch Bar really is and how it allows for proper full screen editing also exposing hidden menus at times. The same Touch Bar also feature Touch ID hidden under the power button.  Support for the new Touch Bar with these apps should be available by the end of the year. At the end of presentation it was easy to notice how Apple has conveniently upped the price range of its MacBooks. Tim Cook showed off the new line up: 12-inch 2016 MacBook : Rs 92,810 13-inch MacBook Pro with traditional function keys : Rs 1,29,900 13-inch new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar : Rs 1,55,900 15-inch new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar : Rs 2,05,900 Which also meant that the current and outdated Apple MacBook Air lineup could be phased out soon with the pricey 2016 MacBook taking its place.