16-inch MacBook Pro Review: Is It Really Apple’s Monster?

Here what we think about the new massive MacBook Pro

Apple is leaving no stone unturned to lure in the customers and make them happy. Keeping on that path, the brand has started fixing its own mistakes and creating better products. After the much-hyped launch of iPhone 11, the company is making the news thanks to the launch of 16-inch MacBook Pro. This baby is considered to be an improved version and a replacement of previous 15-inch MacBook Pro. It supposedly has better features and a much-needed keyboard change that fans expected. Know what our reviewers think of it.

 

The Cost

Like many other Apple products, 16-inch MacBook Pro is not cheap. In Australia, the price will start at AUD 3,799. It’s available for pre-order now and would be in the stores later this week. The costing is in line with the high price of AUD 399 for AirPods Pro.

 

A Reliable Keyboard

Many Apple fans might be delighted by the news that with 16-inch MacBook Pro, Apple has let go of the butterfly mechanism and has depended once more on the reliable scissor switches. The subtle and resonant sounds of this keyboard are awesome. Thankfully, the backlight doesn’t bleed out from the sides of the keys, but the travel is lesser than the 2015 models.

Apple says that it has worked hard to stabilise the keycaps of 16-inch MacBook Pro and has made them more stable. The stability is evident, and the small key size allows users to replace just one key (if it breaks) rather than replacing the whole keyboard. The Esc key and inverted T formation of the arrow keys are back. The touch bar is shorter, and it has the fingerprint sensor on the right.

 

Better Thermal Performance

Apple fans have been annoyed by the thermal throttling of the processor. So, the company has worked on improving the thermal performance with 16-inch MacBook Pro. Though it’s too early to say whether the matter has been resolved, it can be said that the efforts by Apple are visible. The inside thermal system has been redesigned. The fans can now push through 28 per cent more air, and the CPU has 35 per cent more surface area. The 16-inch MacBook Pro is 0.7mm thicker as compared to the previous version. Even the speakers and logic boards are optimised to make sure the heat escapes efficiently.

 

Storage, Battery and RAM

16-inch MacBook Pro has Intel 9^th Gen processors, but that’s not the highlight. The highlight is RAM and Storage. The base is 16 GB RAM and up to 1 TB SSD but the maximum available can be as high as 64 GB RAM and 8 TB SSD.

The battery of 16-inch MacBook Pro is impressive too. It’s 100wh which means a user can watch Apple TV+ shows for several hours in one go. The wireless web can be enjoyed for 11 hours, an hour extra than previous year’s model.

 

Mics and Speakers

The 16-inch MacBook Pro has a 6-speaker sound system, and each side has two force cancelling woofers that can ensure more bass and less distortion (and even less keyboard rattling) by cancelling out other vibrations. The stereo separation is worthy of appreciation. The bass is better than most laptops, and the mids are clear too.

The three-microphone array is better than standard laptop mic, but more testing is needed to label it as exceptional

 

The Camera

One of the most boring features of 16-inch MacBook Pro might be the camera which is located above the screen and has an average 720p sensor with average image quality. Users can use it for video conferencing and expect nothing unusual.

 

The Screen

Another thing that can be labelled as average on 16-inch MacBook Pro is the screen. The resolution is 3072X 1920, and it can get up to 500 nits of brightness. It supports p3 wide colour gamut. It also supports Apple’s True Tone colour shifting. Sadly, it’s not HDR. The screen is barely better than the 15-inch MacBook Pro as Apple has just slimmed the bezels down top, bottom, left and right.

 

Final Words

Though Apple has tried to resolve customers’ issues with 16-inch MacBook Pro, it’s still not a perfect gadget. It still lacks the necessities like HDMI or USB-A or even an SD card slot. But still, the steps taken by Apple to improve the keyboard and thermals (hopefully) get kudos from us.