**The 2015 MacBook Pro: A Decent Update Worth It?**
The 2015 MacBook Pro has seen a pretty decent update, but is it worth it? Take one look around and you’ll see the design hasn’t changed much. That’s not really a complaint though; the Retina MacBook Pro has been one of the best built laptops for a few years now, and the 2015 model is no exception.
**Solid Build and Design**
It’s a solid aluminum chassis with some of the tightest tolerances out there and subtle touches like a nicely weighted hinge so you can open up the lid without picking up the entire laptop. It’s got a pair of decent speakers hidden on the edges by the ports that double as intakes for the fan. The MacBook vents above the keyboard, which can still breathe even with the lid closed.
**Keyboard and Trackpad**
The keyboard is still about as good as it gets for a laptop. They could add just a touch more key travel in my opinion, but it’s nicely spaced and keeps the adjustable backlighting, which automatically kicks on in darker environments. Something shared from the new MacBook is the Force Touch trackpad. It looks the same, however, instead of being a normal clickpad, there’s a Taptic Engine that vibrates the trackpad when you click.
**Force Touch Gesture**
It sounds bizarre but it actually works; you can notice the lack of travel compared with a normal MacBook, but it does feel like you’re clicking. Turn off the laptop and it’s really trippy; it moves a tiny amount, but nowhere near as much as it feels like when it’s actually on. It’s also pressure sensitive, which lets you use the new Force Touch gesture in OS X.
**Ports and Connectivity**
For ports, you’ve got an SDXC card reader, HDMI, and USB 3.0 on the right side along with MagSafe 2 for charging, a pair of Thunderbolt 2 ports, along with one more USB, and a combo headphone microphone jack. The Thunderbolt ports are the most interesting; having that much bandwidth is mostly useful for high-end RAID arrays and docks that give you things like extra USB ports, Ethernet, and HDMI off a single cable.
**Screen and Resolution**
Speaking of that screen, the MacBook Pro is sporting a 13.3-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600. While this has been passed by Windows laptops pushing resolutions up to 4K, the Retina display is still one of the best out there. The screen is crisp and clear, and it’s great for watching movies or editing photos.
**Graphics Performance**
One of the biggest questions I’ve had was how the 13-inch Pro handles video. I’ve edited my last three videos with Adobe Premiere CC on the MacBook, and I’ve been pleasantly surprised. It’s able to keep up with editing 1080p AVCHD clips just fine, only slowing down when I’m working with complicated effects.
**Battery Life**
Battery life isn’t too bad either; with lighter use like listening to music and web browsing, you should expect around nine hours of longevity, where things like gaming and video editing will bring that closer to three hours.
**Conclusion**
The MacBook Pro is an expensive laptop, but you do get a solid build, excellent screen, impressive new trackpad, and a blisteringly fast SSD. The lack of dedicated graphics is a slight disappointment, but not having a quad-core CPU option is a big problem for a laptop at this price. 95 percent of the time you won’t notice, but I would happily trade a couple hours of battery life to have the extra power when I need it.
**Recommendation**
If you’re looking at a MacBook, the 13-inch Pro is the best trade-off between power and portability, but you’re going to have to pay for it.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enForce Touch trackpad, Thunderbolt 2, IntelBroadwell processors and a faster SSD. The2015 MacBook Pro has seen a pretty decentupdate but is it worth it? Take one look aroundand you’ll see the design hasn’t changedmuch. That’s not really a complaint though,the Retina MacBook Pro has been one of thebest built laptops for a few years now andthe 2015 model is no exception. It’s a solidaluminum chassis with some of the tightesttolerances out there and subtle touches likea nicely weighted hinge so you can open upthe lid without picking up the entire laptop.It’s got a pair of decent speakers hiddenon the edges by the ports that double as intakesfor the fan. The MacBook vents above the keyboardwhich can still breathe even with the lidclosed. The keyboard is still about as goodas it gets for a laptop. They could add justa touch more key travel in my opinion butit’s nicely spaced and keeps the adjustablebacklighting which automatically kicks onin darker environments. Something shared fromthe new MacBook is the Force Touch trackpad.It looks the same however instead of beinga normal clickpad there’s a Taptic Enginewhich vibrates the trackpad when you click.It sounds bizarre but it actually works, youcan notice the lack of travel compared witha normal MacBook but it does feel like you’reclicking. Turn off the laptop and it’s reallytrippy, it moves a tiny amount but nowherenear as much as it feels like when it’sactually on.It’s also pressure sensitive which letsyou use the new Force Touch gesture in OSX. For example the harder you press the moreyou fast forward in QuickTime with a slightbit of feedback as you go through each ofthe speeds. The coolest way to use this isin Safari where you can Force Click on a linkto preview before actually opening it. Ittook me a few days to get used to it but thenew trackpad is a nice addition. For portsyou’ve got an SDXC card reader, HDMI andUSB 3.0 on the right side along with MagSafe2 for charging, a pair of Thunderbolt 2 portsalong with one more USB and a combo headphonemicrophone jack. The Thunderbolt ports arethe most interesting, having that much bandwidthis mostly useful for high end RAID arraysand docks that give you things like extraUSB ports, Ethernet and HDMI off a singlecable. They also double as Mini DisplayPortswith the ability to drive 4K monitors at 60hertz. It won’t be buttery smooth but itis totally possible. Speaking of that screen,the MacBook Pro is sporting a 13.3 inch IPSdisplay with a resolution of 2560 by 1600.While this has been passed by Windows laptopspushing resolutions up to 4K in practice theMacBook is more than sharp enough. It’sgot solid viewing angles, a far cry from theMacBook Air which washes out almost immediately.OS X scaling is quite a bit better than onWindows too, it scales the resolution by doublegiving you the same screen real estate asa 1280 by 800 display by default. You canadjust this up to 1680 by 1050 but for methe sweet spot was 1440 by 900, giving youa decent amount of resolution without makingthings too tiny. There are also apps likeSetResX that will drop the Retina scalingaltogether if you really need every singlepixel which I use for some apps like SpeedGrade.Things like the design and screen are importantbut a laptop is basically a paperweight withoutsome decent specs.The base configuration comes with a BroadwellCore i5 with Iris 6100 graphics, eight gigabytesof RAM and a 128 gigabyte SSD. Compare thiswith the New MacBook and for the same priceyou get a 256 gigabyte drive but a much lesspowerful Core M processor. We’ll see howthey actually compare soon so be sure to subscribeto catch my video on the New MacBook but thePro is looking pretty solid right now. The13 inch Pro I’ve got here is upgraded withthe Core i7, sixteen gigabytes of memory anda 512 gigabyte SSD. One of the big behindthe scenes upgrades on the new MacBook isa faster PCIe based SSD. It’s fast. Likethe fastest SSD I’ve ever tested with readand write speeds over 1300 megabytes per second.Things get a little less exciting when youlook at the CPU though. We’re still lookingat a dual core chip across the board on the13 inch MacBook, if you want quad core you’llhave to take the step up to the 15 inch. Thenew 14 nanometer Broadwell chips do keep theclocks relatively high, even the base 13 inchstarts at 2.7 gigahertz and goes up to 3.4gigahertz with the Core i7. Still though we’veonly got two cores and the Geekbench numberstop out at just about half of what the 15inch MacBook can muster. On the graphics sidethings are a bit better, the Iris graphicsare able to keep OS X running nice and smoothand it posts a solid improvement over theMacBook Air and last gen Pro in Cinebench.No one should buy a Mac for gaming but thatgraphics performance does make some lightgaming possible. Minecraft runs no problemhere with everything turned up and even aheavier title like Tomb Raider is playableas long as you don’t mind turning down thesettings a bit. One of the biggest questionsI’ve had was how the 13 inch Pro handlesvideo. I’ve edited my last three videoswith Adobe Premiere CC on the MacBook andI’ve been pleasantly surprised. It’s ableto keep up with editing 1080p AVCHD clipsjust fine, only slowing down when I'm workingwith complicated effects. Where I really missa quad core CPU is when exporting but forthe actual edit the 13 inch MacBook Pro isabsolutely usable. Battery life isn’t toobad either. With lighter use like listeningto music and web browsing you should expectaround nine hours of longevity where thingslike gaming and video editing will bring thatcloser to three hours. The MacBook Pro isan expensive laptop. You do get a solid build,excellent screen, impressive new trackpadand a blisteringly fast SSD. The lack of dedicatedgraphics is a slight disappointment but nothaving a quad core CPU option is a big problemfor a laptop at this price. 95 percent ofthe time you won’t notice but I would happilytrade a couple hours of battery life to havethe extra power when I need it. If you’relooking at a MacBook the 13 inch Pro is thebest trade off between power and portabilitybut you’re going to have to pay for it.So what do you guys think about the new MacBookPro? Let me know in the comments below andif you enjoyed and want to see more videoslike this definitely be sure to subscribeto the channel! Anyway guys thank you so muchfor watching and I will catch you in the nextone!
