Low Energy Capabilities

One of the significant improvements in the 2018 MacBook Pros is its low energy capabilities. The maximum theoretical maximum around 800 feet, it also has way more bandwidth up to double the bandwidth with the same amount of power. This means that users can enjoy a better user experience without worrying about battery life. However, some new accessories may be required to take full advantage of this feature.

The laptop's built-in speakers have also received an upgrade. Apple's built-in speakers in previous MacBook Pros were praised for their quality, and the 2018 models are even better. The improved audio system provides a fuller and richer sound experience, especially in the mid-range and low frequencies. This is particularly noticeable when listening to music or watching videos.

Raw Specs

Looking at the raw specs of the 2018 MacBook Pros, there are several notable improvements. For example, the base model 15-inch MacBook Pro now comes with four gigs of video RAM, which was previously only available on higher-end models and required an additional payment. Additionally, the processor has been upgraded to a quad-core CPU, which provides better performance for graphics-intensive tasks without requiring extra memory.

Faster RAM

The new MacBook Pros also feature faster RAM, specifically DDR4. This is a significant improvement over the previous generation's LPDDR3 RAM. The faster RAM will result in improved performance and efficiency, making it easier to multitask and run demanding applications.

Memory Options

One of the notable features of the 2018 MacBook Pros is its increased memory options. While the base model was previously capped at 16 gigs of RAM, the new models can now configure up to 32 gigs of RAM. This provides users with more flexibility and freedom to choose their preferred level of memory.

Battery Life

Despite the improvements in RAM, Apple has taken steps to ensure that battery life remains a priority. The larger battery size helps compensate for the additional power draw from the faster RAM. While the new MacBook Pros may not have seen a significant increase in battery life, it's clear that Apple is committed to providing users with a seamless and efficient computing experience.

T2 Chip

Another notable feature of the 2018 MacBook Pros is the inclusion of the T2 chip, which was first introduced in the iMac Pro. This special secure chip runs multiple systems, including Touch ID and Hey Siri functionality. The T2 chip provides an additional layer of security and convenience for users, making it easier to control their devices and access features like Siri.

Display Technology

Apple has once again set the bar high with its displays on the 2018 MacBook Pros. The True Tone technology, which was first introduced in the iPad, has been adopted by Apple's laptops. This feature adjusts the display temperature based on the environment it's in, making it easier on the eyes and reducing eye strain.

Thunderbolt 3 Ports

Finally, the new MacBook Pros come equipped with Thunderbolt 3 ports that are now full speed. In the previous generation, only two of the ports were full speed, while the others were limited by CPU limitations. However, with the quad-core CPU in the 2018 models, all four ports can now support full-speed bandwidth. This provides users with faster data transfer rates and more flexibility when connecting peripherals.

Exclusive Price Guide

For those looking to purchase a 13 or 15-inch MacBook Pro, we recommend checking out our exclusive price guide for access to the best deals around. We also have some exclusive discounts available for our readers, making it easier to find the perfect device at an affordable price.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthe 2018 MacBook Pros are chock-full of new features so we're gonna dive in and take a look at which of those features are our favorite ones and we're gonna walk through them one by one welcome everyone this is Andrew here for Apple Insider and we're gonna look at the top 9 features of the 13 and 15 2018 MacBook Pros if you're looking for benchmarks be sure to check our other videos and our full reviews to see which of the new MacBooks is right for you now kicking off our list is one of the most controversial items and that is this new third-generation Butterfly keyboard apples how did this new keyboard as just an improvement by being quieter and while that definitely appears to be the case a more realistic scenario is they've added this new silicon membrane to help prevent debris from entering underneath of icky caps it still has the same exact feel that we've come to expect from Apple's keyboards but it should be a little bit more reliable than it has been in the past for most debris it won't be able to make its way in especially if kept clean I fix it did the usual teardown and they found this new membrane this keeps that debris out but it's also possibly keeping the keys a little bit quieter by isolating some of that noise let's go ahead and do a little bit of a sound test between our old model first which is what we have here and then the new one now let's take that same sentence here on our 2018 macbook pro with the microphone the same distance away it is easy to tell there's a clear difference in audio between the two though that alone is not a good enough reason to upgrade it may be worth it for that improved reliability the next one on our list is these faster processors we've been doing a ton of benchmarking and the new pros are significantly faster than the older generation this marks the first time that we have quad-core processors on the 13-inch MacBook Pros and on the 15-inch you can actually go up to a 6 core processor the 13-inch start off with that 2.3 quad core i5 it can go all the way up to a 2.7 quad core i7 at the 15 inch model it's even more impressive they start off with that base 2.2 gigahertz six core Intel Core i7 there's also a mid-range 2.66 core intel core i7 and configurable up to that 2.9 gigahertz high-end six core Intel Core I 9 that even with those thermal throttling issues are still an amazingly impressive machine compared to the last generation MacBook Pros we now have Bluetooth 5 not bluetooth 5.0 just Bluetooth 5 is what it's called in there's some significant improvements over the last generation this new spec allows for low energy transmissions all the way up to four times the range of Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy that's a maximum theoretical maximum around 800 feet it also has way more bandwidth up to double the bandwidth with the same amount of power you'll need some new accessories to take advantage of it but you should start to see them arrive and some huge improvements along the way no one has really complained about Apple's built-in speakers in fact they are some of the best laptop speakers out there and with the 2018 MacBook Pros they are even better Apple has clearly learned a few new audio tricks from their foray into headphones like the air pods and of course the home pod they've taken that put it into the MacBook Pro and now while the volume is not any louder than it has been in the past it is much fuller and richer especially in the mids and the lows jumping back to the raw specs again we have an improved base vram so before if you're picking up one of these guys like the 15-inch MacBook Pro the base video ram that contains was just two gigs and you need to pay extra to go up to four now even the base model at 2.2 gigahertz i7 processor comes with four gigs of video ram that's gonna make a big difference for anyone who's really pushing that graphics card without having to shell out any additional cash for more memory since we are on the topic of memory it's worth noting these new models have faster RAM and they ever have in the past they've ditched the lpddr3 the low-power ddr3 ram that we saw in the 2017 models for ddr4 ditching the low power completely which means it will eat up a little bit more of that battery it is now configurable up to 32 gigs of ram which is pretty monstrous in the past you were capped at 16 gigs so now you have the option to double that getting up to 32 now as I mentioned since this will take up a little bit more power than we saw in the past and should eat that battery a little quicker Apple has compensated for that inside these MacBooks is now a larger battery it's definitely a little bit larger to help compensate for that additional power draw so what that yields with in the end is the same battery lift that you should have seen before of course we're gonna run our own battery test just to confirm but from what we've heard and what we've seen so far that definitely seems to be the case Apple's t2 chip that first premiered in the iMac Pro has made it way here to the MacBook Pros now this is the special secure chip that runs many different systems function including touch ID and in this new MacBook Pro and actually enables hey Siri functionality quick apologize I prefer to all the devices I just triggered but this has a great functionality to add to the MacBook and we've been better with Mac OS moment where you can use Siri to control your homekit devices Apple sets the bar really really high for their displays and the same is true for the 2018 MacBook Pros there's no huge change overall they're not any higher resolution or anything like that but they do adopt apples true tongue technology this first premiere in the iPad before making his way to the iPhone and basically it just changes the temperature of your display based on the environment that it's in whether it's make a display a little bit warmer or a little bit cooler to match the ambient lighting as we toggle is off here in System Preferences it's a little bit difficult to tell how much it's changing but there is a subtle shift as this Bank is checked and unchecked should overall just make the display a little bit easier on your eyes when you have to stare at it all day long lastly for you 13-inch MacBook Pro owners out there all for Thunderbolt 3 ports are now full speed last time only two of them were full speed and the others were downgraded just a little bit just because of the cpu limitations now the new quad-core CPU has more lanes and will support more bandwidth to make all four of those ports full speed so that rounds out our list of our favorite top 9 features of the 2018 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros but I'm really anxious to hear what you guys think which of these features is your favorite or if it's one that we didn't list throw that up in the comments as well if you'd like to pick up a 13 or 15 inch macbook pro for yourself you can find information below in the description as well as in the comments and that includes access to our exclusive price guide which has the best prices around and some exclusive discounts if you enjoyed this video like it and hit that subscribe button also check out a price guide which makes it extremely easy to find the best deals and Apple products updated daily be sure to follow us on social media and we'll see you in the next videothe 2018 MacBook Pros are chock-full of new features so we're gonna dive in and take a look at which of those features are our favorite ones and we're gonna walk through them one by one welcome everyone this is Andrew here for Apple Insider and we're gonna look at the top 9 features of the 13 and 15 2018 MacBook Pros if you're looking for benchmarks be sure to check our other videos and our full reviews to see which of the new MacBooks is right for you now kicking off our list is one of the most controversial items and that is this new third-generation Butterfly keyboard apples how did this new keyboard as just an improvement by being quieter and while that definitely appears to be the case a more realistic scenario is they've added this new silicon membrane to help prevent debris from entering underneath of icky caps it still has the same exact feel that we've come to expect from Apple's keyboards but it should be a little bit more reliable than it has been in the past for most debris it won't be able to make its way in especially if kept clean I fix it did the usual teardown and they found this new membrane this keeps that debris out but it's also possibly keeping the keys a little bit quieter by isolating some of that noise let's go ahead and do a little bit of a sound test between our old model first which is what we have here and then the new one now let's take that same sentence here on our 2018 macbook pro with the microphone the same distance away it is easy to tell there's a clear difference in audio between the two though that alone is not a good enough reason to upgrade it may be worth it for that improved reliability the next one on our list is these faster processors we've been doing a ton of benchmarking and the new pros are significantly faster than the older generation this marks the first time that we have quad-core processors on the 13-inch MacBook Pros and on the 15-inch you can actually go up to a 6 core processor the 13-inch start off with that 2.3 quad core i5 it can go all the way up to a 2.7 quad core i7 at the 15 inch model it's even more impressive they start off with that base 2.2 gigahertz six core Intel Core i7 there's also a mid-range 2.66 core intel core i7 and configurable up to that 2.9 gigahertz high-end six core Intel Core I 9 that even with those thermal throttling issues are still an amazingly impressive machine compared to the last generation MacBook Pros we now have Bluetooth 5 not bluetooth 5.0 just Bluetooth 5 is what it's called in there's some significant improvements over the last generation this new spec allows for low energy transmissions all the way up to four times the range of Bluetooth 4.2 Low Energy that's a maximum theoretical maximum around 800 feet it also has way more bandwidth up to double the bandwidth with the same amount of power you'll need some new accessories to take advantage of it but you should start to see them arrive and some huge improvements along the way no one has really complained about Apple's built-in speakers in fact they are some of the best laptop speakers out there and with the 2018 MacBook Pros they are even better Apple has clearly learned a few new audio tricks from their foray into headphones like the air pods and of course the home pod they've taken that put it into the MacBook Pro and now while the volume is not any louder than it has been in the past it is much fuller and richer especially in the mids and the lows jumping back to the raw specs again we have an improved base vram so before if you're picking up one of these guys like the 15-inch MacBook Pro the base video ram that contains was just two gigs and you need to pay extra to go up to four now even the base model at 2.2 gigahertz i7 processor comes with four gigs of video ram that's gonna make a big difference for anyone who's really pushing that graphics card without having to shell out any additional cash for more memory since we are on the topic of memory it's worth noting these new models have faster RAM and they ever have in the past they've ditched the lpddr3 the low-power ddr3 ram that we saw in the 2017 models for ddr4 ditching the low power completely which means it will eat up a little bit more of that battery it is now configurable up to 32 gigs of ram which is pretty monstrous in the past you were capped at 16 gigs so now you have the option to double that getting up to 32 now as I mentioned since this will take up a little bit more power than we saw in the past and should eat that battery a little quicker Apple has compensated for that inside these MacBooks is now a larger battery it's definitely a little bit larger to help compensate for that additional power draw so what that yields with in the end is the same battery lift that you should have seen before of course we're gonna run our own battery test just to confirm but from what we've heard and what we've seen so far that definitely seems to be the case Apple's t2 chip that first premiered in the iMac Pro has made it way here to the MacBook Pros now this is the special secure chip that runs many different systems function including touch ID and in this new MacBook Pro and actually enables hey Siri functionality quick apologize I prefer to all the devices I just triggered but this has a great functionality to add to the MacBook and we've been better with Mac OS moment where you can use Siri to control your homekit devices Apple sets the bar really really high for their displays and the same is true for the 2018 MacBook Pros there's no huge change overall they're not any higher resolution or anything like that but they do adopt apples true tongue technology this first premiere in the iPad before making his way to the iPhone and basically it just changes the temperature of your display based on the environment that it's in whether it's make a display a little bit warmer or a little bit cooler to match the ambient lighting as we toggle is off here in System Preferences it's a little bit difficult to tell how much it's changing but there is a subtle shift as this Bank is checked and unchecked should overall just make the display a little bit easier on your eyes when you have to stare at it all day long lastly for you 13-inch MacBook Pro owners out there all for Thunderbolt 3 ports are now full speed last time only two of them were full speed and the others were downgraded just a little bit just because of the cpu limitations now the new quad-core CPU has more lanes and will support more bandwidth to make all four of those ports full speed so that rounds out our list of our favorite top 9 features of the 2018 13 and 15 inch MacBook Pros but I'm really anxious to hear what you guys think which of these features is your favorite or if it's one that we didn't list throw that up in the comments as well if you'd like to pick up a 13 or 15 inch macbook pro for yourself you can find information below in the description as well as in the comments and that includes access to our exclusive price guide which has the best prices around and some exclusive discounts if you enjoyed this video like it and hit that subscribe button also check out a price guide which makes it extremely easy to find the best deals and Apple products updated daily be sure to follow us on social media and we'll see you in the next video\n"