**A Closer Look at the New MacBook Pros**

As I sit here with my new MacBook and LG 5K UltraFine monitor, it's clear that our cable situation is a bit cleaner now. With the help of the new display, you can see that we've been able to ditch some of those pesky cables.

**The Benefits of Thunderbolt 3**

LG reached out to me and asked if I'd be interested in sponsoring a video with their new 5K display. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to show off this setup, which is running entirely off of a single Thunderbolt 3 cable. This cable not only powers the MacBook but also sends power back to it, so you don't need to plug it in. Additionally, there are three additional USB-C ports on the back of the display, allowing us to plug in all our peripherals in a much cleaner way.

**A Note on the UltraFine Displays**

There is a smaller 4K UltraFine option available, but if you have the 15-inch MacBook Pro, you can actually power two of these 5K displays with the single laptop. When paired with the new MacBooks, you get some cool extra features. Not only can you control things like brightness from inside the settings, but you're also getting that same P3 color gamut and a crispy, high-resolution display.

**The MacBook's Specs**

The model I have here has the 2.9 gigahertz Core i7 processor, 16 gigabytes of memory, the Radeon Pro 460 graphics, and a one-terabyte SSD. These specs are pretty decent for a laptop, but there are a couple key things missing. One of the biggest is that there's only one option for RAM on the MacBook - 16 gigabytes.

**A Note on the Processor**

The new MacBooks are rocking Skylake processors instead of the latest seventh-generation Intel Kaby Lake chips. While this isn't a huge deal for performance, it's worth noting that Kaby Lake is a small improvement over Skylake. Additionally, the integrated graphics are lower-end, but the dedicated graphics across the board make up for this.

**Battery Life**

The battery life on the 15-inch MacBook has never really been the strong suit, and it's about the same on the 2016 model. With fairly light use, you're getting anywhere between five and six hours of battery life, but if you're doing something heavier like video editing, you should expect more like two or three.

**The Future of Laptops?**

Is this the future of laptops? Kind of... I'm not sure. On one hand, the hardware is nice, and there are a lot of core things that make the MacBook a very nice laptop to use. However, the biggest hangup for me is the ports - we're stuck with USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 for now, but in a few years, this might not be an issue.

**Conclusion**

So, what do you think about the new MacBook Pros? Let me know in the comments below! If you missed it, you can check out my video on YouTube for more information.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austinand this is the new 201615-inch MacBook Pro.So I've been using the previous modelto edit almost all of myvideos for the last year,and I've been pretty happy with it.However, this new MacBook issmaller in basically all ways.While these MacBooks lookpretty similar at first glance,Apple's actually madesome pretty big updatesto the Pro.So one of the most noticeablethings right off the batis the keyboard.So if you guys caught myvideo on the 13-inch versionof this laptop, you'llknow that I actuallylike the keyboard a fair bit.Sure, it's fairly low travel,however, with that butterfly mechanism,it actually feels pretty nice.It's not maybe as good as somethinglike a mechanical keyboard,but it's actually reallynot bad for a laptop.One big thing on the newMacBook is the trackpad.It's seriously enormous.Like it's basically thesize of my whole hand.Now MacBooks have hadsome of the best trackpadson any laptop and this is no exception.However, one of my big issues is the factthat because that trackpad is so big,it kinda gets in the way sometimes.So to be fair, there ispretty decent palm rejection,so if you kinda leave yourhand a little bit near it,it will usually ignore it.However a lot of times I find myselfaccidentally touchingstuff on the trackpad,just because it's pretty muchthe entire bottom of the laptop.The speakers are a welcome improvement.So while they're a littlebit lacking in bass,the highs are surprisingly clearand volume is more than good enough.The screen is also nice,so we're getting thatsame size and resolutionat 2880x1800, howeverit's now sporting the newApple P3 color gamut,it gets much brighter and honestly,this is one of the betterlaptop screens out there.Could be a little bit higher resolutionbut there's not a lot to complain about.If you hadn't guessed, Applekinda has the fundamentalsof the whole building-a-laptopthing down by now.However (claps), that's not all it takesto build a good laptop,and that's where Apple'skinda taken a step awayfrom what they've been doingin the past.So the first and one ofthe most noticeable thingsright off the bat isthe brand new Touch Bar.So instead of having astandard row of function keys,instead you have what's essentiallya very small OLED screenbuilt into the keyboardand this can be used for a lot of things.So, for example, if youhold the function key,you can bring up all yourstandard function keys,so you're not really losing anything.It's a cool addition but it doesn't reallyfundamentally changethe way I use a MacBook.However, what does are the lack of ports.The new MacBook Pros havefour Thunderbolt 3 portsand a headphone jack, and that's it.No USB-A, no HDMI, no card reader,you pretty much get what you get here.This, this is a bit of a nightmare.However, if you wantto get a ton of ports,if you want to reallyreplicate all the stuffthat you might be able toget with other laptops,this is not that crazy of a setup.So of course, with fourThunderbolt 3 portsthat are all based on USB-C,while it's a great portand you can do a lotof adapters off of it,you kind of have to do alot of adapters off of itto do much of anything.So say that you want toconnect your new MacBookto Ethernet.Well if you want to do it the Apple way,you're gonna pick upa Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter,and then Thunderbolt 2 toGigabit Ethernet adapter.That'll run you about $60 for the pair.Want to say, connect an optical drive?No big deal, just getthe USB-C to A adapterand of course, a goodol' Apple SuperDrive,another 90 bucks.But oh no, that's not enough ports.How dare you only need anEthernet and an optical drive.So we have a wide varietyof different donglesto choose from on theother side of the MacBook.You want to connect somethinglike maybe an HDMI monitor?No big deal, just getthe multi-port adapterwhich is gonna run youa cool $50, now on sale.Not only can we actuallycharge our MacBookthrough the adapter, whichis helpful since we're usingall the other ports for dongles,but this also gives us another USB port,which of course we'reusing for a card readerbecause you know, the MacBookdoesn't have a card readerany more.But one USB port (laughing),who do you think we are?Non-USB port people (laughing)?(beeping)But of course one USB portis nowhere near enough.That's where this adapter comes in.So not only are we goingto get four USB 3.0 portsoff the adapter, but allyou need to do is plug itinto the wall, giveenough power to supply itto all of our devices, as well as pick upa USB-C to USB micro-B cableto actually connect via databecause...this is complicated.(sighs)All in all, this is clearly themost functional packagethat you could possibly hopefor with your MacBook Proor not.Okay, I'll be the first to admit,this is more than a little bit ridiculous.However, all of these kindof taken by themselvesare actually not that crazy.Sure, if you didn't want tohave to go the Apple approach,you can get a USB-C to Ethernet adapter.For example, some of the T1's and T3's,you can swap the cableout to be native USB-Cbut the bottom line is,for a lot of the Pro thingsthat you want to do, and evensome of the more standardthings, you're going toneed a lot of adapterswith this new MacBook.However, with the help of thenew LG 5K UltraFine monitor,you can see that our cable situationis just a little bit cleaner.So when LG hit me up andwanted to sponsor a videowith their new 5K display,I figured this would bethe perfect opportunity to show it off.Now there's actually a lot thatis cool about Thunderbolt 3.Most notably, this entire setup is runningoff of a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.So with the single cable,the MacBook is able to drivethe 5K display, and themonitor's able to send powerback to the MacBook, so youdon't need to plug it inand on top of that, we havethree additional USB-C portson the back of the display,meaning we can plug inall of our peripheralsin a much cleaner way.There is a smaller 4KUltraFine option out there.However, if you havethe 15-inch MacBook Pro,you can actually powertwo of these 5K displayswith the single laptop.When you pair the UltraFinewith the new MacBooks,you actually get a lotof cool extra features.So not only can you controlthings like brightnessfrom inside the settings here,but you're also gettingthat same P3 color gamutwhich is exactly what you'regonna get on a 15-inch MacBookand with that crispy crispy 5K resolution,you're getting someseriously beautiful pixels.Believe me, I tried, Ilooked at every single oneof the pixels and they'reall 100% beautiful.You're also gettingsome surprisingly decentbuilt-in speakersespecially when you considerthat they're from a monitor.(hip hop music)And on top, you're getting a webcam.It's a really solid package, I gotta say.If you're getting oneof the new MacBook Prosyou should definitely lookinto the UltraFine displays.It should be no surprisethat the new MacBook Prosare expensive.So while it starts at $2400for the 15-inch model,you can spec it up to over $4000.So the model I have here hasthe 2.9 gigahertz Core i7,16 gigabytes of memory,the Radeon Pro 460 graphics,and a one-terabyte SSD.These are pretty decent specs for a laptophowever, there are acouple key things missing.One of the biggest is thatthere's only one optionfor RAM on the MacBookand that is 16 gigabytes.So while that's not a huge deal for me,a lot of Pro workloads canabsolutely benefit from32 gigabytes of RAM.The new MacBooks are alsorocking Skylake processorsinstead of the latest seventh generationIntel Kaby Lake chips.Now this isn't a hugedeal for performance,while Kaby Lake is a small improvement,it isn't a massivedifference over Skylake.However, what is a littlebit of an odd choiceis that this actually haslower-end integrated graphics.Unlike the last generationmodel, which had Iris graphicsstandard by default,and an option to go to dedicated graphics,the new MacBook Pros havethe less powerful HD Graphics530 on the integrated side,however, it makes up forthat with dedicated graphicsacross the board.Compared to both the basemodel as well as the upgradeddedicated model of last year,you'll see the Radeon Pro 460graphics in the new MacBookare a big step forward.However, if you look atthe Geekbench 4 scores,you'll see that, while onthe single thread side,the new MacBooks are slightly faster,on the multi-threaded, they'reactually a little bit slower.In the real world, youreally shouldn't noticeany difference on the processor side,where those improved dedicated graphicsshould make a pretty big difference.Battery life on the 15-inch MacBookhas never really been the strong suit,and it's about the same on the 2016 model.So with fairly light use,you're getting anywherebetween five and six hours,however, if you're doing something heavierlike video editing, thenyou should expect more liketwo or three.So, is this the future of laptops?Kind of, ah, I dunno.On one hand, the hardware's nice.There's a lot of corethings that make the MacBooka very nice laptop to use.However, the biggest hangupfor me are the ports.Sure, two, three, four years from nowI think we'll be prettymuch entirely switched overto USB-C and Thunderbolt 3.However, in the meantime,#donglelife2016.So what do you think aboutthe new MacBook Pros?Let me know in the comments belowand if you missed it, you can check out my"Is It Worth It" episodeon the 13-inch versionof the new MacBook.Anyway guys, thank youso much for watchingand I will catch you on the next one.