The Portable Wonder

For the longest time, you couldn't go wrong  with recommending Apple’s flagship MacBook Pro laptops, even to folks who were looking to use them with Windows! Off late though, PC manufacturers have upped their game, and coupled with a few missteps and controversies around the redesigned keyboards and inadequately serving their core ‘Pro’ audience, it became increasingly harder to outright recommend the Pros. The 2018 version of Pro then serves to redeem the lineup, with top-of-the-line specs aimed at winning back the very professionals that have long relied on these babies to deliver on their computing needs..

On the outside, the MacBook Pros retain their distinctive look and form factor, devoid of practically any superfluous additions to keep the weight down an incredible 1.8-kg - for a 15.4-inch laptop, that’s still quite the feat! With the increasing number of USB-C peripherals now available in stores, the previous generation’s full-sized USB ports and SD card slots are still missed but not terribly so. The keyboard, now sporting a silicone cover under each key, does well to muffle the ‘clacky’ sound of recent Pros and has a softer feel to each keypress even though the key travel will still feel a tad shallow for most folks’ liking. Crucially, this move is likely to address the issue of dust specks jamming up the keys as well.

It’s under the hood where the big changes are, with the latest eighth-generation Intel processors giving each model a bump up in processor cores and better graphics, not to mention a big leap up in memory. That’s even more so with the 15-inch, where the model we tested sported a top-shelf 32GB RAM/2TB storage with a six-core Core i9 processor, which made short work of editing multiple 4K video streams, a feat that will certainly impress video and graphics professionals. Most folks with comparably modest everyday needs can consider the Core i7-based models and still be wowed by the additional headroom the new CPUs give them in day-to-day use. Of course, having powerful AMD graphics and faster RAM help immensely as well.

Yet, the feature that will continue to strike you each time you boot up the MacBook Pro 15 (2018) is the display. That gorgeous 15.6-inch screen remains a gold standard for colour accuracy and details, even as premium Windows laptops have started sporting higher resolution 4K panels. The effect of pulling up your high-res videos and photos is nothing short of stunning, and this time around, there’s the True Tone tech from the iPad Pro, which reduces eye strain by matching the brightness and colour temperature to the ambient light available. What’s more, even the Touch Bar strip above the keyboard packs in True Tone tech (typical Apple!), plus there’s the TouchID fingerprint sensor which works in consort with the new T2 chip to authenticate you into your laptop and encrypt your storage for added security. Despite all power on tap, the battery life still delivers a respectable 10-hours on a single charge.

Starting at a sliver under Rs 2  lakh, the MacBook Pro 15 will earn favour with professionals looking for a powerful, future-proofed portable laptop, one that still has few peers in sheer desirability… and insane performance if you manage to snag yourself the Core i9 variant from the US (not available in India as yet).