The MacBook Pro's Intel Core i9-8950HK CPU and 32GB of RAM combine for blindingly fast performance. And I was right, as the interface never even flinched or stuttered as I moved from tab to tab and between apps. With Excel, TweetBot, QuickTime, Handbrake and OnePassword open in the background, I proceeded to split my screen between 16 Chrome tabs and a 4K video, confident that I'd see nary a bump in the road.
The following results came after applying Apple's MacBook Pro software patch, which fixed a throttling issue. And as a prospective video editor, it's the kind of torque that widened my eyes. It's not the kind of speed I need as a writer,, but its the kind I enjoy. Take, for example, our test unit, which features an Intel Core i9-8950HK CPU and 32GB of RAM, which combine for blindingly fast performance.
The most Pro thing about this MacBook Pro is how wildly fast it can be configured. Performance: Superfast, World-Beating Speed Listening to Chance The Rapper's "I Might Need Security" on it, I noted how his verses came through clearly, how the bass thumped accurately and how serene the song's soul sample came through.
This means you'll need to learn how to use two fingers to drag and drop, which isn't that hard to get used to, as you can't really hold down on the touchpad with one finger, if the touchpad doesn't actually move.Īudiophiles and music pros will appreciate the MacBook Pro's internal speakers, which blast enough sound to fill a large conference room. If this is your first MacBook in a while, just know that it doesn't actually move, instead providing haptic feedback to simulate a click. The MacBook Pro's massive 6.3 x 3.9-inch Force Touch trackpad is huge but non-intrusive, as I made it through testing without accidentally activating it. They require 63 grams of force to actuate, which is above the 60-gram minimum we look for, but less than the amounts found in the XPS 15 (70 grams), the Surface Book 2 (65 grams) and the Precision 3530 (69 grams). My comfort with these keys is partially tied to the mechanisms feeling snappier and more responsive. By comparison, the XPS 15's keys have 0.8mm of travel, while the Surface Book 2 (1.2mm), Dell Precision 3530 (2mm) and Spectre x360 (1.4mm) offer more travel as well. If vertical travel matters to you, the MacBook Pro's keys measure a mere 0.7 millimeters, so they don't move that much. I scored a good-for-me rate of 75 words per minute on the 10fastfingers typing test (my average is 80 wpm), and didn't feel any discomfort as I typed sections of this review on the laptop. More surprisingly, - after years of turning up my nose at butterfly-switch keys - I didn't find these keys aggravating to use. I couldn't hear the difference when I tested this keyboard against that of the previous year's MacBook Pro. This should prevent debris from entering the keyboard and, as a result, help avoid stuck keys. While Apple's only touting the 2018 MacBook Pro's keyboard as a quieter version, it's reportedly more reliable, as a teardown of the system confirms that a membrane rests underneath each key. The screen's brightness, though, is still strong enough for a wide range of viewing angles, as I saw colors retain their tones at 75 degrees to the left and right. While that's similar to the 340-nit Spectre x360, it's not the brightest of them all, as the 417-nit Surface Book 2 and 371-nit XPS 15 outshine the MacBook Pro.
The MacBook Pro is also quite radiant, with a max brightness of 354 nits, leaping over the 307-nit average and the 289-nit Precision 3530. Watching the Mission Impossible: Fallout trailer on the MacBook's screen, I noticed the warm oranges of an exploding car turning into a fireball, the serene blues of water flooding a sinking SUV and the verdant greens of trees on a faraway island. The Surface Book 2 hit a higher mark of 131 percent. According to our colorimeter, the MacBook Pro produces 117 percent of the sRGB spectrum, which is higher than the 111 percent premium laptop average, and similar to (or tied with) the ratings from the Spectre x360 (119 percent), the XPS 15 (115 percent) and the Precision 3530 (117 percent).