While you were sleeping Apple had a keynote event, delivering a new long-awaited Macbook Pro. Here’s what you need to know.

The biggest feature on the new Macbook Pro, which everyone was expecting due to the endless (and very accurate) Apple rumour mill, was a touch screen display to replace the function keys (F1, F2 etc.) at the top of the keyboard. The beauty of this is that the user can get shortcuts to important functions, depending on the software they’re using. Imagine someone mixing some music, and being able to slide the progress bar of the track with their finger – on the touch-sensitive screen. Pretty tight.

Imagine the shit you could pull with Photoshop

On the design and power side of things, I can’t see you replacing this new range of laptops for many years. This, from Verge:

The design itself has been slimmed down from the previous Retina MacBook Pro (Apple’s saying 14-17 percent thinner and almost a half-pound lighter), and is available in 13-inch and 15-inch models, in either silver or space gray colors. The new MacBook Pro also brings over the Force Touch trackpad and an updated second-generation butterfly switch from the 12-inch MacBook.

For the 15-inch model, Apple’s offering a quad-core Core i7 processor, AMD Radeon Pro graphics with up to 4GB of video memory, and up to 16 GB of RAM, while the 13-inch version will offer either Core i5 or i7 processors and an Intel Iris GPU. There are 4 USC-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, any of which can be used to charge the computer, along with a 3.5mm headphone jack, although the SD card slot from the former generation has been removed.

Mmmm… sexual.

Other notables:

Touch ID – like the current generation of iPhones

Touch ID is also integrated next to the Touch Bar, built right into the power button. It uses the same faster second-gen Touch ID sensor from iPhone 6S / 7 with a sapphire cover, and includes a new T1 chip with a local secure enclave for Apple Pay security. Touch ID also can be used for multi-user machines to quickly switch between accounts simply by tapping the button.

Big Name Software Updates

The new Final Cut Pro supports the Touch Bar, and can show an interactive view of the video timeline even while video is playing full screen, along with contextual controls for things like audio sliders. Apple also showed off similar kinds of Touch Bar integration with Adobe Photoshop, and DJ Pro. Other apps with announced support include Microsoft Office, Pixelmator, Sketch, and DaVinci Resolve.

LG Ultrafine 5K Display

LG built a 5K display specifically for the new Macbook Pro. Apple executive Phil Schiller called it the “ultimate docking station” because it can simultaneously display from the laptop while charging it. We didn’t get many details on the display, but we do know one Macbook Pro can support two of them.

Read the rest at Verge to find out what they had to say about Apple TV and sidelining the Macbook Air.

Remember all your Apple products are sold at the best prices with the best service at Digicape.

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