Apple MacBook Pro 16 inch Review: The Bigger and Better than Ever
On one of an evening, I heard the news that “Apple launched a new MacBook Pro 16 inches”. Just after reading it, my first question to myself was “isn’t it too big?”. Later I decided to give the MacBook Pro 16 inches a try.
When I visited the store and try my hands on new MacBook Pro, I felt like I am using an upgraded version of MacBook Pro 15 inches. Symmetry is almost same in both the devices (MacBook pro 16 inches and 15 inches) but rest everything is changed.
In this article, I’ll be sharing my experience of using Apple’s new MacBook pro 16 inch [Best one till now].
This experience cum review will be divided into the following categories:
- Price
- Physical Overview
- Technical Specifications
- Final Verdict [is it actually that great?]
So, now let’s begin with it.
MacBook Pro 16 inch Review
1. Price
First things first, MacBook Pro 16 inch is expensive but it’s the most worthy MacBook to invest in. MacBook Pro 16 inches starts at a price bracket of $2399 and goes up to $6099. For a laptop, $2399 is a huge price.
But for MacBook Pro 16 inch, I personally feel that it’s worth it. This review will be considering the base variant of MacBook Pro 16 inch because, while using it I felt that it’s more than enough for a regular user.
If you are a content creator then you can add more advanced components to the machine and for that, of course, you need to pay more. There are again more than enough options available for upgrades.
So for me, this price is okay because MacBook Pro 16 inch will last easily for 3-4 years. Though in between it might need a battery replacement still it’s worth to invest $2399 on a laptop that will be with you for 3 years at least.
2. Physical Overview
The overall design is similar to the older MacBook Pro. But there are some minor changes that make this machine the best MacBook Pro till date.
#2.1 Screen
The most interesting part of this machine. Though the screen quality is almost the same as earlier but it’s size is increased by 1 inch but the overall laptop size doesn’t have any major changes. It is still similar to the older MacBook Pro 15 inch. It is because Apple increased that 1 inch very smartly.
The new MacBook Pro 16 inch comes with smaller bezels and trusts me it’s the best size that bezels should have. They are neither neglected nor given more attention. They are providing perfect strength to the screen.
The new MacBook Pro 16 inch machine has a brighter screen thus more visibility in outdoor, thanks to the 500 nits brightness levels. Apart from that, it has a 3072*1920 resolution true tone display.
While using it, I found it resembling the iMac 5k display probably due to the extra little brightness. If you are a user who needs a vibrant screen then, as usual, this MacBook Pro 16 inch is perfect for you.
#2.2 Speakers
Okay, so you would be expecting some negatives or some flows with the speakers of MacBook Pro 16 inch but let me tell you that, Speakers of this laptop are the best available on any laptop till now.
These speakers offer you great volume, outstanding base, and overall a balanced output. No, I am not over exaggerating them, they are actually that great.
#2.3 Separate ESC & Touch-id Keys
Earlier MacBooks with the touch bar never had a physical ESC key. It was embedded in the touch bar itself.
For some, it was okay but for the majority of the users especially writers it was the worst thing that Apple can do with ESC key but fortunately, Apple listened to all those feedback and decided to separate the ESC key from the touch bar.
Along with this, the touch id button is also separated. Personally, it doesn’t matter for me. Let me know what are your takes on it.
#2.4 Larger Trackpad
This is something I love MacBooks, their huge and awesome trackpads. Especially, MacBook Pros have a big and smooth trackpad.
This MacBook Pro 16 inch machine offers you a bigger (bit) trackpad then the earlier MacBook Pros use to offer. I can’t be more thankful to Apple for this decision.
#2.5 Improved Microphone
According to Apple, MacBook Pro 16 inch comes with a studio-quality microphone. While trying it, I felt that “Yeah it is improved but can’t replace professional microphones”.
Along with this, whenever I need to shoot I use the external mic, never used the internal microphone of MacBooks.
#2.6 Keyboard
Right now, I am using MacBook Air 2019 to write this review and I like its keyboard. I never hated the Butterfly-styled keyboard of Apple.
But there were many users who reported problems with their butterfly-style keyboard and later Apple responded with their 4-year replacement plan of these keyboards.
With this, MacBook Pro 16 inch Apple went half-way back to it’s older style keyboard. Though it isn’t that great as the classic older MacBook Keyboard with ample to travel. This new keyboard is a scissor-style keyboard with a key travel of 1mm. It feels good while typing on the new keyboard.
#2.7 Battery and Charger
Another great upgrade Apple did in this MacBook Pro 16 inch is its charger and battery (to some extent).
This new device comes with a 96-watt charger which is the biggest one till now. Apart from this, MacBook Pro 16 inch has 100 Wh battery which is the maximum any manufacturer can embed in a laptop because, if they exceed this 100 Wh then the user won’t be able to travel with it. According to the Airline’s policies, 100 Wh is the maximum battery allowed on a laptop.
This 100Wh battery will definitely increase your device’s backup time, I felt that somewhere around 60-80 minutes are increased in comparison with the older MacBook Pros.
The extra watt on the charger brick will help you charge that larger battery quickly.
Apart from this, rest everything is the same. It has 4 thunderbolts 3 ports with a dedicated headphone jack.
3. Technical Specifications
I won’t be diving deep into the technical specification of this device because most of the users aren’t using this device for such intensive work. I don’t think even the basic variant of this device will lag in any sort of operation.
What I liked in the specification of this device is the processor that is used in the base variant. It’s an Intel i7 with a base clock speed of 2.6 GHz and it can be turbo boosted to 4.5 GHz. This machine comes with a 12 MB L3 cache memory.
In the top variant, you will get i9 8 core processor with a base clock speed of 2.3 GHz, which can be turbo boosted to 4.8 GHz. It will have 15 MBs of L3 cache memory.
In terms of memory, the lowest stick is 16 GB DDR4 RAM with a frequency of 2666Mhz. Which is great for day to day and even high-end tasks. Whereas the top variant has a 64 GB DDR4 RAM which the same frequency.
Internal Graphics are of Intel i.e Intel UHD 630 whereas the dedicated Graphic card in the base variant is AMD Radeon Pro 5300M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory. However, the top model will have an AMD Radeon Pro 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory.
MacBook Pro 16 inch comes with different internal storage options starting from 512 GB and goes till 8 TB SSD.
Final Verdict
I won’t confuse you with a complex ending, instead, I would say if you are looking for an upgrade and has a budget of around $2000 and your job requires such specifications then MacBook Pro 16 inch is the best available option right now.
No other laptop can give you the level of satisfaction this MacBook will give. It’s a compact machine that weighs around 4.3 pounds and has a dimension of 14.09 * 9.68 inches (width*depth). It is a complete package for you.
