With new MacBook Pro laptops, Apple sticks to its guns

Apple is updating its MacBook Pro line with lots of new features, but no major conceptual changes.

The new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBooks have faster 8th-generation Intel Core processors, “True Tone” displays that adjust color temperature based on the surrounding environment, and support for “Hey Siri” voice commands. Apple is also now allowing up to 32 GB of RAM and up to 4 TB of storage, doubling the maximum from last year’s MacBook Pro models, and all 15-inch models will have Radeon Pro graphics cards with 4 GB of video memory.

Base pricing is $1,799 for the 13-inch MacBook Pro and $2,399 for the 15-inch MacBook Pro; max out the specs on the latter, and it’ll cost $6,699.

In other words, Apple is putting to bed complaints that the MacBook Pro isn’t powerful enough, but it’s also worth noting what Apple didn’t change this time around. The new MacBooks Pro still include the context-sensitive Touch Bar instead of a function row, despite a muted response from reviewers and developers, and Apple is still using low-travel butterfly keyboards. Critics say these keyboards do not provide enough tactile feedback, and the number of users complaining about defects prompted Apple to promise four years of free repairs.

Apple says the new MacBooks have an improved design for “quieter typing,” but told The Verge that it’s not designed to address those defects. Instead, the company insists that the problem only affects a tiny fraction of users. Apple is also sticking with four USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, and is now discontinuing the 2015 MacBook Pro models that still offered USB-A ports.

The new MacBook Pro models are available now, and as with previous ones, they’ll get a free upgrade to MacOS Mojave this fall.