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MacBook Pro 2016 Review Roundup: Impressive With A Hefty Price, But Can It Save Apple’s Decline?

By Patrick Frye
Published on: 04:50 PST, Oct 28, 2016

The MacBook Pro 2016 reviews are in. It seems to be a hit among veteran Apple consumers and might be what brings their shares back up in the final quarter of 2016 and maintain the rising profit streak.

As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Apple’s stocks have dropped this year, breaking the 15-year streak of increasing profits. It may be due to the hefty price tag on their products or the push to “go green” under the direction of Tim Cook. It might also be due to the possible trend of exploding iPhone 7 devices, mirroring the problem Samsung has been facing with their Galaxy Note 7 and some appliances.

The new MacBook Pro could change that with what many reviewers are calling a real break-through.

The Mirror claims that the Pro is often overshadowed by the Air and the latest improvements to the stock MacBook, making it appear to be a “neglected workhorse.” Up until now, it seems, the Pro always seems to be the least popular option of the three.

The sixth-generation Core i7 processor and ATI Radeon Pro graphics card with up to 4GB of RAM, combined with a 2TB SDD hard drive, make it what Apple claims to be up to 50 percent faster. The 15-inch model comes with 16GB of RAM, making it clearly superior to the 13-inch model.

Better speakers are also allegedly part of the deal.

However, what’s under the proverbial hood isn’t always a selling point. Sometimes, it’s the proverbial paint job and body work. What this means is that the MacBook Pro for this year not only performs better but looks and functions better overall.

The first and most notable addition is the touch bar, which changes its function based on what you want it to do. You can drag applications into the touch bar to make it a programmable shortcut, much like the PlayStation 4’s touchpad, but much more versatile. Combine this with the back-lit keyboard and keys and you can even use it in the dark.

For those who want to eliminate the mouse, the MacBook’s touchpad is much larger this time, so navigating the screen feels a lot more refined. Hopefully, Apple’s research made the touchpad palm-proof, because you’ll be resting your hand on it a lot.

Reviewers at the Verge say that the backlit keyboard is bright, but not distractingly so. Even more impressive is the programmable function of the keys themselves, via a menu.

The touch bar has one major drawback, and that’s the lack of media playback controls when it’s customized. Thankfully, there is a button on the right that puts those controls back. If you want to skip a song while searching for information on Facebook, you aren’t stuck with it just because the touch bar is optimized for productivity.

The Verge says that the keyboard might annoy some, as it’s identical to the one on the Air. However, the simplicity might be a plus if you’re not a fan of overwhelming numbers.

Trusted Reviews says that the MacBook Pro is remarkably thinner than the previous model. This means it’s lighter and easier to tote around if you’re the type to use it on the go. The 2016 model’s non-button inputs and outputs include “four USB Type-C ports which can be used to charge the machine or as a thunderbolt, USB, display, HDMI out, or VGI ports. That means no MagSafe charger port.”

This means that like the iPhone 7, there is no headphone jack this year. With improved speakers, you might not miss them unless you’re in a noisy room.

The MacBook Pro powers up just by opening it and comes with a fingerprint ID so only you can use it.

The biggest downside to Apple’s latest model is the price tag. At over $1,000 at the cheapest, even after an early price drop on Amazon, it’s no drop in the proverbial bucket for those on a budget. Of course, Apple has rarely ever made new technology affordable.

If you have a 2016 MacBook Pro, what do you think of it?

[Featured Image by guteksk7/Shutterstock.com]

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