After the latest launch of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, Apple was back again with their October Keynote 2016. This time the focus had been completely on the long-pending MacBook Pro. The event also spoke about the future of TV which, according to Apple, is apps. There are 8000 apps on the Apple TV store already and they are about to make that experience even better with the new unified TV app launch. This keynote was small as compared to the others they had before but it was compact. And most importantly, it had what the other keynotes were missing for a while – the Apple MacBook Pro!
Since this week marks the 25th anniversary of the original Powerbook, Apple wanted to mark this time for the launch of their new MacBook Pro. To put it down in one sentence, MacBook Pro will now be devoid of the function keys that has been replaced with an OLED touch strip called the Touch Bar. You’ll get the new MacBooks in 13 and 15-inch versions that are 14-17 percent thinner and almost a half-pound lighter than the previous ones. Other than that, the new MacBooks are packed with up to 130% faster graphics and a 67% brighter display. The Multi-Touch strip is a piece of glass built into the keyboard for instant access to the tools you want. This strip will change automatically based on what you’re doing to make it easier than ever to get things done. From shortcuts to text suggestions to choosing emojis, you can do a lot more with your new MacBook Pro touch bar.
As Apple rightly states, “The new MacBook Pro elevates the notebook to a whole new level of performance and portability. Wherever your ideas take you, you’ll get there faster than ever with cutting-edge graphics, high-performance processors, a state-of-the-art storage and more.”
The speakers have been totally redesigned to offer you twice as much the dynamic range and up to 58 percent more volume, with two and a half times louder bass for a maximum boom. And they’re connected directly to system power, enabling up to three times more peak power. And with the new Thunderbolt 3 port, you can now simultaneously connect two 5K displays and two RAID systems to a 15-inch MacBook Pro with four Thunderbolt 3 ports to create a powerful workstation. Work on the Apple MaBook Pro just got a whole lot easier. And just for those who missed the Touch ID on their MacBooks, it’s finally coming to the new Mac. They are available in three versions – 13-inch ($1499), 13-inch with Touch Bar and Touch ID ($1799) and 15-inch with Touch Bar and Touch ID ($1999). The non Touch-Bar models will ship now while the Touch Bar models will take around three weeks time to ship if you pre-order today.
Apple got LG to build a 5K display specifically for the new Macbook Pro. In fact, it is considered as an “ultimate docking station” because it can simultaneously display from the laptop while charging it.
Now you can watch TV shows and movies from multiple apps in one place. Apple also introduced a new Siri feature for Apple TV that lets viewers tune in directly to live news and sporting events across their apps. Watching TV shows and movies across Apple devices has never been easier. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services has said “Using apps on Apple TV, iPhone and iPad has become the primary way for so many of us to watch television.
The TV app shows you what to watch next and easily discover TV shows and movies from many apps in a single place.” Other than this, Siri continues to gain powerful new capabilities, including making it really easy to tune right to live news and sporting events on Apple TV. Siri is now aware of live sporting events across apps so users can simply say things like, “Watch the Stanford game” or “Which games are on right now?” Siri knows additional details of the games, can provide live scores and can take viewers directly to the live stream within the app that’s carrying it. Viewers can also tune directly to live video by just saying the name of the app, for example “Watch CBS News” without having to navigate to the live stream from within the app. The TV App is about to be available as a free update for the users from later this year (December 2016).
You can watch the entire keynote in nine minutes on Engadget here:
Well, that was a pretty short keynote as compared to what Apple had given us before. But all we can say is that this one was pretty vital for all the MacBook users out there. RIP function keys and welcome aboard the new “Touch Bar”. What are your thoughts on the new MacBooks?