New Retina MacBook Pro 2016 release date, specs & feature rumours: We rate the chances of new MacBooks at Apple’s 21 March iPhone SE launch event

October 6, 2024

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There are two sizes of MacBook Pro models available from Apple right now: a 13in model, last updated in March 2015, and a 15in model, last updated in May 2015. So yes, we do anticipate that Apple will update these models in the near future – possibly at its (now-confirmed) 21 March launch event. You’ll find everything there is to know so far about new MacBook Pro 2016 models in this release date, specs and features rumour round-up.

Table of Contents

MacBook Pro 2016 release date: When is the new MacBook Pro coming out?

Update, 11 March 2016: Apple launch incoming! The invites have gone out for a keynote press event on 21 March, as has been expected for a few weeks.

Will there be new MacBook Pros at this launch event? It’s a possibility: Apple often launches new laptops at this time of year, and the 13in MacBook Pro model was last updated a year ago. (The 15in version is slightly younger.) But there aren’t any hints in the invite to suggest laptop-related announcements – if you enjoy decoding Apple’s cryptic invites, take a look at our rundown of the 14 most mysterious Apple invitations – and we’ve been getting the sense lately that Apple is trying to play down expectations on the Mac front.

Perhaps there will be a separate Mac event shortly after; perhaps we will have to wait until WWDC in June. We hope to be wrong, however: it would be nice to get some new Macs on the 21 March.

We do expect the iPhone SE and the iPad Air 3 on the 21 March, as well as – partly suggested by the phrase ‘Let us loop you in’ – updates related to the Apple Watch. New Apple Watch bands are a strong possibility.

MacBook Pro 2016 specs & hardware: What new features with the new MacBook Pro have?

The new MacBook Pro models are likely to feature Skylake processors, the new, sixth generation chips by Intel. Right now, none of Apple’s MacBooks offer Skylake so it’s highly likely that Apple plans to address this soon. Skylake will bring significant performance gains to the new MacBook Pro, too, making it an even faster machine.

Competitors including HP, Dell and Microsoft have already moved to Skylake, so Apple is beginning to look like it’s trailing behind.

Skylake could improve battery life, too, working with El Capitan to improve efficiency. The 13in Retina MacBook Pro already offers 10 hours of battery life and the 15in model offers 8 hours, but we’d like to see that improve to match the 12 and 9 hours offered by the MacBook Air.

The 15in models of the MacBook Pro currently offer quad-core i7 processors, which means they compare very favourably with the 27in iMacs. We hope that the 2016 model maintains these quad-core processors, but when the Mac mini was updated in October of 2014 it lost its quad-core processor options, which could spell the same fate for the MacBook Pro.

One MacBook Pro rumour doing the rounds goes as far as to say that the 2016 models will have a touchscreen, and that it might even be detachable from the screen a lot like the Surface Book. We’d be very surprised if this rumour is true, but anything’s possible.

In fact, we’re not expecting the design of the MacBook Pro to change much, if at all. It’s possible that a gold model will be launched, but Apple might reserve that for the12in MacBook, which could also see an update in March.

[Source:- Mac World]