Announced in 2018, the 15-inch Macbook Pro is a powerful laptop regardless of whether you go for the base model or opt for the one that’s got all the top-end specs. The 15-inch macbook stills follows through with Apple’s all-too-familiar design language, and comes packed with some pretty powerful processors. The base model is fitted with a 2.6GHz Core i7 CPU, a Radeon Pro 555X graphics chip, 16GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD – not too bad for a $2000 price tag. The touch bar also features on whichever iteration of the macbook you go for, and with battery life averaging out at about 10 hours, you’ll always be able to put in a day’s work. Get to the end of this review and see why we still think the 15-inch macbook pro is still one of the best Apple laptops around. For more great options, check out our best laptops reviews.
Why We Like It – Macbook Pro 15
The 15-inch Macbook pro is a professional’s tool that comes with a lot of firepower, and has a very sleek look to boot. You can have it with an 8-core i7 or i9 core processor, and still amp things up with turbo boost speeds of up to 50GHz. The 15-inch model might be discontinued as of 2020, but on the flipside, this is great news because the prices have significantly dropped from when it was newly launched.
- Impressively bright Retina display
- 10-hour battery life
- 4 Thunderbolt ports
- Discontinued as of 2020
Performance
Very few laptops can match the performance power of the Macbook pro. At it’s best, the relatively new macbook features an 8th generation eight core Intel Core i9 processor, 32GB RAM, an AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics processor and 4TB of SSD storage – you probably won’t need an external hard drive with all that storage space. This high end 15-inch model will cost you more than $5000, but you will get the very best that the Apple macbook pro has to offer. For those that aren’t sure whether to go with the core i7 processor or the core i9 processor, then the choice should be made based on affordability. A core i9 macbook may be more expensive on the onset, but once you get it, you won’t be needing another laptop for a long time to come. If the cost is still too high for both choices, then perhaps the Apple Macbook Pro 13 might do.
Design
Unlike the Macbook air that comes in gold, the fairly new macbook pro is only available in space grey or silver, and boasts of a 15-inch retina display that features True Tone technology for life like pictures. It’s touch trackpad is quite large in size, but it does come with haptic feedback like the Apple Macbook Air 13″ (2011) 1.8GHz, and is also very accurate to use. In regards to connectivity, on each of the two sides on the keyboard chassis you’ll find two USB C ports to make a total of four – plenty of options. With an Intel Core i7 or even an Intel Core i9 processor on board, you might expect that the 15-inch laptop might start heating up especially when you push it to its limits, but it’s advanced airflow system makes sure that it keeps its cool. Lastly, the macbook pro’s touch bar makes your work a little bit faster, as it provides shortcuts based on what’s on screen.
Value
Like a lot of older Macbook pros, the Macbook Pro 15-inch laptop still features the butterfly keyboard that gives most people problems when typing. In spite of this, Apple did make some minor changes to the mechanism that prevent the keys from getting stuck when typing, so we don’t think it’ll be as bad as previous versions. If you just can’t deal with it though, then perhaps the 2020 release of the Macbook Pro 16 that comes with a new magic keyboard might be worthwhile. Since the laptop comes fitted with the Radeon Pro Vega GPU, graphic intensive work will never be a problem especially if you opt for the 8th generation intel core i9 macbook. The core i9 CPU ensures a super smooth experience, and even though the 15-inch model has been discontinued, Apple still holds the rights reserved to declare refurbished models fit for use, and the core Intel processors that the refurbished versions have in stock are still more than capable of doing some high intensity work.
Related: Check out our Apple Macbook Pro 16-Inch review
Macbook Pro 15 Wrap Up
Apple is always known to release laptops that are better than the one they announced last year, so it should come as no surprise that there isn’t a 15-inch Apple laptop announced the previous year that’s going to top the 2019 Macbook Pro. Buying it would be more of an investment, so you should take the time to know which intel core processor works best for you.
