The new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar is finally getting into customer’s hands, with some lucky people receiving deliveries of their new laptops today. The MacBook Pro packaging features a side-on shot of the machine with the Touch Bar displaying a vibrant color palette. Based on reader tips, it seems that those who ordered early will be receiving their laptop this week or next with many deliveries confirmed for tomorrow.
The MacBook Pro with Touch Bar has received mixed reviews from press with a lack of consensus on whether the Touch Bar is a silly gimmick or a useful addition …
Delivery times for initial orders of the machines vary but it seems like most people will be getting their computers this week if they ordered on launch day. If you are yet to order, Apple is still reporting a significant backlog — with 4-5 week shipping estimates. Customers started reporting that their orders had changed to ‘shipping’ status over the weekend.
The new MacBook Pro models feature upgraded internal chips, 100% faster SSD read/write speeds, USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports, a larger trackpad, upgraded speakers and more packed into a 20% smaller enclosure.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro sports 2 USB-C ports whereas the larger 15-inch model offers four, two on each side. The MacBook Pro’s ports have inspired much debate in the last month as Apple dropped all legacy I/O, like rectangular USB-A ports, HDMI ports and SD card reader, in favor of the USB-C connectors.
The USB-C connectors provide high-bandwidth, able to drive displays, external storage and other accessories at up to 40 Gb per second speeds. However, the lack of any traditional ports means customers need a swathe of dongles to be compatible with existing computer peripherals.
However, the community criticism do not seem to have dissuaded sales. Apple announced that orders for the new MacBook Pro set a new sales record (and trounced the PC industry, according to a third party analytics firm). Now that the devices are being delivered to customers, we’ll be able to see how the design decisions Apple chose for the new MacBook Pro play out in the real world.
Via the Redditor, here’s a couple of photos of the unboxing. As well as the laptop itself, the MacBook Pro box includes a power adaptor and USB-C cable.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar starts at $1799. The 15-inch Touch Bar variant starts at $2399. Let us know in the comments below if you’ve received your new MacBook Pro … and what you think of it. We’ll be bringing full hands-on with Apple’s latest Macs across the week.
