May the Force be with you: Say Hi to Apple's new MacBook Pro

The new MacBook pro 15-inch is just like the old one.
The new MacBook pro 15-inch is just like the old one.

Apple has unveiled a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with a new trackpad that it calls Force Touch. The refreshed model follows the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro and the new MacBook launched just a few weeks ago.

The big sell of the trackpad is its haptic feedback and built in force sensors which Apple says "customise the amount of pressure needed to register each click".

Physically, the new laptop is no different from the old one. However, it will be interesting to see what impact the new trackpad will have on battery life. The new laptop has the same quoted battery life and battery capacity as the 2014 edition.

The vendor is also working with a number of third party developers to support that feature and integrate a new range of gestures.

The updated MacBook Pro still features a Retina Display along with a 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 CPU, a whopping 16GB of RAM, 256GB of solid-state storage, Intel Iris Pro graphics with a starting price of £1,599 ($1,999, AU$2,799).

It's important to note that, at this point, the only traditional MacBook Pro left is the 13-inch model with Apple's SuperDrive slot-loading disc drive. It's tough to say when Cupertino will send its last disc-driven laptop out to pasture, but given that it's surrounded on all sides by Retina displays and SSDs, the outlook's grim for the not-so-little laptop that could.

Apple also dropped the price of its top-end iMac with Retina 5K to £1,849 ($2,299, AU$2,999) while introducing a new 27-inch iMac (with 5K display as well) for £1,599 ($1,999, AU$2,799).

These price drops lower the barrier to entry a bit for self-employed, creative professional types, not to mention folks that just want the sharpest desktop display around.

Desire Athow
Managing Editor, TechRadar Pro

Désiré has been musing and writing about technology during a career spanning four decades. He dabbled in website builders and web hosting when DHTML and frames were in vogue and started narrating about the impact of technology on society just before the start of the Y2K hysteria at the turn of the last millennium.