On 9 March Apple updated the 13in MacBook Pro with Retina display (read about the 13in MacBook Pro here), but it ignored the 15in model – until now. We thought Apple would update the 15in MacBook Pro pretty soon and we were right. Apple has just added two new 15-inch variants of the MacBook Pro to its Online Store, complete with Force Touch capabilities.
Read our MacBook Pro reviews including our review of the 2015 2.5GHz 15in MacBook Pro here and the 2.2 GHz 2015 MacBook Pro here.
Apple 13in Retina MacBook Pro review (2.7GHz, 128GB, Early 2015, £999) | Apple 13in MacBook Pro review (2.7GHz, 256GB, Retina display, Early 2015, £1,199)
2015 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display released: Which Processor
There are two new MacBook Pro's available. Both variants boast Force Touch capabilities. The 'entry-level' costs £1,599 and the top of the range will set you back £1,999.
The base model comes packing a 2.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of flash storage. That’s without mentioning the Intel Iris Pro Graphics and of course, the beautiful Retina display. It also boasts Force Touch, a feature that made its debut on the Apple Watch and 13in MacBook Pro back in March.
For those of you that need a bit more bang for your buck, Apple also stocks another variation. This one boasts a 2.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.7GHz, as well as 16GB RAM and a 512GB of flash based storage.
One surprise is that the latest 15in Retina MacBook Pro models still feature Intel’s Haswell processors, rather than the newer Broadwell, suggesting Apple is skipping the much delayed Broadwell processors and waiting for Skylake.
The new Macs do have some benefits, they gain a Force Touch trackpad, and faster flash storage, better discrete graphics on the top of the range, and better battery life.
Probably Broadwell wouldn’t have made a great deal of improvement to the 2014 models.
Another reason why Apple has skipped Broadwell is the fact that the quad-core Broadwell chips that Apple would have required for the MacBook Pro models (and the new 27in Retina iMac that was also introduced) haven’t yet launched.
All eyes will be on Intel now, as the company gears up to release Skylake, which is what everyone is really waiting for. Hopefully it won’t take Intel another year to release Quad-core versions of Skylake or we will have a long wait for faster Macs.
2015 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display released: Storage speed
So, lets talk spec – how has Apple improved the 15in MacBook Pro? The first apparent change is in terms of storage – not size, as both models come with the same amount of storage as the previous generation, but rather the speed. The new MacBook Pro uses flash storage that’s around 2GBps faster than the previous generation.
2015 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display released: Battery life
According to Apple, battery life is also better - it’ll last an hour longer than the previous generation, allowing up to nine hours of web browsing instead of eight.
2015 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display released: Graphics
It’s in the graphics department that the top of the range model flexes its muscles – it comes packing Intel Iris Pro Graphics with an AMD Radeon R9 GPU complete with 2GB GDDR5 memory. According to Apple, this improvement will deliver up to 80 percent better performance when editing video, rendering 3D graphics or playing HD games.
The £1,599 15in MacBook Pro is available to order via Apple’s Online Store right now with immediate dispatch, while the £1,999 model takes a slightly longer 1-3 business days to be dispatched.
Apple has also introduced a new iMac with Retina display for a new cheaper price, read more here: We have a new, cheaper Retina iMac, but Apple still hasn't updated the other iMacs
Read on to find out what we were expecting from the new 15in MacBook Pro models...
2015 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display release date
Apple last updated the 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display on 29 July 2014, quietly upping the specs and reducing prices across the board.
We expected Apple to update the 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display again in 2015. In fact we hoped that Apple might unveil the next professional Mac laptop at its WWDC 2015 conference, which is set to take place between 8-12 June 2015.
Towards the end of April Apple Watchers began to spot that shipping times for 15in MacBook Pro models had increased to 1-2 weeks, a sign that an update is nearing.
At time of writing (15 May), the 2.5GHz 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display has a dispatch estimate of 2-3 weeks, suggesting that a refresh is imminent.
2015 15in MacBook Pro with Retina display price: How much will the new MacBook Pro cost in the UK?
Back in 2014 the whole range of MacBook Pro with Retina displays (and the olderMacBook Pro with optical drive) saw a price drop. Is Apple likely to reduce prices further in 2015? Probably not.
The prices as of 15 May were as follows:
15in Retina MacBook Pro, 2.2GHz (quad-core i7), 256GB: £1,599
15in Retina MacBook Pro, 2.2GHz (quad-core i7), 512GB: £1,999
The 13in models pricing didn’t change when the Macs were updated on 9 March:
13in Retina MacBook Pro, 2.7GHz (dual-core i5), 128GB: £999
13in Retina MacBook Pro, 2.7GHz (dual -core i5), 256GB: £1,199
13in Retina MacBook Pro, 2.9GHz (dual -core i5), 512GB: £1,399
We expect to see similar prices for the 2015 models, but with an improvement in specs (we hope).
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