We have heard rumours that Apple will install the Force Touch technology from the Apple Watch on its next iPhone – but nothing about the Macbook, until today. The new 15″ Macbook Pro features a retina display (2880 x 1800, IPS panel) and Force Touch trackpad.
Force Touch and the Taptic engine have APIs to set the new Macbook to register and give haptic feedback clicks at different pressures. Apple has made the APIs available for app developers to incorporate Force Touch in their software.
Flash storage speed has been raised to 2GBps; the unit has options for 256GB, 512GB or 1TB. Additionally, the processor (2.2GHz or 2.5GHz Intel Core i7) enables an additional hour of battery life, taking lifetime to nine hours.
Intel Iris Pro Graphics are installed as standard, but AMD Radeon R9 M370X discrete graphics are available as an option (2.5GHz processor version only). The Macbook features Thunderbolt 2 (x2), HDMI and USB 3.0 (x2) ports.
Prices start at $2,000 for the 2.2GHz version and $2,500 for the 2.5GHz model.
Apple has also introduced a $2,000 configuration of its 27″ iMac with retina display (5120 x 2880). This model has a 3.3GHz Core i5 processor and a 1TB HDD, rather than a 3.5GHz processor and 1TB hybrid hard drive. Graphics are supplied by AMD’s R9 M290, instead of the M290X.
The new Macbook and iMac are both available now.
