Apple says that it still cares about pro Mac users, and to prove it in April the company announced plans to introduce a new iMac Pro by the end of 2017 and a completely redesigned Mac Pro in 2018 or 2019.
Since the April announcement the company has also updated the standard iMac and the MacBook Pro with new components that seem to indicate that it means what it says. Read our review of the 2017 27-inch iMac here, and the 15-inch MacBook Pro here.
If you’re a pro looking to upgrade your Mac what is the best option for you, and more importantly, should you update now, or should you wait until the promised new Macs arrive? In this article we will aim to answer that question.
First things first, we’ll take a look at the range of Macs that should fulfil the needs of pro users.
15-inch MacBook Pro
- RRP: From $2,399
View on the Apple Store
The MacBook Pro has pro in its name, so does that make it a pro machine? While we don’t think that the 13-inch MacBook Pro deserves to be called Pro, the 15-inch MacBook Pro is a great laptop for pro users, and not surprisingly it is a popular choice.
The 15-inch MacBook Pro has quad-core processors, which are actually better than those in the iMac because they are i7 rather than i5 (we’ll look at the iMac next). Build-to-order options include a 3.1GHz processor and a 2TB SSD.
The 2,880×1,800 resolution display on the 15-inch MacBook Pro is great, but in our opinion it lets down the range slightly because there are 4K displays available on other laptops now. A better display on the MacBook Pro is something pros have been calling out for. They are also asking Apple to offer 32GB RAM on the MacBook Pro, but for now it’s limited to 16GB.
If you need a better screen and more RAM then we’d advise you to look at Apple’s other pro machines, but if you are looking for a fast and powerful portable Mac, and the resolution and RAM aren’t important, you can’t really go wrong with the 15-inch MacBook Pro.