MacBook Pro 2020 review - the laptop Apple has been working on for 5 years

At first glance, the new MacBook Pro looks almost identical to the old one. However, this is the result of five years of laptop evolution that many people know and love. And as Apple prepares an ARM successor for it, the question arises: is the 2020 version good enough to grab right now? Or is it better to wait for the updated model?

Specifications
Design
Screen
Input Devices
Sound
Performance
Autonomy
Outcomes

Specifications

Operating system	macOS Catalina
CPU	Intel Core i5-1038NG7, four cores, eight threads, 2 GHz
Memory	RAM: 16 GB LPDDR4, 3,733 MHz; ROM: 512/1 024 GB NVMe SSD
Video accelerator	Intel Iris Plus G7
Display	13.3 inches, Retina IPS, 2,560 x 1,600 pixels, 227 ppi, DCI-P3
Ports	4 × Thunderbolt 3; audio jack
Wireless interfaces	Bluetooth 5.0; Wi-Fi 5
Battery	58 Wh
Dimensions (edit)	304, 1 × 212, 4 × 15.6 mm
The weight	1.4 kg

Design

The current design of the MacBook Pro is five years old and hasn't lost much of its relevance. Sure, Windows laptops with similar hardware are lighter and thinner, but Apple's model offers materials and build quality that any manufacturer would envy.

The body is machined from a single billet of aluminum and anodized in space gray. A silver version with unpainted aluminum is also available.

The laptop in gray looks impressive, but it is very easily soiled. In addition, previous models with this color peeled off - it is not yet clear whether the problem is solved in the new product.

With what exactly the problem was not solved, it is with the framework. Apple released the 16-inch MacBook Pro in a compact package last year, so it was hoped that the company would fit the 14-inch display into the old chassis. However, everything remains the same: the 13.3-inch screen is framed with bold indents. Above is a 720p webcam, but the quality is poor.

Also did nothing with the sharp edges at the bottom. Because of them and the tall case, typing on a laptop is not as convenient as on a MacBook Air.

The older configuration received two Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left and right sides, each of which supports charging. In addition to them, there is a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and everything else will have to be connected via adapters.

Screen

MacBook Pro 2020 received a display from the previous generation: Retina ‑ matrix with a resolution of 2,560 × 1,600 pixels (or QHD +). With a diagonal of 13.3 inches, this provides a pixel density of 227 ppi. Considering that the screen coating is glossy and there is no crystal effect, the user can fully appreciate the clarity of the picture.

The aspect ratio, as before, is 16: 10, which is perfect for web surfing, working with text and code. And macOS system scaling allows you to display more lines than Windows laptops with similar screen heights.

The brightness reaches 500 nits, which, together with a high-quality anti-reflective coating, gives excellent readability in the sun. The screen displays 100% of the DCI-P3 space, you can also select a color profile for specific tasks in the settings.

Viewing angles and black depth are also excellent by IPS standards. There are no highlights on a black background - this indicates the perfect assembly of the display module. Not all manufacturers can boast of such quality control. For example, the HP Elite Dragonfly has uneven backlighting, which is already a problem for a very expensive laptop.

The only compromise is the lack of HDR10. To implement it, a panel brightness of 700 nits is required, which modern IPS-screens are simply not capable of. However, in a future generation of notebooks, Apple will fix this by using mini-LED backlights with much higher peak brightness.

Input Devices

The novelty has received the Magic Keyboard, which is based on a scissor switch mechanism. This has already been seen in the MacBook Pro 16 and the new MacBook Air, and users have not yet noticed any reliability problems. So the replacement of the "butterfly" can be considered successful.

It is convenient to type: keystrokes are worked out clearly, the key travel is linear. However, the depth of pressing could have been greater, especially considering the height of the case. Instead of function keys, there is a touchbar, but the Escape button is now physical. On the right is the power button with a built-in Touch ID fingerprint scanner.

The touchpad, as before, is a reference - nothing like this has appeared in Windows laptops in five years. The contact area is huge, there are no dead zones, the response accuracy is ideal. MacOS gesture controls are still the most user-friendly on the market.

In addition, the touchpad can be used as a graphics tablet in conjunction with the Apple Pencil. Although for the latter, it is too small, at least in the 13-inch version.

Sound

The older version of the MacBook Pro 2020 is equipped with four speakers, two of which are responsible for low frequencies. This audio system delivers a loud, rich and spacious sound that you would not expect from a compact laptop. I was especially pleased with the elaboration of the bass and the absence of distortion at maximum volume.

The sound in the headphones is no less good. You can also connect high-quality audio interfaces, sound cards and recorders via Thunderbolt.

Performance

All configurations of the MacBook Pro are built on Intel Core i5 with four cores and eight threads, but in the younger chips of the Coffee Lake generation, and in the older ones - Ice Lake with a 10 nm process technology. It would seem that this is not serious for a "professional" laptop, and even the MacBook Air has a modification on the Core i7 (also of the Ice Lake generation). However, things are not so simple.

The Intel Core i5-1038NG7 used in the laptop is a custom 28W TDP processor designed specifically for Apple. The operating frequency per core is 2 GHz, and at its peak it reaches 3.8 GHz. But it is much more interesting how the system behaves under continuous loads.

In the Cinebench R20 benchmark, the laptop scores almost 2 thousand points - 40% more than the Huawei MateBook X Pro with Core i7-10510u. At the same time, the frequency is stably kept above 3 GHz throughout the test, and the supplied power reaches 35 W.

System state before test

System state at the start of the test

System state in the middle of the test

System state after test

Of course, the heat dissipation under such a load is enormous. The two fans are buzzing perceptibly, but the temperature is still kept around 100 ° C. This is already a tradition for MacBooks: they do not drop frequencies, but give maximum performance at the cost of heating.

During normal use, the temperature is kept between 40-50 ° C, which is quite a comfortable value.

The laptop received 16 GB of LPDDR4X RAM with a frequency of 3 733 MHz, as well as a 512 GB or 1,024 GB solid-state drive. The latter demonstrates excellent read and write speeds.

The integrated video accelerator Intel Iris Plus G7 is responsible for the graphics. It is quite suitable for working with photos and videos, but if you put complex tasks in front of your laptop (rendering 4K video with high bitrate, 3D modeling), you will need something more powerful.

This is where Thunderbolt 3 comes to the rescue with support for external video cards. For a long time, such a bundle was unjustified, however, a Thunderbolt controller is integrated with Intel Ice Lake, significantly increasing the stability and efficiency of the eGPU. Many programs like Final Cut Pro X have also learned to work with external graphics accelerators.

Autonomy

The inside of the MacBook Pro has a 58 Wh battery. Considering the powerful hardware, you shouldn't expect an impressive runtime from the new product.

Apple promises that the laptop can withstand up to 10 hours of Wi-Fi web surfing and video playback. In practice, it all depends on the scenario of use: when working in Pages and a browser, the battery was discharged in 8 hours. If you load the novelty to the fullest, it will not be enough for an hour and a half.

Outcomes

Apple squeezed all the juice out of the MacBook Pro in five years. The result is a very powerful compact laptop with a great screen, new keyboard and the best touchpad on the market. Corresponding price - 194 thousand for the 1 TB version. However, this is a model for those who are willing to invest such amounts in a working tool.

Should we wait for the next version on ARM? Most likely not, because when you change the architecture, you will need to completely rewrite all the software. As a result, the transition will stretch over several years, and the current MacBook Pro will be relevant throughout that time.