If you’ve been waiting to get your hands on Apple’s Mac Pro or the 16-inch MacBook Pro, your wait is over: both products can now be purchased on Apple’s Malaysian website. However, as expected, prepare to fork out quite a bit of money for either one of these two machines.
Let’s start with the 16-inch MacBook Pro. One of the biggest additions to Apple’s latest laptop is a new keyboard design. Gone are the butterfly switches in favour of a more traditional scissor mechanism with the new Magic Keyboard. Thanks to this change, the keyboard should be a lot more reliable than its predecessor.
It’s also worth noting that the Magic Keyboard has a physical Esc key now, along with the “inverted-T” arrow keys.
Besides that, the 16-inch MacBook Pro comes with a 16-inch 3072 x 1920 Retina IPS display too. It’s a sharp, colour-accurate display, and it also supports Apple’s True Tone technology. Naturally, the Touch Bar display right above the keyboard is retained as well.
Other specifications of the 16-inch MacBook Pro include 9th generation Intel Core processors (up to a Core i9), three GPU options (AMD Radeon Pro 5300M 4GB GDDR6, Radeon Pro 5500M 4GB GDDR6, or a 5500M with 8GB of GDDR6 memory), 16GB of RAM (upgradable to 32GB or 64GB), 512GB of SSD storage (configurable to a whopping 8TB), and Touch ID authentication.
How much does the new 16-inch MacBook Pro cost? Well, the base model with a Core i7 chip paired with 16GB of RAM, a Radeon Pro 5300M GPU, and 512GB of SSD storage retails at a cool RM10,499. The most expensive variant, on the other hand, costs an eye-watering RM28,818.80, complete with Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X software. Check out our hands-on of the 16-inch MacBook Pro if you’d like to learn more about this laptop.
And then there’s the Mac Pro. Touted as the most powerful Mac to date, it can be configured to your heart’s content. For the base model, it comes with an Intel Xeon octa-core processor paired with 32GB of RAM, an AMD Radeon Pro 580X GPU, and a 256GB SSD. This base configuration retails at RM25,999.
Given the plethora of customisation options, the Mac Pro’s top-of-the-range configuration can get pretty ridiculous. If you’re curious, a decked out Mac Pro comes with a 28-core Xeon processor with 1.5TB (!) of RAM, two Radeon Pro Vega II Duo GPUs, 4TB of SSD storage, an Apple Afterburner card, wheels (yes, wheels), Magic Mouse 2, Magic Trackpad 2, and a RM231,608 price tag.
Oh, opting to get Final Cut Pro X and Logic Pro X software will cost an addition RM2,099.80, bringing the grand total to RM233,707.80. Of course, you’ll need a monitor to go along with the Mac Pro, so why not get the Apple Pro Display XDR? The standard model costs RM19,999, or you can go for the nano-texture glass option instead for RM25,999.
Without a shadow of a doubt the Mac Pro costs a pretty penny, but it goes without saying it is also a very powerful machine. The cooling system, for one, is said to be robust enough to cool the 28-core Xeon processor for it to sustain peak performance at all times. On top of that, it sports a modular design as well.
At the time of writing, the 16-inch MacBook Pro will ship within three to five business days, while the Mac Pro will be sent out in six to seven weeks. Don’t worry: shipping is free.