New MacBook Pro to see significant graphics upgrade

Apple left Mac users in the dark at its 21 March event, instead announcing a new iPad Pro, iPhone SE & Apple Watch updates. When will the next MacBook Pro come out? Apple last updated its 13in and 15in MacBook Pro laptops in March and May of 2015 respectively, so it can’t be long till the new line comes out – we expect the new MacBook to come out on 13 June during WWDC event.

We think there could be new MacBook Pro models pretty soon. There are two sizes of MacBook Pro models available from Apple right now: a 13in model, which was last updated in March 2015, and a 15in model, last updated in May 2015. We had hoped for new MacBook Pro models on 21 March at Apple’s Spring event, but Apple didn’t mention Macs at all. You’ll find everything there is to know so far about new MacBook Pro 2016 models in this release date, specs and features rumour round-up.

MacBook Pro 2016 UK release date: When is the new MacBook Pro coming out?

We had hoped for a new MacBook Pro at Apple’s 21 March launch event. Instead, we saw a new iPhone SE, iPad Pro with a smaller screen and new Apple Watch straps. Those things are all great, of course, but if you were after a new MacBook Pro then you’re out of luck.

Apple often launches new laptops at this time of year, and the 13in MacBook Pro model was last updated a year ago. (The 15in version is slightly younger.) Perhaps there will be a separate Mac event soon; perhaps we will have to wait until WWDC 2016 (Apple’s Worldwide Developers’ Conference) starting on 13 June.

On 19 April, Apple quietly announced its new 12in MacBook 2016, which means that the MacBook Pro 2016 has yet to be announced and looks even more likely to be announced in June.

MacBook Pro 2016 UK price: How much will the new MacBook Pro cost?

Currently the cheapest Retina MacBook Pro costs £999. For the price you’ll get a 13in 2.7Ghz OS X machine that has 128GB of storage.

Prices go up in increments with £1,199 and £1,399 for the more feature rich 13in variants. The 15in model comes in two variants, a 2.2GHz £1,599 version and a 2.5Ghz £1,999 variant.

We expect the new 2016 MacBook Pro to be launched in June at similar, if not identical prices of the current models.

MacBook Pro 2016 specs & hardware: What new features will the new MacBook Pro have?

The new MacBook Pro models are likely to feature Skylake processors, the new, sixth generation chips by Intel. Right now, none of Apple’s MacBooks offer Skylake so it’s highly likely that Apple plans to address this soon. Skylake will bring significant performance gains to the new MacBook Pro, too, making it an even faster machine.

Competitors including HP, Dell and Microsoft have already moved to Skylake, so Apple is beginning to look like it’s trailing behind.

Skylake could improve battery life, too, working with El Capitan to improve efficiency. The 13in Retina MacBook Pro already offers 10 hours of battery life and the 15in model offers 8 hours, but we’d like to see that improve to match the 12 and 9 hours offered by the MacBook Air.

The 15in models of the MacBook Pro currently offer quad-core i7 processors, which means they compare very favourably with the 27in iMacs. We hope that the 2016 model maintains these quad-core processors, but when the Mac mini was updated in October of 2014 it lost its quad-core processor options, which could spell the same fate for the MacBook Pro.

Both AMD and NVIDIA are looking to introduce new GPU products in 2016 which some suggest could make their way to the 2016 MacBook Pro, along with other Mac products. AMD is planning to release GPUs based on Global Foundries 14 nm FinFET processor node, while NVIDIA is releasing something slightly different – GPUs based on the slightly larger 16 nm FinFET Plus processor node. Both the AMD and NVIDIA GPUs should bring significant gains in graphics performance, an area that needs some TLC – especially with regards to gaming on a Mac.

Both AMD and NVIDIA are set to launch the new GPUs later this year, possibly during the Summer, but it’s unclear at this stage whether it’ll be ready in time to be used with the 2016 MacBook Pro. For Mac gamers everywhere, we do hope so.

One MacBook Pro rumour doing the rounds goes as far as to say that the 2016 models will have a touchscreen, and that it might even be detachable from the screen a lot like the Surface Book. We’d be very surprised if this rumour is true, but anything’s possible.

In fact, we’re not expecting the design of the MacBook Pro to change much, if at all. It’s possible that a gold model will be launched, but Apple might reserve that for the12in MacBook, which could also see an update in March.