The MacBook Pro with 16 ″ screen was introduced in November 2019 in different models with two basic configurations and many customization possibilities through the Apple Store and authorized resellers.
Cyberlayman participated in a direct presentation by Apple of the new model in a super bodied version (just to mention an incredible step: 250 audio tracks of Logic playing at the same time) and then was able to try the model a step higher than the basic model for two months. with i9 processor, 16 GB of Ram and 4G video card.
Rather than offering you the list of news that we have extensively proposed to you in the days of its release in our in-depth article, we wanted to use it for a sufficient period to work on it daily in different areas (video with Final Cut, music with GarageBand, photos and images with Photoshop , LightRoom, Affinity Photo, Pixelmator and Luminar, CAD with Vectorworks …) and compare it directly with a previous generation MacBook Pro alternating the two laptops thanks also to the combined use of an iCloud-based archive to manage shared documents for Keynote, Numbers , Pages etc. Obviously in the evaluation on video and 3D rendering, on local storage and other operations in which the speed of access to the disks is crucial we used the efficient internal SSDs.
The basic objective of this long test was to understand how reliable, convenient, comfortable and efficient it was to work with the new MacBook Pro compared to the “old” model, providing an indication for the upgrade even to those who stopped at the 2015 models. or a MacBook 13 and is thinking of making the “big” leap.
Dimensions and weight
We have compared the most recent model in the Space Gray color and the 15 ″ MacBook in the Silver color and this allows you to make a direct comparison and directly check the differences. The overall design has remained unchanged and with the laptop closed and without the possibility of comparison you would have serious problems guessing which model it is. The keyboard layout at first glance distinguishes the new model from the old one: not only does the drive mechanism change but also the layout of the keys. The 16 ″ MacBook weighs exactly 2 kg, 170 grams more than the 15 ″, basically the weight of a smartphone in exchange for a larger screen and an extra hour of battery life.
Keyboard: one step back to go forward
Let's face it: in the long months that took us from the 2018 generation to the 2019 MacBook Pro generation, we were waiting for a model that would solve the age-old problem of the keyboard of the latest Apple laptops, the result of research on innovation which, however, penalized the end user with malfunctions even in the medium term of the keys: having to buy a laptop that you already knew was the subject of a repair under warranty could be on the one hand reassuring but on the other a heavy burden to equip yourself for months and years to come with the uncertainty about the duration of a fundamental component of the MacBook. 
So the idea of Apple to retrace its steps is welcome and abandon the unfortunate idea of the butterfly mechanism and bring the Magic Keyboard mechanism to its laptops, which is in fact the first real plus of this generation of MacBook Pro. Cupertino has not limited itself to a revision of the keyboard mechanism: the al tri plus in everyday use are the configuration of the arrow keys that finally find the inverted “T” arrangement, the return of the “ESC” key and the fingerprint recognition key to their separate physical dimension rather than incorporated in the nice but easily activated (by mistake) Touch Bar.
Those arriving from a 2015 MacBook Pro or an older generation MacBook Air will not have major problems and will indeed find well-spaced keys with a comfortable and efficient stroke. Those arriving from a newer model will notice the difference more: the old keyboard when it did not become a bit spongy with dirt had a shorter stroke and an ability to slide from one key to another comfortable for those who write a lot (like your reviewer) but it was also very noisy: getting used (or re-accustomed for those like us who used the MacBook Pro when they were still PowerBooks) to the new keyboard is not so immediate but after two or 3 days you can easily find yourself with the excursion and the key response. On this page you will find the “autopsy” of the new keyboard made by iFixit.
An additional benefit is the convenience of not accidentally activating Siri on the touch bar or exiting a Numbers cell because the finger slips over the number line. Obviously, the arrangement of the arrow keys is also welcome: it is possible again to scroll through the photos in a long list without making mistakes as it happened even after years of frequentation of the previous layout.
The Trackpad
The size and functions of the trackpad do not change: an immense surface to manage any type of project: Windows users look for the right button in vain but those accustomed to the Mac know how to make the most of it also to enlarge images, switch to the various screen modes and perhaps forgetting that there is also the possibility of using Force Touch.
The other side of the shell: the 16 “monitor
Apple has not produced a 17 “model for some time and the transition to 16 inches does not affect the final dimensions of the laptop as much as it is based on the one hand on an increase in volume of the MacBook Pro (with other benefits that we will see later. ) and on the other hand on the reduction of the frame (reduction of 25% at the top and reduction of 34% at the sides) surrounding the screen: the result is that if you do not directly compare the notebooks on the outside you will not perceive much the new dimension but once you turn on the monitor you immediately have the feeling of a larger display space that brings the pixel count to 3072 × 1920 at 226 dpi (on the 15 ″ MacBook Pro we had 2880 × 1800 at 220 dpi), excellent for those who draw and edit audio and video.
The maximum brightness is 500 Nits, an excellent value (even if it is not increased compared to the predecssors and is surpassed by the competition in the models for “creators”) combined with one the screen does not have uneven areas in the lighting and obviously there is support for the Gamut P3 and the ability to manage the refresh rate in the Preferences (on this page there is we explain how it works). In short, it is a very high-level screen in the tradition of the latest Apple laptops that will certainly not replace a studio monitor but offers excellent versatility for those who work on the move.
Obviously you can manage the preferences on the dominant according to the external lighting to maintain maximum comfort even in the transition between natural and artificial light especially for those who use the laptop to navigate, write and work with spreadsheets.
Finally, let's not forget the possibility of managing external monitors: we can simultaneously have the native resolution on the integrated screen and up to two external monitors with a resolution of 6016 × 3384 at 60Hz or up to four external monitors with a resolution of 4096 × 2304 at 60Hz.
Play and record like never before
To continue to do its part as a computer chosen by hundreds of thousands (or millions?) Of musicians, the MacBook Pro has obtained a substantial redesign of the audio part that involves both the configuration of the speakers and that of the microphones which, as we have said previously the chassis and the redistribution of spaces inside.
The most evident result at the first listening is certainly the one obtained in the audio section: we have never heard such clear and crystalline sound in the mid-highs accompanied by low-end brakes and without the spurious vibrations of metal chassis: the configuration of the 16 “MacBook Pro with 6 speakers and woofers with “dual force canceling” technology that work in anti-phase to cancel distortions in the low range lead to a result that really amazes not for power but for quality on all frequencies and sound field definition: it is really exciting to follow a film of Netflix, lying down and with the screen in front … the combination of excellent brightness, excellent black and white values, wide color range and such engaging audio are a small personal theater in a minimal space to be enjoyed on the go, in a hotel or even at home.
If you don't want to use it for your personal home theather, keep in mind that the laptop is still one tool both to exercise your creative skills (audio and video) and to show those of others in presentations and demonstrations and great audio without the aid of additional speakers is always a plus point to make what you have to show more captivating bystanders. Going back to an old 15 “after several sessions with the new 16” can get slightly depressing …
The other side of sound reproduction is audio recording: even if the number of the microphones is the same compared to the previous series here we have an increase in performance or rather a reduction of noise that remains further back in the background and a voice more at the center of the scene. The various demos with direct instrument recordings do not eliminate the need for a professional microphone for top results but often there is the need to superimpose a voice on a movie or to jot down a musical idea or a quick audition and know that ours MacBook Pro will record everything on the fly in better quality and without a lot of accessories is absolutely helpful.
On the other hand, we cannot fail to point out the presence of the now obsolete 720 pixel camera that we have been carrying with us for generations of MacBooks: I agree that the videos have been shot for some time with the iPhone even at 4K with the front camera but it is difficult to understand how Apple continues to overlook the need for at least medium quality footage to record video tutorials or quality Facetime calls.
Few doors but powerful
To conclude our reconnaissance on the outside: little changes in the proportions of the slightly larger chassis and nothing changes in the ports available which always remain 4 + 1. Four very powerful thunderbolt 3 ports that combine the USB-C connector with the possibility of managing a data flow of 40 Gbps and connecting dozens of different possible Hubs with all the ports that (alas) Apple did not provide.
The only extra port is the in-out mini-jack that will allow you to continue using your old wired headphones or an amplifier without depending on bluetooth or an adapter. Obviously one of the ports acts as an input for the Power Delivery which we will talk about later. It is useless to ask Apple to insert a convenient SD Card port that would be especially useful for photographers: on this Cupertino n on compromise and the new pragmatism does not push for such a “revolutionary” move.
In any case, you can learn about the versatility of Thunderbolt 3 ports in the dedicated section of Cyberlayman that illustrates the many peripherals available and, in this article, its speed performance.
Also, let's not forget that the connector is USB-C and therefore can handle hundreds of peripherals of this type up to USB 3 gen 2 speeds (up to 10 GBps) including external drives, Hubs and converters.
The interior: new design and space for fans and battery
Sure, the chassis is now larger in size but the layout of the air intakes has remained the same but Apple has benefited not only from the measurements but also from a redesign that involves the positioning and size of the (removable) fans with a circulation of air that increases by 20%, with a battery that reaches 100 W / h and with a thermal design that can easily handle the processors of the i9 family without “throttling” problems. 
It is almost miraculous that the i9 and the new video cards are managed with a “only” 96 Watt power supply, (plus also compared to the previous series). The trackpad like the fans can be replaced independently but remember that here too the memories and the SSD are soldered to the motherboard and as for the MacBook 15 you have to decide at the time of purchase the preferred configuration without upgrade options at a later time. . But how does the new thermal design affect everyday use?
Obviously we could not experience the MacBook Pro 16 “at the temperatures of a torrid summer but in these two months we have squeezed it properly on 3D rendering and video rendering and we must say that compared to the” older “cousin the processing times decrease by a 10-15% with the same configuration thanks to the less strain of the system and the possibility of always working at maximum power: in short, fewer wheels on the screen and fans that start later and work more effectively ..
The more powerful battery is obviously a good help for autonomy: MacBook Pros are notoriously the most “saving” machines when disconnected from the mains and the new thermal design also helps in this area, bringing the autonomy to about 11 hours total. they catch up with writing and web browsing work. If you use the MacBook Pro for 3D rendering operations, the duration drops in proportion to the processor effort and could be reduced up to the 3 hours that we evaluated with a series of views calculated with the rendering of the 2020 demo version of Vectoworks made available to us by VideoCom .
The processor, video cards, RAM and disks
If the more powerful processors work better and the system cools down more effectively there is certainly another important factor that we must consider: the behavior of the SSDs. Having the MacBook Pro with RAM memory and SSDs soldered on the motherboard can be a limitation due to the impossibility of expansion but it brings advantages in the performance field and Apple uses storage units that are always at the top of the performance at the time of the launch of its portable.
And so we find ourselves at reading but also writing speeds for the onboard SSDs that are coupled with the management of 4K, 6K and 8K streams that the system is able to manage with extreme efficiency in editing. Those who make professional videos know very well that to produce 4K content it is necessary to shoot at higher resolutions with the possibility of making a cut of the shots in post production and that, in the short term, with the arrival of 8K TVs at lower prices there will be the need to directly edit content for 8K output. The 16 ″ MacBooks are also able to manage these flows obviously in the higher configurations with a lot of memory and top video cards (on this page you will find the comparison between the two top cards available) but already the basic configurations of the SSDs present exceptional performance with all the types of content.
Below are two simple comparison benchmarks that show the disks of a 16 “and a 15” in comparison
MacBook 15 ″ 2018 – 500 GB SSD 
MacBook 16 ″ 2019 – 1TB disk
As it is easy to notice, the writing speed increases significantly (even up to 50% more) and this has excellent effects on applications such as Photoshop and on the management of large archives that access the disk for caches and temporary recordings.
At work
As we mentioned at the beginning we could see in the presentation phase the exceptional capacities of the top models with AMD Radeon Pro 5500M video card (8GB of GDDR6 memory) and a considerable amount of RAM (we do not know if 32 GB or 64 GB) while for our tests we received a unit with i9 processor and AMD Radeon Pro 5300M video card with 4GB of GDDR6 memory and 16 GB of Ram, 1 TB which represents the second step of the configurations available as standard; in reality this seemed to us an advantage since it will probably be the most widespread configuration among professionals, photographers and for those who work in design and even in programming.
In these 2 months of alternating between one computer and another, we cannot but be enthusiastic about the new laptops: faster, more efficient, with a quieter keyboard, SSD disks with exceptional performance, a more comfortable screen and amazing sound. Working in the design and assembly phase, rendering and exporting the final results of our work and finally presenting it is certainly more comfortable and effective with the new models.
The price: a good surprise but pay attention to the configurations
Even if the prices of the MacBook Pro remain absolutely high, the new models have certainly brought some of the new Apple pragmatism also in the configurations and prices especially in relation to the SSDs supplied which as known cannot be replaced: in fact the performance and the SSD cuts double (the base model goes from 256 – absurd in 2018 – to 512 GB) and the price remains the same with an undoubted advantage for those who have to carry around and manage large amounts of data in the photo and video field. In addition, in recent months, the arrival of Apple products on Amazon has created high competition on standard models and it is easier to get discounts on the list price.
The basic model can be an excellent product for photographers or those who have to work with presentations with a high-level screen and audio and obviously for those who work with spreadsheets and calculation software that does not take advantage of the multi-core: the higher frequency of the i7 processor used as a single core can help in terms of speed and the internal disk is sufficient for a large library of images … but you must have a USB-C hub (or a USB-C card reader) to manage external disks and now “vintage” cards with USB-A.
We talked about the advantages of the superior model above. Below we see the two standard configurations compared.
It must be said that those who work with large projects video or in the field of 3D design will certainly want to grab, more than an I9 processor with 100 Mhz more, the fastest video card with 8 GB (most of the processing processes in the graphics field today exploit the power of the GPU more than ever) and at least 32 GB of RAM (among other things with improved performance since you go from 2400MHz to 2666MHz but always with a very high price per GB): such a configuration (we report it below in the essential features) brings the final price at 3.899 Euro VAT Including that there are so many but they ensure a top performance machine for many uses and for a long time.
1TB SSD
Conclusions
In recent years, Apple had released new MacBook Pros with periodic expirations without a real evolution other than that of the updated Intel processors: external design, internal configuration and port equipment have remained the same from 2016 onwards. The 16 “MacBook Pro, while not revolutionizing the basic principles of the most recent UniBody models, shows a more pragmatic company that focuses on ergonomics, functionality and actual performance rather than respecting design dogmas whose real usefulness was not understood .
The new MacBook Pro 16 with a slight increase in size have a future-proof keyboard, sound better, record better, have a longer battery life which combined with an optimized cooling system and a more powerful power supply make better use of the processors and video cards allowing you, with the same clock and core, a more efficient and ultimately more performing system especially if you have to create audio and video. Even if the performance increase with identical CPU and GPU is not exceptional (from 10 to 15/20%), the added value is undoubtedly the reliability that we have been able to experience in these two months.
Pro
Larger screen, improved thermal efficiency affecting performance and (increased) battery life, availability of configurations with memory up to 64GB, top video cards with noticeable performance boost, phenomenal audio for a laptop, top performance internal drives .
Versus
The front camera is still at 720p, RAM and SSD are soldered and do not allow any expansion whatsoever, the Wi-Fi sector has remained unchanged (no Wi-Fi 6)
Where to buy MacBook 16 ″
The new MacBook Pro can be purchased in Apple Stores, Apple Store Online and Apple Premium resellers such as Juice also in customized configuration. The two standard models can be purchased at various retail stores including online including Amazon.
