MacBook Pro 13" upgraded with Touch Bar and new CPU, MacBook  Air gets a discount

After upgrading the premium MacBook Pros a couple of months ago, Apple is preparing for the “back to school” season with a refreshed entry-level Pro and a small upgrade to the Air.

The base 13” MacBook Pro now has a touch bar (originally, it launched with F keys) and Touch ID. The old dual-core CPU is gone, swapped out for an 8th generation quad-core Intel Core i5 (Coffee Lake).

This model starts at $1,300 (128GB SSD), but there’s a Core i7 version for $300 more and you can add more RAM (starts at 8GB, 16GB is $200 extra) and more storage too.

Note that this MacBook Pro still uses the flawed butterfly keyboard. Also, the number of USB-C ports remains at a disappointing two.

MacBook Pro 13" now with Touch Bar and TouchID

Meanwhile, students can get a $100 discount on MacBook Air, meaning the base model starts at $1,000. Both it and the Pro above got the True Tone feature on their Retina displays (this feature automatically adjusts the color temperature of the screen).

MacBook Air with a TrueTone Retina display

In other Apple laptop news, the 12” MacBook has been discontinued. That model hadn’t been upgraded in 2 years, so it’s getting replaced by the revamped Air. By the way, despite their names, the 12” MacBook was both thinner and lighter than the Air (but had a wimpy CPU).

Finally, Apple’s Back To School promo starts today. You can grab a free pair of Beats Studio 3 Wireless headphones with several Mac and MacBook models (including the two new laptops from today, of course). There's more, you can get 20% off AppleCare+ and more, check here for details.

Apple reminds that the new macOS Catalina is coming this Fall.

Source | Via