MacBook Pro 2022 reviews are in: Here's the verdict

MacBook Pro 2020 reviews are in: Hither'southward the verdict

(Image credit: Apple)

The first round of 13-inch MacBook Pro 2020 reviews are arriving, and nosotros're seeing a lot of conviction in Apple's decision to eradicate the Butterfly keyboard infestation from the mid-range MacBook. But is this the right laptop for you to buy at present?

The early on MacBook Pro reviews also note that this update features solid to bully performance boosts, depending on what it'southward existence compared to. Of course, the pundits also take some complaints.

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The MacBook Pro 2020 is on the heavy side for a xiii-inch laptop, and y'all have to pay a lot of coin to get the latest and greatest 10th gen Intel Core processor. Yet, the battery life is quite good given the power under the hood.

Here's everything the critics are saying almost the 13-inch MacBook Pro:

Laptop Mag

Macbook pro 2020 13 inch price — (Image credit: Apple)

At our sister site Laptop Mag, Sherri L. Smith noted the positive — albeit incremental — upgrades, and also pointed out a few ways it could improve. While overall performance proved solid (and its SSD speeds wowed), Sherri found the MacBook Pro'south new Magic Keyboard to be a great upgrade, and noted that the MacBook Pro'south speakers pack the thunder. If only it were as thin (or thinner) as similar PCs, which also lasted much longer on a single charge.

Pros

"The Magic Keyboard is clicky with house feedback, making for a very comfortable typing experience. I cruised past my typical 70 words-per-minute typing average on the 10fastfingers test, reaching 76 wpm."

"On the Blackmagic benchmark, the MacBook's 512GB SSD had a read fourth dimension of 2,060.two megabytes per 2d, shattering the 1,421.9MBps average. It also crushed the i,198.7MBps write boilerplate with a baking score of 2,315.9MBps."

"This 13-inch notebook tin get plenty loud. My modest living/dining room was filled with warm, balanced audio when I listened to Tony! Toni! Tone! play 'Whatever Y'all Desire.'"

Cons

"The MacBook Pro is a little on the heavy side, at 3.ane pounds. Both the HP Spectre x360 (2.vii pounds) and Dell XPS 13 (2.eight pounds) are a good deal lighter."

"The MacBook Pro delivers all-day performance, lasting 10 hours and 21 minutes on the Laptop Mag Battery Test … [which is] nowhere near equally long every bit the XPS thirteen and Spectre, which clocked times of 12:39 and 13:19, respectively."

The Verge

Dieter Bohn at The Verge first impressions of the new xiii-inch MacBook Pro are pretty positive. Bohn reviewed the $i,799 version which comes with the upgraded 10th Gen Core i5 processor, as well as 16GB of speedy LPDDR4X RAM and a 512GB SSDD. He championed the performance at the stand out characteristic of the new Mac machine, also as the move to the new scissor-central Magic Keyboard. However, as the new MacBook Pro comes with both eighth-generation every bit well equally 10th-gen Intel processors, Bohn noted that choosing the right one could exist tricky. And while the base models have the Touch Bar, it's a little stingy on USB-C ports.

Pros

"Compared to my 2017 13-inch MacBook Pro, it feels faster in every manner. That'due south to exist expected, of course, simply I believe these spec bumps add upward to slightly more than the sum of their parts when it comes to performance."

"It's always possible that there's a critical flaw nobody has caught yet. But I think it'south prophylactic to trust this Magic Keyboard — and this MacBook."

Cons

"Choosing betwixt that model and the higher-end spec with Intel's newer 10th Gen processors isn't equally simple every bit some might think."

"The base model keeps the Touch Bar, but it has two Thunderbolt ports instead of four."

Engadget

Engadget'due south Dana Wollman said the xiii-inch MacBook Pro 2020 is "easier to recommend" thanks to Apple tree getting rid of the much-maligned Butterfly keyboard. And Wollman likewise noted that the specs bump of the more than expensive models delivers improved graphics performance. However, a hot lesser and the ongoing omission of pro-grade ports" were flagged equally shortcomings to the newest MacBook Pro.

Pros

"For shoppers who accept been holding out for a new MacBook Pro with a more usable keyboard, you lot can upgrade at present, confident yous're making a expert option."

"There's besides enough operation clout here that it'due south clear why someone would choose this over the similarly sized MacBook Air."

Cons

"I still miss having at least one full-sized USB port, not to mention an SD card reader. I don't remember Apple will ever opposite course on this but it however boggles my mind that a machine aimed at creative professionals wouldn't have these things built in."

"As for the Affect Bar, I notwithstanding wish it weren't there, just I've by and large made peace with information technology. I'd much prefer a row of physical office keys, which yous'll still detect on the MacBook Air. I haven't institute much employ for Touch Bar shortcuts, just I exercise miss the physical pause button."

TechCrunch

Brian Heater at TechCrunch tried to place the new 13-inch MacBook Pro in contrast with the rest of the MacBook lineup, and establish that the recent upgrades to the MacBook Air brand it harder for folks to know which one to purchase. However, his fairly positive review talked upwards how much better the Magic Keyboard is to the butterfly-switch keyboards, which is alone enough to brand him "seriously … reconsider upgrading [his] four-twelvemonth-old machine." And every bit a beau MacBook Pro owner, I become that; nosotros purchase these laptops hoping they last a lot longer than just 4 years.

Pros

"The xiii-inch becomes the third and final member of the MacBook family to become the new keyboard. Information technology'due south not "Magic" as the proper name implies (Apple actually does honey the K-word), just improvements are immediate and vast. The feel is considerably softer to the affect and quieter than previous versions, and the ane millimeter of primal travel is much easier on the easily."

"There are other overnice touches, here, including the improver of a defended Escape key. Information technology's a small but welcome alleviation that the Bear upon Bar can't do everything."

"Same 13.iii-inch, 2560 x 1600 Retina display. It's also, for that matter, same equally you'll discover on the Air, though the 13-inch's is 500 nits vs. the Air'due south 400."

Cons

"The Pro'due south battery life is rated at upward to ten hours, to the Air's 11. Out of the box, I got several hours of life, doing piece of work and listening to music, but like the Air'southward claims, 10 hours is definitely a stretch here with everyday usage."

"Really, the only complaint I would level against it is that the company hasn't done a lot to distinguish the outside of the car from the $300 cheaper Air (the Air starts at $999, the Pro at $i,299), beyond port count."

Macworld

Over at Macworld, Roman Loyola shared the early benchmark testing results for the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, every bit they're merely getting started with their review. And and then far it's mostly adept news. Non simply does this yr'south model (MacWorld tested the $one,799 model that has the 10th Gen Intel CPUs and not the intro-level model with 8th Gen chips) show single cadre prowess against last year'southward model, it even keeps upwardly with the xvi-inch MacBook Pro in that category.

Once nosotros get his full review, we expect to come across some of the laptop's negatives highlighted.

Pros

"The boost in performance from the one-time MacBook Pro to new model looks impressive. Often, nosotros come across a 10 to 15 percent increase, but [in Geekbench 5 single-core benchmarks], information technology'due south 24 percent."

"It'southward likewise difficult to ignore that a single core of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro's processor is able to go along stride with a unmarried core of the 16-inch MacBook Pro's processor, despite significantly lower core and heave clock speeds."

"When information technology comes to multi-cadre functioning, the new MacBook Pro provides a modest increase over the model it replaces. With a Geekbench 5 score of 4480, that is just over a 14% improvement. When you consider that the new model has a maximum boost clock speed of 3.8GHz and the one-time one went up to 4.1GHz, that's adequately impressive."

Henry is a senior editor at Tom'southward Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the by six-plus years. Prior to joining Tom'due south Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He's also covered the wild world of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.