Rumored MacBook Pro Refresh Will Be 30% Faster, Bump up to 14-inches
Credit: YouTube / EverythingApplePro
An apparently leaked benchmark, first spotted on Twitter by Wccftech, suggests that the upcoming MacBook Pro refresh could sport an Intel 10th-generation Ice Lake processor.
While it isn’t specifically stated in the leak, the machine is largely expected to be the upcoming 13-inch refresh.
The specific chip shown off in the benchmark is an i7-1068NG7 Ice Lake 2.3GHz chip with turbo boost speeds up to 4.1GHz.
Compared to the high-end 13-inch MacBook Pro from last year, the new machine could see CPU and GPU performance up to 12 and 30 percent faster, respectively.
2020 13″ Macbook Pro
> i7-1068NG7 2.3GHz base 4.1GHz boost 28W
> 32GB of RAM
> 2TB SSD pic.twitter.com/o4k6ymc6oJ— _rogame (@_rogame) February 15, 2020
It’s worth noting that this move would make the 13-inch MacBook Pro the first in the lineup to sport a 10th-generation chip. (This year’s 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh is also expected to adopt a 10th-gen chip, though likely one based on the Comet Lake architecture.)
Of course, gains in processor and graphics performance is pretty much a given when it comes to yearly refreshes. But this year’s 13-inch MacBook Pro may have other features that will win fans over.
For one, the device is expected to ditch the problem-prone butterfly keyboard in favor of the scissor-switch Magic Keyboard seen in the 16-inch MacBook Pro. That alone may be enough to sway MacBook fans who have been holding out for a device with a more reliable keyboard.
It’s also possible that Apple will increase the display size on the new smaller MacBook Pro. If we see a similar bump to the 16-inch refresh, that could mean that the device will actually end up being a 14-inch MacBook Pro.
Other new features and updates seen on the 16-inch model, like a significantly improved thermal architecture and audio experience, may also show up on the smaller MacBook Pro model.
In any case, past reports suggest that Apple will release the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro within the first half of the year. That could mean that we’ll see it at the rumored March 31 keynote, although WWDC ’20 is also a possibility.