Apple's new MacBook Pro range redefines the possibilities of the laptop.

As always with new product launches from Apple, the new MacBooks are faster, thinner and lighter than the predecessors. This year was no different. In fact, Apples own unveiling event felt a little subdued. However, this year we finally got some major changes.

Apple have rejigged their MacBook line up entirely over the last 12 months. Whilst the MacBook Air and 12 inch MacBook are aimed at your average consumer the MacBook Pro is now truly aimed at creative professionals (like us) who require the top level performance from their machine. As you can imagine, there is a significant difference between the £949 MacBook Air and the fully maxed out (eye watering) £6,209. We'll be focusing on the new MacBook Pro 15 inch without all the eye boggling upgrades.

Renowned for their minimalistic and aesthetically pleasing design, the new Mac's look similar to their older generations. However, there are a few major changes; most notably is the introduction of the Touch Bar. This touchscreen strip at the top of the keyboard is very iPad like; rich in colours and very responsive. In order to make space for the TouchBar Apple has done away with the function keys of old, pointing to the very beauty of the Touch Bar - its versatility. When in different applications (such as Photoshop which we use a lot) you gain access to the controls you're used to using with a cursor but now you can literally interact with them, which makes life a lot easier! While browsing the web you can use it to quickly flick between tabs, or in Photos you can easily choose which frame of a live photo you'd like. The best thing is, as developers realise the power of the Touch Bar, they can update their applications and unleash new controls.

Another significant update is the new 'butterfly' keyboard. Specifically for the new models, Apple claim to have completely redesigned the keyboard. In reality, we do think it is much nicer and easier to type on, but it does make a significant amount more noise than our old MacBooks. This year Apple also added a next-gen finger print reader integrated into the Power On / Off button. Much like Touch ID, it is incredibly easy to set up and can be used to authenticate payments as well as simply log in.

There's no doubt that the MacBook Pro 2018 15-inch thin design makes it an incredibly desirably laptop however this does have some drawbacks... depending on how you look at it. In order to keep to this sleek design, the new MacBook Pros come with 4 USB-C ports. If you want to plug any of your standard USB devices in, you'll need an adapter. If you want to plug your SD card in, you'll need an adapter. If you want to plug in your new £999 iPhone X, you guessed it, you'll need an adapter (or a special cable). However, many tech insiders predict that it won't be long until the standard port for all devices will be USB-C. This is because it can deliver extremely fast charging and data transfer speeds whilst still being able to transfer audio and visual information. For example, if you had a new mac and a USB-C compatible monitor, you'd only need one cable to charge your mac as well as run the audio and visual link, instead of the usual three! Perhaps Apple is simply ahead of the times... Like when they removed the headphone jack from iPhone... although we won't start that debate here. You'll be happy to know there is a headphone jack on the new MacBooks!

The launch of the new MacBook range also demonstrates the key area where Apple are leagues apart from their competitors : Mac OS. Apple operating system is simple, intuitive and extraordinarily powerful. All areas of the Apple ecosystem come together perfectly on the MacBook. Photos, iMessages, Mail, Safari... the list goes on. All of these apps are interconnected. When doing a shoot, our photographers can be taking pictures on iPhone X and seconds later they are in Photos and our iCloud Drive uploads folder ready to be published.

Apple remains the King of Technology. This new iteration of the MacBook demonstrates how powerful, aesthetically pleasing, intuitive and desirable this laptop really is. The only set back is the 87 years of debt you'll be in paying the extraordinary cost of it off.

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