Today Apple is releasing new revamped versions of its 13” MacBook Pro line-up, most notably updating the series with the new scissor-switch style Magic Keyboard, as well as giving the option for Intel’s new 10th generation Ice Lake CPUs in the higher end models.

Apple last winter had rolled out its new 16” MacBook Pro which had introduced the new Magic Keyboard, making the choice to drop the controversial butterfly switch keyboard back to a scissor switch design. Today’s 13” line-up adopts the same changes across the smaller form factor models, including the new Touch Bar design that has been narrowed down to now include a physical escape key on the keyboard.

The new design otherwise doesn’t significantly diverge from its summer-2019 refresh, although this year it’s every so slightly thicker at 1.56cm instead of 1.49cm – certainly unnoticeable in everyday usage. It’s also 30g heavier at up to 1.4kg now (3.1lbs).

The most significantly internal change is the option for a new 10th generation Intel Ice Lake based CPU, running at 2.0GHz base clocks and Turbo Boost to up to 3.8GHz. As always with Apple products, this likely is a custom SKU just for Apple’s line-up as there’s no matching public part with these frequencies – the closest part is an i7-1060G7 which features the same peak clock, but only a meagre 1.0GHz base clock. Apple here likely is running a higher base TDP of 20-25W. For a $200 upsell, you can choose a higher-end 2.3/4.1GHz CPU configuration.

Edit May 10th: Intel has added the new i5-1038NG7 and i7-1068NG7 to their Ark database. These are 28W processors.

Whilst the Ice Lake based parts are new, Apple will continue to sell 8th generation Coffee Lake based parts at the lower end price spectrum in the $1299 and $1499 price points. Aside from the CPUs themselves, the two generational offerings of CPUs will also differ in their DRAM configuration as the new ICL parts come with 16GB of LPDDR4X-3733, whilst the CFL parts continue to just offer 8GB of LPDDR3-2133. The ICL parts are upgradeable to 32GB for an extra $400, and the CFL parts upgrade to 16GB for $100.

The display panel seemingly remains unchanged, featuring a 13” 2560 x 1600 IPS LCD panel with a wide Display P3 colour gamut, 500 nits peak brightness, and True Tone ambient colour adjustment.

MacBook Pro 13-Inch 2020
Model 2020 13-Inch
Higher-End
2019 13-Inch
Higher-End
2018 13-Inch
Entry-Level
CPU 2.0 GHz/3.8 GHz
Core i5-1038NG7

2.3 GHz/4.1 GHz
Core i7-1068NG7

4 CPU Cores
(Ice Lake)
2.4 GHz/4.1 GHz
Core i5-8???U
4 CPU Cores
(Coffee Lake)
1.4 GHz/3.9 GHz
Core i5-8???U
4 CPU Cores
(Coffee Lake)
GPU Intel Iris Plus Intel Iris Plus 655
(128MB eDRAM)
Intel Iris Plus 645
(? eDRAM)
Display 13" 2560 x 1600 IPS LCD
DCI-P3 Gamut
True Tone
Memory 16 GB LPDDR4X-3733 8 GB LPDDR3-2133
SSD 512 GB PCIe SSD 256 GB PCIe SSD 128 GB PCIe SSD
Touch Bar Yes
I/O 4x Thunderbolt 3 (supports DP1.2 & USB 3.1 Gen 2 modes),
3.5mm Audio
2x Thunderbolt 3 (supports DP1.2 & USB 3.1 Gen 2 modes),
3.5mm Audio
Battery Capacity 58 Wh 58.2 Wh
Battery Life 10 Hours
Dimensions 1.56 cm x 30.41 cm x 21.24 cm 1.49 cm x 30.41 cm x 21.24 cm
Weight 3.1 lbs (1.4 kg) 3.02 lbs (1.37 kg)
Launch Price $1799 $1799 $1299

Connectivity-wise, the new 2020 13” MacBook Pros come in two flavours: the lower-end $1299 and $1499 Coffee Lake based models feature two Thunderbolt 3 ports, whilst the Ice Lake based parts get four. We also see an addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, Apple seemingly hasn’t upgraded the Wi-Fi on the new models, and WiFi 6 / 802.11ax still isn’t present as they still make due with WiFi 5 / 802.11ac capability.

Battery-wise, there’s no changes in capacity as we’re still looking at a 58Wh unit, and Apple claims an identical “10 hours” of usage for all new models – the same as last year’s Coffee Lake models.

The higher-end Ice Lake parts come now with the aforementioned base 16GB of DRAM config at a $1799 price point with a 512GB SSD, or a $1999 option with a 1TB SSD. Storage configurations for the ICL models are doubled across the board, with the possibility to choose up to a 4TB configuration for an extra $1200.

The new 13" MacBook lineup is available for order directly from Apple starting today.

Related Reading:

Source: Apple

Comments Locked

85 Comments

View All Comments

  • sor - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link

    I doubt higher enough IPC to make up a 300/400mhz deficit in clock. Intel hasn’t been making those kids of IPC gains recently.
  • Jorgp2 - Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - link

    ?

    It's a 20% improvement in IPC, compared to and that has been closer to 5-10% with Zen+ and Zen2.
  • Valantar - Wednesday, May 6, 2020 - link

    All your numbers are (a bit) off. ICL over SKL is ~18%. Zen+ over Zen is ~2-3%. Zen 2 over Zen+ is ~15%.
  • FakThisShttyGame - Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - link

    Well they've been using the 5th gen chip for MacBook Air for nearly 5 years foking years (Early 2015 - July 2019) So I'm not surprised that Apple do this crap again at all. I guess apple played a big role on keeping intel at 14nm
  • louisemunderwood - Saturday, May 9, 2020 - link

    Make money online from home extra cash more than $18k to $21k. Start getting paid every month Thousands Dollars online. I have received $26K in this month by just working online from home in my part time.every person easily do this job by just open this link and follow details on this page to get started… W­­W­W.iⅭ­a­s­h­68­.Ⅽ­O­Ⅿ
  • hildegardrdungan - Monday, May 11, 2020 - link

    Make money online from home extra cash more than $18k to $21k. Start getting paid every month Thousands Dollars online. I have received $26K in this month by just working online from home in my part time.every person easily do this job by just open this link and follow details on this page to get started… W­­W­W.iⅭ­a­s­h­68­.Ⅽ­O­Ⅿ
  • azfacea - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link

    i wouldnt really call it a laptop. its that thing that apple thinks should come no ports and no functional keyboard. And it seems apple customers are fine with it. i am happy for them. but resent the label.
  • tipoo - Monday, May 4, 2020 - link

    You are aware this news release means the last butterfly keyboard is gone? What's non functional about this keyboard?

    Touchbar is still a preference most seem to rather be without, but the reliability issues are behind us.
  • azfacea - Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - link

    the keyboard is useless. its too thin it might as well be a touchpad
  • FakThisShttyGame - Tuesday, May 5, 2020 - link

    They switched back to the old keyboard for this model and it feels great unlike the paper keys last year

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now