Reviewers praise the display, faster graphics and storage, speakers and lighter design, while finding the price high. Macworld dislikes the shallow keyboard; Stuff loves it but finds the Touch Bar less useful. Ars notes modest CPU gains and shorter battery life with the discrete GPU active; Stuff also finds everyday endurance disappointing.
Retina display; LED-backlit IPS; millions of colours
Pixel density
220 ppi
Colour range
Wide colour (P3)
Display features
Scaled resolutions of 1920 × 1200, 1680 × 1050, 1280 × 800 or 1024 × 640
Performance
Processor
Intel Core i7-6700HQ, Intel Core i7-6820HQ or Intel Core i7-6920HQ
CPU cores
4
CPU threads
8
Graphics
AMD Radeon Pro 450, AMD Radeon Pro 460 or AMD Radeon Pro 455
Memory
16 GB
Storage
256 GB to 2 TB
CPU
Quad-core Intel Core i7 at 2.6 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.5 GHz and 6 MB shared L3 cache, or at 2.7 GHz with up to 3.6 GHz and 8 MB cache; both configurable to 2.9 GHz with up to 3.8 GHz and 8 MB cache. Ars confirms the i7-6700HQ, i7-6820HQ and i7-6920HQ identifiers.
GPU
Intel HD Graphics 530 with automatic switching to discrete Radeon graphics. The 2.6 GHz base has Radeon Pro 450 with 2 GB GDDR5; the 2.7 GHz base has Radeon Pro 455 with 2 GB GDDR5; each is configurable to Radeon Pro 460 with 4 GB GDDR5.
Memory type
16 GB of 2133 MHz LPDDR3 onboard memory. Apple publishes this system speed; Intel lists LPDDR3-1866 in its generic processor specifications.
Storage type
PCIe-based onboard SSD; 256 GB base with 2.6 GHz processor configurable to 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB; 512 GB base with 2.7 GHz processor configurable to 1 TB or 2 TB. The optional 2.9 GHz processor retains its base configuration's graphics and storage choices.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Up to 10 hours
Battery capacity
76 Wh
Weight
1.83 kg
Thickness
15.5 mm
Width × depth
349.3 × 240.7 mm
Battery life detail
Lithium-polymer battery; up to 10 hours wireless web or iTunes movie playback and 30 days standby. Apple's October 2016 tests used the 2.6 GHz Core i7, 16 GB memory and 256 GB SSD. Weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
Charger
87 W USB-C Power Adapter
Materials
Aluminium enclosure
Colours
Silver; Space Grey
Connections
Ports
4 × Thunderbolt 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 5
Bluetooth
4.2
Webcam
720p FaceTime HD
Operating system
macOS
Port detail
Four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports support charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt up to 40 Gb/s and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; 3.5 mm headphone jack. VGA, HDMI and Thunderbolt 2 output require separate adaptors.
External displays
Built-in screen plus two 5120 × 2880 displays at 60 Hz with over a billion colours, or four 4096 × 2304 displays at 60 Hz with over a billion colours
Keyboard
Full-size backlit keyboard with 64 US or 65 ISO keys, four arrow keys, Touch Bar and ambient light sensor; second-generation butterfly mechanism
Trackpad
Force Touch trackpad with pressure sensing, Force clicks and Multi-Touch gestures
Speakers
Stereo speakers with high dynamic range
Microphones
Three microphones
Biometrics
Touch ID fingerprint sensor; Apple T1 chip
In the box
15-inch MacBook Pro; 87 W USB-C Power Adapter; 2 m USB-C Charge Cable
Configurations
Processor
Memory
Storage
Graphics
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
256 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
256 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6700HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 455
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 455
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 455
Intel Core i7-6820HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
256 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
256 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 450
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 460
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
512 GB
AMD Radeon Pro 455
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
1 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 455
Intel Core i7-6920HQ
16 GB
2 TB
AMD Radeon Pro 455
Pros and cons
Pros
+P3 Retina display with 500-nit brightness
+Discrete Radeon graphics with up to 4 GB memory
+Supports two 5K or four 4K external displays at 60 Hz
