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Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touchbar (MR9Q2X/A) review

Apple 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touchbar (MR9Q2X/A)

CHOICE Expert Rating

75%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Very good processing performance in our tests
  • Very good storage performance for reading and writing data in our tests
  • Very solid build quality
  • Very good screen
  • Excellent touchpad
  • Fast charge to 80% capacity; fast overall charging time
  • Excellent screen viewing angles
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Shallow keys may not be comfortable to use for some
  • No USB-C to USB 3.0 or HDMI adapters supplied

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
macOS

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
75%
Performance score
68%
Tablet use score
N/A
Ease of use score
81%
Battery life score
62%
Display score
87%
Audio score
55%
Wi-Fi score
75%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
1162
Storage read-speed (MBps)
2484
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
37
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
5:23
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:12
Expert tester comments
Apple's 2018 version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touchbar is a little workhorse. The processing power and storage speed hidden inside the slim chassis give this MacBook Pro enough speed for even the most demanding of tests (such as video and image editing). Not only that, its screen is a delight to look at, and the unit is very light to carry around on a daily basis. Our only reservations are with the very shallow keyboard (which in this model has a layer of silicone under it to make it quieter) and the Touchbar (which takes a lot of getting used to). Note: This laptop's performance is not directly comparable to current products due to it being tested with an older version of our benchmark.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
D
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Not collected
Replace/upgrade RAM
Not collected
Slots for additional RAM
Not collected
Replace/upgrade storage
Not collected
Slot for additional storage
Not collected
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Not collected
Country of origin
Not collected

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$2,699.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
13
Native screen resolution (pixels)
2560 x 1600
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Core i5-8259U
CPU frequency (GHz)
2.3
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655
Storage capacity (GB)
256
Available user space (GB)
224
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
5
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.4
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.3
Size (mm, H x D x W)
15 x 212 x 304

Features

Screen finish
Glossy
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
0
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
0
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
4
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
16

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