MacBook Pro 2016 specs, price and release date: Ten new things to do with Touch Bar

IBTimes SG explores ten new things you can do with new MacBook Pro's Touch Bar.

MacBook Pro 2016
MacBook Pro 2016 specs, price and release date: Ten new things to do with Touch Bar Apple

Apple has just released the pricing and availability details for its newly launched MacBook Pro wherein the 13in entry model has a base price of $1,499. Both the other two models - 13in MacBook Pro and the 15in MacBook Pro - come with Touch Bar /Touch ID and are priced at $1,799 and $2,399 respectively.

MacBook Pro availability
MacBook Pro availability Apple

The entry level 13in MacBook Pro replaces the MacBook Air with slimmer design and power-packed hardware components including the 2GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 8GB of memory, 256GB SSD for storage and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The base model of MacBook Pro is already available for purchase via App Store while the other 13in MacBook Pro with Touch Bar will hit the retail shelves in two to three weeks.

The top end model of MacBook Pro featuring the 15in display and a dedicated Radeon Pro 450 graphics card will also hit the retail stores in around two weeks time.

The Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro is basically a tiny Retina multi-touch display that's placed right above the main keyboard. Based on the app which is under use, the Touch Bar will affect your experience.

MacBook Pro prices
MacBook Pro prices Apple

Here are the ten things that can be done using the Touch Bar:

Predictive text for keyboard

You can now get fully-customised predictive text suggestions for keyboard inputs via Touch Bar.

Control Music

Enjoy the music better with Play, Pause, skip track and other nifty audio controls with the Touch Bar.

Control Siri

You now have a dedicated Siri button on the Touch Bar.

Web Browsing

Touch Bar enables quick access to bookmarks and other options including the back and Home buttons within the Safari browser.

Find Locations

Access your favourite locations on the Apple Maps with just a single tap on the displayed icons, which brings up the search feature to your fingertips.

Better Editing Options

You can now edit photos and videos through centralised Touch Bar controls across different apps meant for image and video editing. You can even add emojis to your messaging apps using the Touch Bar.

Accept or reject calls

You can now replicate the user-friendly interface of iOS while making or receiving calls on the MacBook Pro, thanks to the accept and reject buttons embedded into the Touch Bar.

Supports wide variety of apps

The Touch Bar feature is now supported on a wide variety of apps including Safari, Apple Pay, FaceTime, iMovie, GarageBand, Final Cut Pro X, Messages, Keynote, Xcode, Finder and Mail.

Support for third-party apps

Apple has extended Touch Bar support to a bunch of popular third-party apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Algoriddim djay and more.

Quick email shortcuts

The Touch Bar feature brings you access to quick email shortcuts in the Mail app.

[Source: Redmond Pie]

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