Apple Inc’s high-end laptop, the MacBook Pro, which has not had a major overhaul in four years, is getting a little more like the iPhone.
Apple on Thursday showed off new MacBook Pros that feature the Touch Bar, a touch-screen strip at the top of the keyboard that changes to display functions specific to the app being used.
The company also added its Touch ID function to the power button of the computers, allowing users to unlock the device or buy something with Apple Pay with the touch of a finger.
Photo: Bloomberg
Both features are adapted from the iPhone, continuing Apple’s pattern of adding to its laptops features that make its smartphones popular. Last month, Apple released a software update that put its Siri voice assistant on the Mac.
“Mobile has focused us on simplicity,” said Julie Ask, a technology analyst at research firm Forrester.
Apple executives announced the new MacBooks at a news conference at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, California. Two days earlier, Apple reported declining revenue and profits for the quarter that ended last month. The number of Macs sold in the quarter dropped 14 percent compared with a year earlier.
The company is hoping that its new iPhones and other products, like the updated MacBooks, will return it to growth during holiday season.
The new MacBooks, which are thinner, lighter and faster than previous models, are primarily aimed at business customers and others who spend a lot of time on their computers, said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research.
“It’s about getting stuff done,” Dawson said.
The cheapest model with the new Touch Bar, a 13-inch machine, is US$1,800, and the 15-inch version starts at US$2,400. Apple’s least expensive laptop, the ultralight Air, is unchanged and costs US$1,000, while competitors’ machines running Microsoft Corp’s Windows typically cost US$500 or less.
Dawson said Apple’s strategy of putting more touch features on the keyboard is in sharp contrast to Microsoft, which on Wednesday unveiled a new desktop PC with powerful touch features on the display.
“Apple wants you to keep your hands where they are,” he said.
The Touch Bar replaces the function keys at the top of the current laptop keyboards and pops up customized functions depending on the app. In Apple’s Photos app, for example, it allows users to perform simple editing and play videos. In the Mail app, the touch screen shows reply options, automatically suggests words and phrases and shows a menu of the user’s commonly used emoji.
“I do think it’s worth a moment for a requiem for the function key,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing, after unveiling the Touch Bar.
The new laptops immediately drew some complaints because they use a newer type of port, USB-C, that requires adapters to work with older accessories.
Apple did keep the traditional headphone jack on the Macs, unlike its new iPhone 7 line.
Apple also previewed a new app for its Apple TV set-top box, as well as iPhones and iPads.
Called simply TV, the app, which is to be released in December, will allow users to see in one place their favorite shows from the other video apps on their device.
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