Apple releases MacBook Pro 8-core, fixes keyboard

Apple on Tuesday released new MacBook Pros, bringing an 8-core Intel processor to the laptop for the first time. Apple also told me today that its made some changes to the keyboard that it says will substantially reduce an issue that some users have been having with previous generation keyboards.

The 15-inch MacBook Pro comes in 6- and 8-core with Turbo Boost speeds up to 5.0 GHz. The 8-core model is up to 40 percent faster than the previous generation MacBook Pro 6-core and up to twice as fast as the quad-core MacBook Pro.

Starting at $1,799 and $2,399 respectively, the updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and 15-inch MacBook Pro are available today.

Creative professionals will certainly get a significant boost from using an 8-core MacBook Pro, whether they are working on high-resolution images, compiling code, working on music projects, or rendering 4k video.

Another change in the newest MacBook Pro computers is with the keyboard. While Apple says the vast majority of its customers are happy with the keyboard, they do take customer complaints seriously, and work to fix any issues.

To address the problem, Apple said they changed the material in the keyboard’s butterfly mechanism that should substantially reduce issues that some users have seen.

Apple also told me that any problems with the butterfly keyboard on any of its MacBook Pros would be covered at no cost to the customer. The company has also taken steps to improve the repair process, shortening the time it takes to make repairs to the keyboards.

This is a good day for MacBook Pro customers. We have the fastest MacBook Pro ever released, there is an updated keyboard mechanism that will hopefully put that problem to rest for good, and if you do have a keyboard problem, Apple will fix it at no cost.