Apple MacBook Pro 13 (2020) review

Apple's upgrade cadence for its MacBook lines has been odd over the years. At some points, Apple leads the way grabbing the latest Intel processors for its Pro-grade laptops. At other times it lags behind its Windows competition, sometimes by a very wide margin indeed. With Apple reportedly eyeing off a move to its own ARM-based architecture for its Mac lines, the 2020 models could be amongst the very last to rely on Intel at all.

For the 2020 MacBook Pro line, that means a bit of an each-way bet, with the cheapest MacBook Pro models featuring processors that are quite old, as well as a few more cutting-edge models if you're willing to pony up the cash for them. Along with the switch to Apple's "newer" Magic Keyboard, the end result can be a very pleasing model, although it's worth sorting out exactly what you want as to whether it's the best Mac for your needs.

Design

Design

• 13.3 inch display
• magic keyboard
• limited ports

• Read our full review of the Apple MacBook Pro 13's design

  Apple's sold a lot of MacBook Pro units on the promise of portability and power, but it's been very reluctant to significantly modify a design that has more than a few years on the clock. You'd need to really stare hard at a previous generation 13 inch Pro and this year's model to pick the difference between them.

  The main display on the MacBook Pro 13 is a 13.3 inch "retina" display. OK, "retina" is a meaningless Apple marketing term that means whatever Apple wants it to mean that year, but what you're looking at is a 2560x1600 pixel display with Apple's usual attention to detail when it comes to colour clarity and reproduction.

  In terms of port expansion, you get either two or four Thunderbolt ports on the MacBook Pro 13. Yes, that's confusing, but it comes down to how much you're willing to pay, with the two lower-tier Pro models only offering up 2 ports – one of which you'll want to use from time to time for charging – while the upper tier models have two on each side, offering a lot more flexibility for Pro users. Frankly, if there's one design change that Apple ought to consider for its "Pro" models, it's the inclusion of a wider variety of ports to meet user needs. USB-C/Thunderbolt adaptors and docks are pretty widely available, but it'd be better to have those tools on hand at all times.

  The big new star of the show is the "new" Magic Keyboard, joining the existing MacBook Pro 16 and MacBook Air in offering a considerably better typing experience than Apple's older flatter butterfly style keyboards. I've thrown "new" in quotes there because the scissor switch style keys Apple now refers to as "Magic" are very similar to the style it offered on its pre-2015 MacBook models, so they're not exactly "new".

  Still, in the laptop market, Apple's keyboard is one of the very best. You're not even sacrificing key size dropping to the 13 inch MacBook Pro from the 16 inch model, because the larger unit simply puts in more speaker space at the sides rather than significantly altering the key size to speak of.

Performance

Performance

• 10th Gen Intel Core processors perform well but lower end models only get 8th-gen

• View test results and read our full review of the Apple MacBook Pro 13's performance

  The other reason to upgrade to a 2020 MacBook Pro would be to take advantage of the newer Intel processors that Apple's putting beneath all that shiny aluminium framework.

  Well… the new Intel processors that Apple's putting into some of the new MacBook Pro models. Easily the most contentious part of this particular "upgrade" is that there's an absolute split in terms of processor generations between the low-cost (by Apple's standards) MacBook Pro 13 inch models and the higher-end variants.

  At the lower tier you're choosing from a range of 8th-generation Core i5 or Core i7 processors, along with those limited ports. Those are the processors that ran the 2019 iterations of these models, so they're not really a step "up" to speak of. They're fixed and soldered models, and you can't even configure the two-port model with anything but an 8th Gen processor. You're also limited to a maximum 2TB hard drive, and the default memory onboard is only 8GB.

  Then at the higher tier, you get into the tasty, forward-looking stuff with 10th Gen Intel "Ice Lake" processors. The review model supplied by Apple was the $2999 model with an Intel Core i5-1038NG7, 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. You can bump that all the way up to a 4TB drive, 32GB of RAM and Core i7 processors if your wallet can take the strain. That feels like more of a "pro" effort, and for that kind of money, it well and truly should be. But how does it compare to your other Mac choices?

  To test that out, I ran several popular benchmarks across the MacBook Pro 13 2020 as well as its contemporaries, the MacBook Pro 16 2019 and the MacBook Air 2020. Here's how the 3 different models compared:

  If you're serious about a number-crunching machine with portability, the MacBook Pro 16 retains a serious edge on its competition, but it totally should given its asking price. The model of the MacBook Pro 13 supplied for review did outpace the MacBook Air, and you'd expect that, although the margin would undoubtedly be closer for that entry level variant of the MacBook Pro 13.

Battery life

Battery life

• Battery life trades off for power

• View test results and read our full review of the Apple MacBook Pro 13's battery life

  Apple always plays it very conservative when it comes to battery life figures for its laptop range. For the MacBook Pro 13 it estimates that you can get "up to" 10 hours of wireless web surfing or movie playback. That puts it behind the MacBook Air, which Apple estimates is good for "up to" 11 hours web or 12 hours of video or the MacBook Pro 16, which can manage "up to" 11 hours of either activity.

  Any battery life estimation with "up to" leaves a lot of wriggle room, but it's easy enough to understand why the Pro can't quite reach the levels of the Air, thanks to faster processors, but lags the Pro 16, because there's less space for actual batteries.

  In real world use, you're probably more likely to see around six or so hours before the MacBook Pro 13 starts to complain via pop-ups that maybe a visit to the nearest power supply might be a wise idea. It's definitely a case of trading off power for battery life, because I could generally get more out of either the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro 16 than the MacBook Pro 13 – but then the Air isn't as powerful and the Pro 16 is much bulkier.

  It's not a great comparative point for Apple against the wider ultraportable Windows 10 laptop field, however, because we've seen plenty of laptops burn way past even those "up to" figures in recent years. That's where Apple's rumoured switch to ARM could see Apple once again retake the lead in laptop battery life – but of course at the time of writing that's still a matter firmly in the rumour column.

  It is at least easy enough to charge up the MacBook Pro 13 via the supplied USB C charger, which you can plug into any of its USB-C/Thunderbolt ports. Again, though, the limit of just two on the lower tier model will hurt if you need other peripheral access as well.

Verdict

Verdict

How we score our reviews

• A good portable Pro machine at the upper end

Should you buy it?

It's hard to make a compelling case for the entry level MacBook Pro 13. At that price point if you didn't need the processing power, you'd get better value – and a lighter heft – from a MacBook Air, especially considering both have the same number of expansion ports.

For the upper tier models, however, there's definitely a use case for Apple's smaller MacBook Pro model, because carrying the MacBook Pro 16 around for any serious period of time quickly gets to be annoying, if not outright painful. That's mostly going to be true if you're upgrading from a MacBook model with more than a few years on it, however. As always, aiming for a two to three year refresh cycle for your laptops should ensure you get the best performance and value out of your tech purchases.

Pricing and availability

Price

RRP: $1,999.00

Where to buy

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Alternatives

Apple has greatly simplified its MacBook range in recent years, and there's now only two other MacBook alternatives in the market. You could opt for the lighter MacBook Air, which is a lesser performer but also somewhat cheaper.

Or you could go all-out on the MacBook Pro 16, which features not only a larger display (still "retina" by Apple's reckoning) but also even better processor and memory options if that's important to you.

Specifications

Where to buy

Images: Alex Kidman