The two models of the new Apple MacBook Pro 13 are – as expected – similar in many respects. This includes the excellent chassis, which is still extremely sturdy despite the diet. You also get one of the best and brightest displays on the market, independent of the model. This is also the case for the trackpad, which is now much bigger than before. The keyboard is also identical – except for the Touch Bar. Because of the shallow key travel, the input will require a learning period, but it convinces with very good precision in practice. The implementation of the Touch Bar was well-executed by Apple, but the success will depend on the software support in practice. Right now, it is more of a gimmick in our opinion, and it can actually make things a bit more complicated when you just want to use the normal function keys or special function like brightness control, for example. One handy new feature is the Touch ID sensor in the power button though.

Apple basically defines the more expensive model by the Touch Bar. If you look inside the chassis, however, you will find a completely different system. The cooling solution was adjusted for the more powerful components (28 vs. 15-Watt TDP) and we like it a lot, components were moved and the battery capacity is a bit smaller. This also affects the battery runtimes, especially under load, where you will have to charge the device after little more than one hour. The more expensive MBP 13 is also beaten by the model without Touch Bar in the practical tests, but the determined runtimes are still good. A bit half-hearted is the implementation of the two additional Thunderbolt 3 ports. Contrary to the bigger MacBook Pro 15, you cannot use their full bandwidth, so it might have been better to implement other ports.

This brings us to the problems. It is pretty much impossible to use the new MacBook Pro 13 without adapters in practice. Four – admittedly – very universal ports make the system pretty future-proof, but two would have been sufficient in our opinion. The lack of the SD-card reader will also be a No-Go for photographers in particular. Then there is the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi issue, because there can be connection problems when a USB-C device is attached. It is questionable if there will be a software solution. Similar to the sibling, we therefore deduct 2 % from the final rating. Unfortunate, especially since the small device manages very good transfer rates.

Finally, there is the price, or the additional price over the smaller model, respectively. A base price of $1799 is already quite a lot, and whether the Touch Bar and the slightly higher performance are really worth $300 is at least questionable. Both systems are very fast with everyday tasks, and whether pro users will be satisfied with the comparatively small performance advantage (no quad-core, no dedicated GPU), is another question.

All in all, Apple's new MacBook Pro 13 Touch Bar is a very good subnotebook. But can it justify its "Pro" designation? Well, this mainly depends on your usage scenarios. It is the benchmark in some categories, but many users will most likely have a problem with the lack of proven (and still modern) standards.