MacBook gets a surprise makeover, with extra speed and power

The credit for Apple’s (AAPL) improved position in the global PC market this year mainly goes to MacBook, its flagship product in the segment that weathered the persisting softness in demand for notebooks and managed to maintain steady sales.

Bringing cheer to Apple fans, the company Thursday came up with an upgraded version of MacBook Pro, featuring a faster processor and additional memory. The new features have been incorporated into MacBook with an eye on the classy gadget’s loyal users in the professional world.

Today’s launch is widely viewed as a prelude to a much larger event planned this fall, at which the company is expected to roll out revamped versions of almost all of its products. According to sources, the upcoming event will be significant for Apple considering the massive line-up – three new versions of the iPhone including a larger one with a new design altogether, new Apple Watches and updated iPad Pros.

While the new 15-inch MacBook is claimed to be about 70% faster than the earlier version, the smaller one of 13-inch size is capable of doing tasks at double the speed of the older model. The speed upgrade, together with improved screen brightness and keyboards that make lesser noise, make the new MacBook ideal for IT and multimedia professionals. Another group that would find the tweaked Macs appealing is crypto miners, for the devices’ compatibility with external third-party GPUs.

Apple has come up with an upgraded version of MacBook Pro, featuring a faster processor and additional memory

Besides speed, the latest MacBook is more powerful than all the other notebooks produced by Apple in the past. Priced at $1,799 and $2,399 respectively, the 13-inch version and the larger one can be ordered online immediately, while they will be available in stores by next week.

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Statistics show that around 20 million MacBooks were sold in 2017, which broadly matches the sales figures for the preceding two years.  In the PC market, MacBook maintains a status similar to that iPhone enjoys in the smartphone segment. However, Apple’s near-7% market share in the PC market is far lesser than that of HP and Lenovo.

After hitting an all-time high in mid-June, Apple shares retreated soon and traded lower since then. The stock gained nearly 2% during Thursday’s regular session.

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