In my view, they are different enough to deserve different names. The low-end models are closer in base price to the $999 MacBook Air than to the high-end 13-inch MacBook Pro. The high-end models start at $1799 and have received a boost to 10th-generation “Ice Lake” Intel processors. The low-end laptops start at $1299 and are powered by 8th-generation Intel processors. There’s a big difference between the two models, one that’s been heightened with this set of updates. Originally the lower-end model didn’t have a Touch Bar, but Apple added it to the low-end model last year. Since 2016, there have really been two different laptops living under the name “13-inch MacBook Pro.” There’s a lower-end model with two Thunderbolt 3 ports (on the left side), and a higher-end model with four ports (two on either side). Jason Snell at Six Colors sums it up perfectly: The 10th-gen Air has better graphics performance though, due to the improvements in Intel’s 10th-gen integrated graphics. The MacBook Pro has better cooling, and a more powerful class of processor. That’s why the 8th-gen 15W 2-port MacBook Pro outperforms the 10th-gen 10W MacBook Air, for example.

Things improve with Intel’s CPU generations too, but that usually has less impact than TDP.

TL DR: There are different “classes” of MacBook, and you can sort them on their TDP. This is the 13-inch MacBook Pro you’ve been waiting for. We didn’t get the mythical 14-inch, and that’s OK. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro is a big update in some ways, but a small one in others.

2016 macbook pro 13 power