Friday 28 October 2016 10:04 am

New Apple MacBook Pro: Six things you need to know

Last night Tim Cook unveiled the new MacBook Pro – the biggest refresh of its laptops since the new-look MacBook was released in April 2015.

The new MacBook Pro comes in 13-inch and 15-inch variations, and is a snip at about £1,500.

Here's everything you need to know:

1. RIP, F keys

The traditional function keys – F1, F2, F3 etc – have been banished to make way for a "touch bar" along the top of the keyboard – essentially, it's a long, thin touchscreen, which can be an emoji keyboard, a volume control bar and even a colour palette.

2. Any colour you want, as long as it's grey

The new laptop comes in two variations – grey and dark grey. No pretty rose gold laptops for you…

3. No more typing in credit card details

The new MacBook features a TouchID fingerprint sensor – which means rather than spending half an hour typing in fiddly credit card details when you're online shopping, you can use ApplePay instead. Smooth.

4. Headphone jack makes a welcome return

It may have ditched the humble headphone jack when it launched its latest iPhone in September, but MacBook Pro users can still watch Netflix in bed – because the headphone jack has been retained in the latest iteration.

5. USB-C is the new USB

Instead of having standard USB ports, the new MacBook Pro comes with new USB-C ports. Also known as Thunderbolt 3, USB-C is a new type of USB which can also act as a headphone jack. Alas, it also means – you guessed it – you'll have to buy an adapter for all your USB-powered devices.

6. Annoyed? Consider this

Apple's decision to ditch function keys and headphone jacks and USB ports and other technologies we were all perfectly happy with may be annoying, but at last night's event Cook pointed out it was 25 years since Apple unveiled its first laptop, the PowerBook.

"For 25 years we've been defining and redefining what a notebook can do, and today we're going to do it again," he said. You can't argue with that.