Apple’s First 8-Core MacBook Pro Runs Photoshop Up to 75% Faster

Apple just announced its first-ever 8-core MacBook Pro, the fastest Mac notebook ever made. The performance boost is a boon for photographers, who will see a big jump in how quickly apps like Photoshop do CPU-intensive edits.

“Apple updated MacBook Pro with faster 8th- and 9th-generation Intel Core processors, bringing eight cores to MacBook Pro for the first time,” Apple says. “MacBook Pro now delivers two times faster performance than a quad-core MacBook Pro and 40 percent more performance than a 6-core MacBook Pro, making it the fastest Mac notebook ever.”

The jump from 4 to 8 cores can bring up to 2x faster performance across pro apps, but your mileage may vary depending on what apps and features you use.

Apple says that compared to the fastest quad-core 15-inch MacBook Pro, the new 8-core MacBook Pro will allow photographers to apply complex edits and filters up to 75% faster in Adobe Photoshop.

The company also says that photographers will see a 50% performance increase when doing RAW image imports in Lightroom Classic CC with Smart Previews:

Other features and specs in the newly updated MacBook Pros include a Retina display with 500 nits of brightness, up to 32GB of RAM, support for the P3 wide color gamut and True Tone technology, stereo speakers, Touch ID, a Touch Bar, a large Force Touch trackpad, fast SSD storage, the Apple T2 Security Chip, all-day battery life, Thunderbolt 3 ports (for data, charging, and displays), and macOS Mojave.

The new 8-core 15-inch MacBook Pros are available starting today with a starting price of $2,799 in Silver and Space Gray.

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