Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

15-inch MacBook Pro gets more powerful with new AMD Vega GPUs

By
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Confirming an otherwise quiet announcement made during Apple’s fall event in Brooklyn, New York, the 15-inch MacBook Pro has officially gotten more powerful. New configurations for the top-range 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro laptop are now available, complete with AMD Pro Vega 16 or Pro Vega 20 graphics cards on board.

As listed online at the Apple Store, the 15-inch MacBook Pro with AMD Pro Vega 16 and Pro Vega 20 graphics cards are rather expensive. When configuring models at checkout, the Radeon Pro Vega 16 graphics with 4 GB of HBM2 memory adds in $250 to a total $2,800 base price. Similarly, an option for with the Radeon Pro Vega 20 Graphics with 4GB of HBM2 memory adds in $350 extra to the total price of the laptop.

Recommended Videos

Both graphics cards are built on the 14nm process and are more powerful than the Radeon Pro 560X offered with the previous top configuration of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. The chipsets are leveraging HBM2 memory, which provides more speed and power, but without sacrificing battery life. AMD designed the graphics cards just for MacBooks and is claiming on its website that this is the ultimate premium graphics solution, for remarkable graphics performance for premium ultra-portable notebooks.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!
Privacy Policy

Despite the cost, the AMD Pro Vega 16 and Pro Vega 20 graphics cards hold big promise and performance for consumers who use MacBooks for graphics editing and gaming. In an initial press release from October, Apple promised the chipsets should account “60 percent faster graphics performance for the most demanding video editing, 3D design and rendering workloads.” Apple also mentioned that the graphics cards should be good for gaming at 1080p in esports titles.

AMD also had a similar tone about its graphics cards. It hyped up the potential use and performance potentials for consumers.

“Radeon Vega Mobile graphics raise the bar for performance in notebooks… They provide the best of both worlds: Amazing performance for creative applications and visually stunning, responsive gaming for today’s biggest titles in a mobile form factor,”  Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager of Radeon Technologies Group at AMD, said in a statement.

The AMD Pro Vega 16 and Pro Vega 20 are not to meant to be confused with the Vega Pro 56 or the Vega Pro 64 which are available on the iMac Pro. More time is obviously needed to test how truly powerful the graphics cards are, but it definitely looks to be promising for consumers who want a MacBook that packs a punch.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
MacBook Pro 16 vs. MacBook Pro 14: The important differences
MacBook Pro laptops.

MacBooks are typically seen as some of the best laptops money can buy, thanks to their combination of performance and longevity. It's not uncommon for MacBooks to be running flawlessly years after purchase -- so while their upfront costs are a bit steep, they're great long-term investments.

That holds true for the MacBook Pro lineup, which comes in two sizes -- 14 inches and 16 inches. Both are top-of-the-line computers designed to handle pretty much anything you can throw at them, offering access to the M3 chip, vibrant Liquid Retina XDR displays, and plenty of other high-end hardware.

Read more
The biggest threat to the MacBook this year might come from Apple itself
The MacBook Air on a white table.

MacBooks have held a dominant position in the laptop world for the past few years. Though there have been meaningful rivals from the Windows side of the aisle, the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro still feel like they hold an unshakeable lead at the moment.

But according to the latest reports, the most serious challenger to the MacBook's reign won't come from Windows -- it'll come from within Apple in the form of some very advanced new iPads.
What's a computer?

Read more
The case for buying the M2 MacBook Air over the M3 model
The screen of the MacBook Air M2.

Apple's MacBook Air M2 recently stood at the top of our list of best laptops, and for good reason. It's incredibly well-built, exuding an elegance that few laptops can match. It's also plenty fast for productivity users, and its GPU is optimized for creators. Its keyboard, touchpad, and display are all top-notch.

Enter the MacBook Air M3, which (hint) took over the MacBook Air's place on that list. The upgraded chipset offers even faster performance, particularly in GPU-intensive apps, and the M3 model supports an additional external display (with the display closed). It's $100 more, but is that uptick in price justified? Let's dig in.
Specs and configurations

Read more