MacBook

MacBook Pro with Touch Bar

Despite having shrunken in mindshare, the MacBook Pro is continuously growing in market share. Additionally, laptops as a whole are on the rise, perhaps due to dwindling interest in tablet computers. The MacBook Pro in particular is an example of a laptop that has made great strides to bring the appeal of a touchscreen device to a machine that still wields the physical keyboards and trackpads of yesteryear.

 

From the outside looking in, it’s the same MacBook Pro we saw stirring up controversy in 2016. If you weren’t happy with the Touch Bar that served in lieu of the function keys before, you won’t be a fan of this one either. Windows users will, of course, be upset about the lack of conventional touch panel functionality as well as the absence of a convertible or detachable hinge that would otherwise put it in line with our favorite 2-in-1 laptops. 

Contrary to popular belief, though, MacBook Pro isn’t trying to be a tablet and a laptop. It aims to be the best possible laptop that it can and, to an extent, it succeeds. The MacBook Pro packs your choice between a 7th-gen Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, along with faster 2,133MHz RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. Better yet, it uses all of these hardware features together in order to deliver the ideal macOS 10.13 High Sierra  in a neatly wrapped and compact computing package.

As it stands today, the MacBook Pro reviewed below is the best and even one of the least expensive ways to use and access the software Apple is lauded for. That may change in 2018, as the rumor mill suggests we’ll be seeing a cheaper 13-inch MacBook to replace the entry-level MacBook Air of the past. But for now, the value of the MacBook Pro is unparalleled in both performance and price by virtually everything else in Apple’s MacBook catalog.

 

Price and availability

For a modest sum of $1,299 (£1,249, AU$1,899), you can fetch yourself a MacBook Pro minus the Touch Bar you would otherwise find in the configuration we were sent for review. Bear in mind that, as enticing as the cheapest MacBook Pro might seem, it has only 128GB of solid-state storage inside, making it tough to recommend for users who plan on using it as their main computer.

Of course, that MacBook Pro configuration lacks another key element: the OLED Touch Bar that replaces the function keys on the low-end models. If the Touch Bar, along with Touch ID verification, is on your must-have features list, you can expect to shell out no less than $1,799 (£1,749, AU$2,699). That’s the same price that you could currently buy a late 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro for from B&H Photo right now in the US. 

Now, while you could simply fetch more storage than the base configuration for another couple hundred bills, the unit we reviewed is a supercharged beast. That’s due in part to the fact that it sports four Thunderbolt 3 ports, double that of the non-Touch Bar models, all of which can be used to charge the device. Moreover, the processor speed has been bumped from 2.3GHz to 3.1Ghz as well. 

For $100 less in the US, however, you can get a Dell XPS 13 with double the RAM and storage of the $1,799 MacBook Pro we’ve reviewed here and with a more capable Intel Core i7 CPU at that – not to mention a sharper 3,100 x 1,800 touchscreen as well as both Thunderbolt 3 and an SD card reader.

Similarly, the Surface Laptop, which can be configured with a stronger Core i7 CPU and equally capacious storage and RAM for a full 200 clams less, albeit with a slightly lower-resolution 2,256 x 1,504 touchscreen and only two legacy ports.

Bearing all this in mind, it doesn’t take a genius to see that you’re paying for the logo etched opposite your display, paired with a fantastic trackpad and a familiar operating system to boot. Nevertheless, you can save a wad of cash by trading in your old MacBook Pro to Apple itself for up to $2,500, if you’re residing in the states.

Design

 

Luckily, Apple’s pedigree does wonders for maintaining the MacBook Pro’s shining reputation as an absolutely beautiful and sensible computing device. That said, not much – if anything – has changed about the MacBook Pro design year over year, and that’s A-OK.

Still available in Apple’s standard space gray or silver colors (no rose gold yet), the MacBook Pro’s unibody aluminum shell is as gorgeous as ever, giving off a subdued shine through the anodization.

In terms of form factor, Apple maintains its achievement of cramming a 13-inch screen into an 11-inch frame a la the Dell XPS 13, but this laptop’s bezels are still a bit larger. Speaking of screens, Apple’s Retina display is as sharp and color-rich as ever, even more so with its new, professional-grade P3 color gamut.

However, it’s far from the sharpest out there, even among its strongest rivals, making its “Retina” claims tougher than ever to swallow. For instance, the XPS 13 can be configured with a 3,200 x 1,800 QHD touchscreen, easily outclassing the MacBook Pro in terms of pure sharpness.

This is a hugely important point for creative professionals working with media files that are high-resolution or require such a resolution to resolve minute details upon zooming in on a media file.

At any rate, the MacBook Pro is uniformly thinner than the XPS 13 by a hair, which starts from 0.6 inches and tapers off at 0.33 inches. The Surface Laptop, meanwhile, is marginally thinner than both at just 0.57 inches.

This is the thinnest and lightest MacBook Pro yet, and for that it feels right at home in our backpack – that is, assuming we don’t forget it’s even there. (Trust us, it has happened during this review, and it was horrifying.)

That Apple managed to craft a laptop this thin and still maintain top-firing stereo speakers, with deep and rich sound no less, should be commended when most other laptop makers just go for down-firing speakers. Instead, where speakers would normally go on an Ultrabook, Apple has placed intake fans that draw cool air in and spit it out the back just beneath the hinge.

Sure, the laptop heats up still right around that area, but said heat is far away from the more sensitive parts of your lap and far less dramatic than with previous models.

As for how Apple managed to make the MacBook Pro this thin, a key culprit is the laptop’s new keyboard with Apple’s 2nd generation butterfly mechanism, introduced in last year’s model. The improved actuation device doesn’t make the keys sit any more flush with the keyboard deck than they already were last year, but rather vastly improves the tactile feel of typing.

Feedback is much more forceful this time around, though the key travel doesn’t feel as if it’s changed much, which is the point ultimately. The keys are large enough so as not to miss given the lack of travel, though we’re not fans of the Escape key being relegated to the Touch Bar – something we’ve accidentally pressed more than once – and the tight positioning of the up and down arrow keys.

Also, we find typing on this keyboard to be louder than on Apple’s older MacBook keyboards, but perhaps that’s due to adjusting to the learning curve.

A mixed takeaway from the keyboard aside, the new-and-enlarged Force Touch trackpad was a welcome improvement last year and we’re just as happy to have it this time around. Its large size and strong palm rejection help immensely with multi-touch gestures and, more importantly, navigating the operating system the easier way, i.e. with your index finger moving the cursor and your thumb clicking the buttons.

Speaking of which, Force Touch returns to the trackpad, naturally, and it’s frankly remarkable. The vibration motors beneath the glass tracking surface vibrate so as to recreate the feeling of a mouse click, and, if Apple didn’t make such a stink about, it we’d be none the wiser. This is Apple’s “it just works” philosophy realized once again.

Touch Bar and Touch ID

While many have been quick to dismiss the Touch Bar since its introduction in last year’s MacBook Pro model, we’ve come down on it with a bit more understanding. You see, while we admittedly didn’t naturally come to use the Touch Bar much at all during the course of this review, its presence and potential are nevertheless noted.

 While still relegated to supporting core macOS functions and a few, major third party apps (like Adobe Suite), the Touch Bar is incredibly fast at adapting to the task at hand. The strongest example of this is simply the Touch Bar’s built-in spell checker, which is constantly suggesting words no matter how fast of a typist you are. 

It’s almost like having the iPhone’s autocorrect function on your MacBook.

We’ve seen tech like this attempted before, but in no way this robust and quick. The OLED touch display is incredibly responsive, and its matte coating does well to shrug off glare from strong light sources – just don’t expect much in direct sunlight. All said, we’re impressed by the technological achievement that the Touch Bar is, but still believe it requires wider third party support to become a must-have feature.

Though, having Siri as a button for easy, constant access is a major plus, given the wide control it has over macOS in comparison to other digital assistants.

The second piece of the Touch Bar offering is, of course, Touch ID. While this is the second go around for the technology, we’re nevertheless happy that biometric login is finally available on an Apple laptop. The tool works just like it does on iPhone, and it’s just as quick.

That said, we’ve found Windows 10’s iris-scanning Windows Hello tech to be faster and require nearly zero effort. (To achieve this level of immediacy with a Mac, you’d need an Apple Watch with the Auto Unlock feature activated.) Regardless, being able to securely log into the laptop, and pay for things through Safari via Apple Pay, are both features we’d be clamoring for if they weren’t there.

Best Spy Pen Mini Hidden Cameras

 Spy Pen Mini Hidden Cameras

 

You could have many reasons for wanting a spy pen camera. Whether you’re performing an undercover investigation, corporate espionage, pretending you’re James Bond, or simply love cool technology, it’s not our place to judge.

If you do find yourself in need of a spy pen, we’re here to help you find the best one. With modern technological advancements, it’s possible to fit a full HD video and audio recorder into an incredibly small size at affordable prices. The type of gear once limited to top secret government operations is now easily within anyone’s reach.

This could certainly present some legal and privacy issues. Most states in the US consider video and audio recording legal as long as one party involved is aware of the recording. If neither knows, it falls under illegal wiretapping. This means that as long as you know you are recording someone, you can legally continue.

12 states, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington, are considered “two party consent” states in which both parties must be aware a recording is happening. While some exceptions exist state by state, if you do live in one of these states please carefully consider the legality of any recordings.

Today we’re going to take a look at 3 different pen-style spy cameras. While all have the same general functionality, read on to find out which one has the right features for you.

WISEUP 16GB HD Spy Pen Hidden Camera

First on the list is an odd offering from WISEUP. We say odd, because although they call it a “Pen Camcorder,” it doesn’t function or even look remotely like a pen.

 

Essentially, the WISEUP Spy Camera is a black plastic object with a bulbous base. On top, they do include a clip that is intended to attach onto a shirt pocket like a pen. The problem arises because it just doesn’t look like a pen. First, the large base would likely create an obvious bulge in the average shirt pocket, and even if you managed to conceal that, the wide plastic clip doesn’t look like any pen we’ve ever seen.

The specifications on the camera aren’t bad. You can select 720p or 1080p video at 30 frames per second. It has a built-in microphone and 16 gigabytes of memory onboard. Additionally, the camera houses a Micro SD Card slot that can take up to a 32 gigabyte Micro SD Card. Micro SDHC Class 10 cards are recommended to ensure adequate recording speed for HD video.

The onboard 850 mAh battery takes 3 hours to charge with an operating life of 5.5 hours per charge. Fortunately, if the situation requires, this camera supports recording and charging at the same time.

There is an On / Off button on the very top of the camera and Mode and Reset buttons on the back side. These buttons allow you to set video format, take still photos, and set the Time and Date stamp.

Usage and Performance

Although we greatly dislike the design of the WISEUP pen camera, we wanted to fairly test the performance and functionality.

We started by removing the bottom cover to expose the USB data and charging port and add a 32GB micro SDHC card. This was a simple operation, but we encountered some difficulty starting the recording. Pressing the On / Off button on top didn’t seem to do anything, and the instruction manual was extremely unclear and unhelpful.

Only after going online were we able to discover that you must hold the top button until the indicator light turns solid blue, which indicates standby mode. Then, one additional click will cause the light to flash three times indicating active recording.

Once we managed to record, the videos and audio were decent quality as long as we managed to avoid excessive movement and low light. Given a camera and lens this small, that isn’t particularly surprising. We did appreciate the longer battery life. As much as the larger base of the camera makes it hard to keep inconspicuous, it is likely the reason for the over 5 hours of battery life which is much longer than some competitors.

Overall, as a camera, the WISEUP works well, and it was also the least expensive of the batch. While sifting through an unhelpful manual can be frustrating, once we had our questions answered, operation was straightforward enough. Video and audio were definitely usable, although a bit choppy with fast movement and dim lighting. Our biggest complaint and probable deal breaker remains the fact that it just doesn’t look like a pen. They call it both a “Meeting Recorder” and a “Spy Pen Camera.” If your goal is to record a long meeting with everyone’s knowledge, then it’ll do just fine. If you need something discrete, it’s probably wise to look elsewhere.

PenRecorderPro HD500 Extreme Spy Pen Camera

The HD500 by PenRecorderPro immediately has one advantage. It actually functions and looks like a real pen. With a black body, silver tip and silver ring accents, no one will think twice if you have this in your pocket. Structurally, we liked the fact that the pen twists off to expose a full-sized USB port. This makes it far easier to connect and charge in the event that you don’t have a cable handy. There is also a slider on the clasp to cover the camera lens for privacy.

 The video specifications are good with support for 1080p at 30 frames per second or 720p at a smooth 60 frames per second. This allows you to choose whether you’d benefit more from higher resolution or more clarity during movement. It also takes still photos with a higher 2048 x 1536 resolution.

Unfortunately, the HD500 has 16 gigabytes of memory onboard but does not accept SD cards for additional recording space. While this is disappointing, it likely doesn’t matter a great amount due to the low battery life. The built-in Lithium Ion battery only allows approximately 70 to 80 minutes of recording time.

 Understandably, some sacrifices must be made in order for the technology to fit into a realistic looking pen. There just isn’t a lot of room for batteries and memory card slots when you have to fit an actual pen mechanism inside the body.

Aside from the less than stellar recording time, the pen itself doesn’t feel particularly well made. Although we didn’t have any problems in our testing, we would have some concerns with the longevity of this device.

Usage and Performance

The PenRecorderPro HD500 only has a single button, so operation was very straightforward. After pressing the button, an indicator light illuminates briefly to signal that the recording has started, but quickly shuts off in order to remain discrete.

One feature we didn’t find elsewhere, the HD500 allows you to adjust camera settings after plugging in to a compatible PC. We were able to alter exposure, white balance, contrast, saturation, sharpness, and image quality. While this obviously can’t be done on the fly, if you have a reasonable understanding of the environment you’ll be recording in, you can pre-set the camera to maximize video quality.

Video quality was quite impressive for a camera of this size. Boasting superior low light performance, PenRecorderPro claims the HD500 can record at just 1 Lux, equivalent to a “full moon on a clear night.” While we’re not quite sure that claim holds up, it did seem to have better low light performance than some competitors.

Our biggest complaint, aside from the short battery life and recording capacity, was that the camera seems to be angled far too highly. On an average sized adult, placing the pen in a shirt pocket resulted in missing almost all the action in front of us. We had to try to place it in our pants pocket in order to achieve a better angle.

While the battery life may be unavoidable due to the compact size, the frustrating oversight of the camera angle severely impacts the usability of an otherwise decent spy camera.

GSmade Full HD 2K Spy Pen Camera

The Spy Pen Camera from GSmade has the best video capabilities of the group. Featuring a function pen clad in textured black material with gold accents, this metal bodied pen felt very sturdy and durable in the hand. It looks very much like an actual pen and only a very keen observer would note that it was anything but.

The pen body screws apart to reveal a full USB port for charging and data transfer, although GSmade does include USB extension cables. The pen clasp has a matching black slider to cover up the camera lens for privacy. Also included, a screwdriver can remove the clasp in case you need to discretely place the pen somewhere where the clasp would draw undue attention.

Performance-wise, this is the only camera in the batch to feature more than 1080p resolution. Although 2304 x 1296 may be a very odd size, having extra resolution never hurt. You can also select 1920 x 1080 for standard full HD resolution. Dropping to 1280 x 720 enables smooth 60 frames per second recording as well.

GSmade includes a 32GB SD card in the box, which is a nice gesture. Although this is a larger card, the 380 mAH battery still only enables about an hour of recording time. As one unique feature to this camera, pressing the button 4 times quickly will trigger motion detection mode. This can prove very handy for security or discrete operations where you’d need to leave the pen unattended instead of carrying it with you.

Usage and Performance

While initially excited about the higher resolution camera, we quickly realized it isn’t significantly higher. Saying “2K” resolution sounds great, but when you look at the pixel count it’s about 20 percent more pixels in each dimension or 40 percent more pixels overall. Most people would be hard pressed to determine the difference by looking at this video side by side with standard 1920 x 1080. Given that most TVs and PC monitors are still not 4K, the higher resolution may not be completely necessary.

That said, we did find the videos we took to be clear and detailed with quality audio. The camera struggled a bit with fast motion and lower light, but that seems to be a general theme with most spy cameras.

To test the motion detection, we placed the pen on a desk and activated the motion mode. Walking through the office triggered a short recording clip and seemed to work well past the 1 hour battery life considering it didn’t need to record constantly.

Conclusion

It can be challenging to sort through these and the many other spy pens on the market. As with all comparisons, it’s vital to consider the way you plan to use the device before making any decisions.

While the WISEUP device pushes the boundaries of what can be called a “Spy Pen,” the wide-bodied design allows for a significantly longer battery life than either option. We seriously question that you wouldn’t arouse suspicion with it in your pocket, but if you need longer recording time this may be the right choice.

The PenRecorderPro HD500 definitely looks like a real pen, and although the build quality seems questionable, it did have the best low light performance. The lack of expandable or swappable memory cards isn’t ideal, but with such a short recording time it’s unlikely to present a problem.

Finally, the GSmade Spy Pen had the highest video resolution as well as the added bonus of the motion sensing mode. Between the two traditional pen-style cameras, this one seemed to have the best features and flexibility even though it shared similar struggles to the HD500’s short battery life.

Ultimately, you’ll need to choose the best match for your intended use. For our purposes, the GSmade pen struck the best balance of quality and features even if it left us wishing for longer battery life.