SIDE-BY-SIDE HARDWARE AUDITZero Pricing • Objective Specification Advantage Highlighting
Apple MacBook Pro 15 (2016 Touch Bar) vs Apple MacBook Pro 15 Retina (Mid-2012 Pioneer)
Compare processor microarchitectures, maximum GPU TGP, display color accuracy, RAM upgradability, and battery Watt-hours with automated win badge analysis.
Slot 1 • Apple2016
Apple MacBook Pro 15 (2016 Touch Bar)
15.4" IPS LCD • 1.83 kg • x86_64
Slot 2 • Apple2012
Apple MacBook Pro 15 Retina (Mid-2012 Pioneer)
15.4" IPS LCD • 2.02 kg • x86_64
Reasons to Choose Apple MacBook Pro 15 (2016 Touch Bar)
- ✓Lighter Chassis (1.83 kg vs 2.02 kg)
- ✓Thinner Profile (15.5 mm vs 18 mm)
- ✓Higher Peak Brightness (500nits vs 300nits)
- ✓Higher Charger Wattage (87W vs 85W)
- ✓More Thunderbolt Ports (4ports vs 2ports)
Reasons to Choose Apple MacBook Pro 15 Retina (Mid-2012 Pioneer)
- ✓Larger Battery Capacity (95Wh vs 76Wh)
- ✓Higher Max GPU TGP (45W vs 35W)
- ✓More M.2 Expansion Slots (1slots vs 0slots)
01.Platform & Compute Subsystem
Processor architecture, graphics envelope, and power ceilingProcessor / SoC
Intel Core i7-6700HQ / i7-6820HQ (Skylake 14nm)
Intel Core i7-3615QM / i7-3720QM (Ivy Bridge 22nm 3D Tri-Gate)
CPU Core Architecture
4-core / 8-thread (2.6 GHz base, 3.5 GHz Turbo)
4-core / 8-thread (2.3 GHz base, up to 3.7 GHz Turbo Boost)
ISA Architecture
x86_64
x86_64
Graphics Hardware
AMD Radeon Pro 450 / 455 (2GB GDDR5) or Radeon Pro 460 (4GB GDDR5)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (1GB GDDR5) + Intel HD Graphics 4000 (Dynamic switching)
Maximum Graphics TGP
35 W
45 W+10 W
Operating System
macOS Sierra
OS X 10.7 Lion / OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion
02.Memory & Storage Upgradability
RAM capacity, SODIMM vs soldered, and NVMe expansionRAM Capacity Options
16 GB LPDDR3 (Soldered)
8 GB / 16 GB (Soldered onboard)
RAM Technology / Speed
LPDDR3-2133 MHz
DDR3L-1600 MHz SDRAM
RAM Upgradability
Soldered Onboard
Soldered Onboard
RAM Sockets / Form Factor
Soldered Onboard
Soldered Onboard
M.2 SSD Expansion Slots
0 Slots
1 Slot+1 slots
Storage Bus & Architecture
Apple soldered PCIe 3.0 NVMe storage array
Apple proprietary mSATA/PCIe blade connector
03.Display & Color Accuracy
Panel technology, screen resolution, refresh rate, and luminancePanel Technology
IPS LCD
IPS LCD
Screen Diagonal Size
15.4 inches
15.4 inches
Aspect Ratio
16:10
16:10
Resolution
2880 × 1800 px (220 ppi)
2880 × 1800 px (220 ppi Retina Display)
Display Refresh Rate
60 Hz
60 Hz
Color Gamut Coverage
100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut
100% sRGB
Peak Brightness
500 nits+200 nits
300 nits
04.Chassis, Thermals & Battery
Enclosure weight, profile thickness, battery capacity, and chargingChassis Weight
1.83 kg-0.19 kg lighter
2.02 kg
Chassis Thickness
15.5 mm-2.5 mm lighter
18 mm
Chassis Materials
All-metal aluminum unibody, Force Touch glass trackpad
Unibody aluminum enclosure with asymmetric dual fans
Cooling Solution
Split dual-fan system with thin blades
Dual asymmetric impellers with shared dual copper heatpipes
Battery Capacity
76 Wh
95 Wh+19 Wh
Bundled Charger Wattage
87 W+2 W
85 W
USB-C Power Delivery
Yes
No
05.I/O Ports & Connectivity
High-speed buses, external display outs, and media card readersPort Complement
4x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C 40 Gbps, DisplayPort, Charging), 3.5mm headphone jack, OLED Touch Bar with Touch ID
2x Thunderbolt 1 (10 Gbps), 2x USB 3.0, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, MagSafe 2 power port, 3.5mm headphone jack
Thunderbolt Ports
4x Thunderbolt+2 ports
2x Thunderbolt
HDMI Revision
None (Native DisplayPort over USB-C / HDMI via dongle)
HDMI 1.4b (up to 1080p60 / 4K30)
Card Reader
None Reader
Full-size SDXC Reader
3.5mm Headphone Jack
✅ Present
✅ Present
Wireless Networking
802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2
AirPort Extreme 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0