The announcement of the new 2018 MacBook Pro lead to many headlines. They were mainly focused on the performance of the new processors, which did not meet the expectations. Apple released a software update one week later, which was supposed to improve the performance.

excellent chassis and build quality; huge trackpad with great precision; quiet and good cooling; high WLAN transfer speeds; very good display with perfect scaling; very good speakers; improved battery runtimes; 4x Thunderbolt 3 with full bandwidth

cooling solution is at the limit; neither USB-A nor HDMI-out; 2.4 GHz WLAN issues with attached USB-C device; poor webcam; very expensive – especially the upgrades; power adapter is at the limit

Apple recently launched a new advertising campaign called Behind The Mac , that focuses on professional Mac users such as photographers, musicians and coders (Apple's current flavour of the month).

Slimline; lightweight design; All-day battery life; Quad-core Coffee Lake Intel Core processor; Attractive Retina display with True Tone technology

Expensive; No discrete GPU; No user upgrades

Still, these changes are all good stuff. Sure, it’d be great to see Face ID on the MacBook Pro, but that won’t happen until a major overhaul. In the meantime, we get plenty of extra power, an improved display, a quieter keyboard, and a battery that gets the machine through an entire day of normal use – assuming ‘normal’ to you isn’t running games and hugely demanding software non-stop. What you won’t enjoy is the impact on your wallet. The base level price of £1749 isn’t too bad, but that only gets you an i5, 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage – and you must be mindful the MacBook Pro is a sealed unit. What you choose at the point of purchase are the specs for the Mac’s entire life – bar the potential to use external GPUs. The set-up Apple loaned Stuff would set you back an eye-watering £3599. The SSD accounts for much of that, the 2TB option adding a whopping £1400. But even 512GB costs an extra 200 quid (1TB is £600), and bumping up the RAM to 16GB costs another £180, for some nudging the MacBook Pro from lust territory to ‘What are the alternatives?’ Of course, if you swear by macOS, there aren’t any, bar something old (MacBook Air) or comparatively underpowered (MacBook). So if you do want a shiny MacBook Pro, it’s just the price you have to pay. Fortunately, for the outlay you do get a pretty great pro-grade notebook.

More powerful innards; Keyboard is quieter; True Tone display is great; Really nippy SSD;

Expensive; Touch Bar lacks support; Non-Touch Bar model not (yet?) updated;

My old MacBook Pro was stolen and I needed to replace. PBTech price is better and I got this on a Boxing Day Special.

More powerful innards; Keyboard is quieter; True Tone display is great; Really nippy SSD;

Expensive; Touch Bar lacks support; Non-Touch Bar model not (yet?) updated;

The price may not have changed since last year, but the 2018 version of the 13-inch MacBook Pro does deliver stronger performance and good battery life, which help to justify its premium price tag.

Slimline, lightweight design, All-day battery life, Quad-core Coffee Lake Intel Core processor, Attractive Retina display with True Tone technology

Expensive, No discrete GPU, No user upgrades

The Apple iPhone 14 isn’t a huge upgrade on the iPhone 13, yet it still is a great phone with a top camera, good battery life and all the iOS benefits.

Clever safety features, Very good battery life, Reliable camera, Fun colours, You’ve got an ageing iPhone: If you’re on an iPhone 11 or older, then the changes here will make a notable difference.

Stuck on a 60Hz display, Minimal differences to the iPhone 13, You’ve got an iPhone 13: The changes from Apple’s previous phone aren’t enough to warrant an upgrade this year.

The Apple iPhone 14 is no match for the just-released iPhone 14 Pro, but if you ignore that, it’s one of the most effective phones around.

Great cameras, front and back, Fast performance, Good battery life, Innovative safety features

Design too familiar, Some average features

“The iPhone 14 isn't a huge upgrade compared to its predecessor. But with a great design, screen, performance, and cameras, that's far from a bad thing at all.”

Comfortable, high-end build, OLED screen looks fantastic, A15 chip performs great, Good camera upgrades, Dependable battery life, Helpful safety features

60Hz display, No telephoto camera, eSIM might be a pain for some

The iPhone 14 isn’t much of an upgrade over the iPhone 13, but it’s still a great device and an upgrade for anyone coming from the iPhone 11 or older.

Great camera, Good battery, Emergency features are cool, Still excellent performance

Display could use some upgrades