The Force Touch trackpad feature from the Watch and new MacBook was expected to come to the larger Retina MacBook Pro after Apple started including it in the 13-inch variant and after current iterations of the 15-inch MacBook Pro were being announced as discontinued.
Starting today, the 15-inch MacBook Pro will feature the progressive force touch feature plus faster flash storage, longer battery life and faster discrete graphics to up the performance of Apple's flagship portables. Apple also announced updated 27-inch iMacs with Retina Displays.
The MacBook Pro is available with 2.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.4 GHz, 16GB of memory, 256GB of flash storage and Intel Iris Pro graphics starting at $2,449 (CAD); and with a 2.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.7 GHz, 16GB of memory, 512GB of flash storage and AMD Radeon R9 M370X graphics starting at $3,049 (CAD). Various build to order options are available via Apple's Online Store.
The Force Touch feature adds a new dimension of contextual options as well as increased control. Trackpads don't have mechanisms but use an advanced sensor and vibration engine to simulate button presses as well as various types of feedback. This is expected to be an Apple innovation that will just get better for users once applications begin to build-in support for the feature.
Apple also announced a more affordable 5K iMac with Retina Display. Boasting the industry-leading 5120 x 2880 resolution, the new CAD $2,399 iMac with Retina 5K display features a 3.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost Speeds up to 3.7 GHz and AMD Radeon R9 M290 graphics. The new iMac also includes 8GB of memory and 1TB of storage, as well as four USB 3.0 ports and two Thunderbolt 2 ports that deliver up to 20Gbps each, twice the bandwidth of the previous generation.
The top-end iMac with Retina 5K display now starts at CAD $2,749 and features a 3.5 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.9 GHz, AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics and a 1TB Fusion Drive.