Touch Bar is the star in Apple's new MacBook Pro

In a much-awaited update to the MacBook Pro laptops, technology giant Apple Inc on Thursday unveiled the thinnest and lightest new MacBook Pro with prices starting from Rs1,29,900. Apple claims the new MacBook Pro to be the "most advanced notebook ever made".

It will be available in three variants -13-inch MacBook Pro with and without the Touch Bar and a 15-inch version. The devices will not have standard USB ports but USB-C ports.

The most striking feature of the new MacBook Pro is the Touch Bar. Apple has replaced the traditional row of function keys with a retina display, multi-touch bar, which places control right on the user's fingertips and adapts to whatever software the user might be using or to apps such as Mail, Finder, Calendar, Numbers, GarageBand, and several others including third-party apps.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro without the Touch Bar will start from Rs1,29,900 and will be available right away while the 13-inch and 15-inch models with the new Touch Bar start from Rs1,55,900 and Rs2,05,900, respectively, and will be shipped in the next two-three weeks.

Apple says the 13-inch MacBook Pro is 14.9 mm thick which is 17% thinner than the previous generation. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro, at just 15.5 mm thickness, is 14% thinner than previous model.'

Apple claims that MacBook display is 67% brighter than the previous generation and features 67% more contrast.

The Trackpad on the new device is 46% larger on the 13-inch MacBook Pro and twice as large on the 15-inch MacBook Pro as compared to previous versions.

"With the groundbreaking new Touch Bar, the convenience of Touch ID, the best Mac display ever, powerful performance, improved audio, blazing-fast storage and Thunderbolt 3 connectivity in our thinnest and lightest pro notebook yet, the new MacBook Pro is the most advanced notebook ever made," said Phil Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

The company has also brought Touch ID on MacBook Pro which allows users to unlock Mac, switch user accounts and make secure purchases with Apple Pay on the web with a single touch.

Specifications:

*13-inch MacBook Pro without Touch Bar features a 2.0 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speed up to 3.1 GHz, and it has 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage.

*13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID comes with a 2.9 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speed up to 3.3 GHz, 8GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage.

15-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and Touch ID comes with 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with Turbo Boost speed up to 3.5 GHz, 16GB of memory and 256GB of flash storage.