New Kaby Lake Mac Upgrades Revealed in macOS Sierra Beta

Discovered by Pike’s Universum (via MacGeneration), the beta code for macOS Sierra 10.12.4 has revealed a trio of Kaby Lake processors, hinting a possible 2017 MacBook Pro refresh using Intel’s latest processor line. Three motherboard identifiers and power management data sets have been identified, corresponding to Kaby Lake processors in the MacBook Pro both with and without Touch Bar.

Although Intel debuted its Kaby Lake line of processors last year, all of the processors suitable for “drop-in” with the new Sierra code in a future MacBook Pro were announced at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It must be noted that the CPU in the 2016 MacBook Pro is not socketed, and is not replaceable by the end-user. Below are the three possible configurations of 2017 Kaby Lake MacBook Pros:

• The i5-6360U processor at 2.0 GHz in the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Function Keys can be replaced with the Kaby Lake i5-7260 running at 2.2 GHz. Similarly, the i7-6660U 2.4 GHz processor’s counterpart is the Kaby Lake i7-7660U 2.5 GHz chip.

• The i5-6267U at 2.9 GHz, the i5-6287U 3.1 GHz, and i7-6567U 3.3 Ghz processors can be replaced by the Kaby Lake 3.1 GHz i5-7267U, the 3.3 GHz i5-7287U, and the 3.5 GHz i7-7567U processors, respectively.

• For the 15-inch 2016 MacBook Pro, the 2.6 GHz i7-6700HQ, 2.7 GHz i7-6820HQ, and 2.9 GHz i7-6920HQ are able to be upgraded in a future MacBook Pro model after the code is implemented to i7-7700HQ at 2.8 GHz, i7-7820HQ 2.9 GHz, and i7-7920 3.1 GHz Kaby Lake processors.

The upgraded MacBook Pros are expected to be available some time after the official release of macOS Sierra 10.12.4.