Partners: Apple's Getting Ahead Of The Game With Enterprise-Friendly MacBook Pro, iMac Upgrades

Apple announced it is releasing an array of new enterprise-friendly features for the MacBook Pro and iMac, including improved discrete graphics, longer battery life and faster flash storage.

Partners cheered the move as an important investment in the enterprise for the Cupertino, Calif.-based company, which is known mainly for its consumer-focused products.

"It's good to see that Apple is making sure it is addressing the needs of the professional user, and keeping hardware competitive with those in the Windows space," said Michael Oh, CEO of Tech Superpowers, an Apple partner based in Boston. "There has been some criticism that Apple is too consumer-focused, but this tells us the company is not forgetting about the top end."

[Related: 10 Signs Of Apple's Market Momentum From Q2 Results]

For the MacBook Pro, Apple announced that it will upgrade its 15-inch version with Retina display by adding flash storage that is two times faster, longer battery life and improved graphics.

In addition, Apple added the Force Touch trackpad to the 15-inch MacBook Pro, a new improved trackpad design that the company introduced in March and already has added to its 13-inch version of the MacBook Pro.

Meanwhile, Apple also showed off a new $1,999 27-inch configuration of its iMac with Retina 5K display desktop, with features like a 14.7-million pixel display, quad-core processors and AMD Radeon R9 M370X graphics.

The company also lowered the prices of its top-end iMac with Retina 5K display to $2,299.

For the channel, these new features offer unique opportunities for sales in niche graphic-focused markets, like architecture and graphic design enterprise customers, said Oh.

"There's certainly good opportunities for the channel with this device," said Oh. "The Apple Stores are good to get the low-end devices, like the new MacBook, and, to a certain degree, the channel doesn't play with consumer devices. But when you get up to this class of machines and the clients that need it and who are looking for particular performance from a graphics or processing standpoint, there are channel opportunities to be more of a consultant for selecting the correct hardware."

Other partners think that the new upgrades will keep Apple ahead of the competition with other vendors, particularly as the notebook market becomes increasingly popular.

"These products were due for an update, so we're happy with the upgrade, but some of these things are really necessary," said Stephen Monteros, vice president of business development and strategic initiatives at Sigmanet, an Ontario, Calif.-based Apple partner. "For instance, the Force Touch is already on the MacBook Pro with the 13-inch screen, so dropping it into the 15-inch screen was expected. There's a lot of innovation going on among vendors, and Apple started ahead of the curve but now others are catching up."

Raul De Arriz, national government sales manager for Small Dog Electronics, Waitsfield, Vt., an Apple partner, thinks Apple will see its domination of the high-end laptop and graphic workstation market increase due to the upgrades.

"Apple has done a significant upgrade at no cost to the PowerBook line with storage that is significantly faster, Force Touch, and longer battery life," he said. "Professionals already gobble these units. They will be happier now with their enhanced Macbook Pros ... I suspect we will see a very strong bump in sales for this quarter."

The upgraded MacBook Pro and iMac versions are currently available, according to Apple.

PUBLISHED MAY 21, 2015