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Apple has unveiled its first laptop with a touchscreen, a new version of the MacBook Pro with an OLED display, ending years of resistance to touch on the Mac.
The company introduced it at an event in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28. Pre-orders opened on October 30 and the laptop goes on sale on November 6.
Price and specifications
- 14-inch model: from $2,899
- 16-inch model: from $3,399
- Chips: Apple's M5 Pro or M5 Max
- Display: an XDR OLED touchscreen, which Apple says offers better colour and brightness than standard LCD screens
Prices climb steeply with upgrades. TechCrunch found that Apple's online configurator prices a fully loaded 14-inch model at $14,249 and the 16-inch at $14,549.
The touchscreen models sit above Apple's existing MacBook Pro line, which continues without touch. For comparison, a standard 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip starts at $2,999.
Why it's a big change
For more than a decade Apple argued that touchscreens did not belong on laptops. Its co-founder Steve Jobs said in 2010 that touching a vertical screen quickly becomes tiring, and Apple instead pushed the iPad as its touch device and the Mac as its keyboard-and-trackpad computer.
Rivals have offered touchscreen Windows laptops for years, and the lines between Apple's own products have blurred as iPads gained keyboards and Mac-class chips. Adding touch to the MacBook Pro brings the Mac closer to the way many people now expect to use a computer.
Who it's for
At these prices, the new MacBook Pro is aimed at professionals such as video editors, designers and developers, rather than mainstream buyers. OLED screens offer deeper blacks and higher contrast than LCDs, which matters for photo and video work.
How well touch works will depend on software. The key questions for reviewers will be how macOS adapts to fingers rather than a cursor, how well apps support it, and whether the screen wobbles when tapped.
The launch also marks one of the first major products of John Ternus's tenure as Apple's chief executive. He previously led the company's hardware engineering.
Sources and references
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