Apple unveils its first touchscreen MacBook Pro starting at $2,899
Apple has added touch input to the MacBook Pro for the first time, pairing it with a new OLED display, a lighter design and upgraded chips, at a starting price of $2,899.
Apple has added touchscreen capability to the MacBook Pro for the first time, a change many users have requested for years. The company unveiled the new model on Oct. 28, and it starts at $2,899, a price that is high even by Apple's standards.
For years, Apple maintained that the Mac worked best with a keyboard and trackpad, while Windows laptop owners have had touchscreen options for a long time. The company experimented with touch controls through its Touch Bar, but that feature never replaced the traditional laptop experience. The new MacBook Pro, which Apple calls the PROLED XDR Display model, lets users interact directly with the screen. People can scroll through websites with a finger, pinch to zoom into photos, drag content between windows and interact with supported creative apps. Apple also redesigned the hinge to keep the display steady when touched.
The laptop remains a traditional clamshell. It does not fold into a tablet and does not support Apple Pencil, so the keyboard and trackpad will still handle much of the work. That limits its appeal for anyone hoping to replace both a MacBook and an iPad with a single device.
The display may matter as much as the touch input. The screen uses tandem OLED technology, in which pixels produce their own light rather than relying on a backlight. Apple says the panel reaches up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness for both HDR and SDR content, with a claimed 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio and refresh rates up to 120Hz. Apple has also added an antireflective coating, and an optional nano-texture finish offers additional glare control for brightly lit environments. Photos and video should look more vivid, which could be especially useful for people who edit images or footage.
Performance is aimed at heavier workloads. The machine comes with either an M5 Pro or M5 Max processor, and configurations can include up to 128GB of unified memory and 16TB of storage. Those upgrades push the price considerably higher. The laptop runs macOS 27 and includes Apple Intelligence alongside the upgraded Siri AI. It also brings Dynamic Island to the Mac for the first time, placing live updates and controls near the top of the display. For video calls, it includes a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera, and an upgraded six-speaker system promises deeper bass. Connectivity includes Thunderbolt 5 and an HDMI port.
Apple says the new 14-inch model weighs about three pounds, roughly half a pound less than its predecessor, while the 16-inch model weighs four pounds, about 0.7 pounds lighter. Both are slimmer, which should make them easier to carry. Apple promises up to 24 hours of battery life, depending on configuration and usage. Independent testing will be needed to confirm how that holds up under real-world work.
Source: foxnews.com
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