Apple Adds a Touchscreen to the MacBook Pro for the First Time, From $2,899

The new MacBook Pro, with a tandem OLED display and M5 Pro or M5 Max chips, ends years of Apple keeping touch off the Mac.

Apple has launched its first touchscreen MacBook Pro, a notable break from a design stance that kept touch off Mac screens for well over a decade. The company announced the laptop on October 28, with the new display called PROLED XDR and built on tandem OLED technology.

What Apple launched

The new MacBook Pro lets users tap, swipe, pinch and drag content directly on the screen. It runs on Apple’s M5 Pro or M5 Max chips and goes up to 128GB of unified memory and 16TB of storage. The keyboard and trackpad stay, so touch is an addition, not a replacement.

Mixed reported that the display also brings the Dynamic Island to the Mac. The laptop comes in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes. In the US, the 14-inch M5 Pro starts at $2,899 and the 16-inch M5 Pro at $3,399. M5 Max versions start at $4,499 and $4,799 respectively. Pre-orders opened on October 28, with availability from November 6. The sources I found do not give India pricing or availability.

The launch film

Apple backed the launch with a film of about a minute and 50 seconds, afaqs reports. In Apple’s usual style, it uses minimalist visuals, close-up shots and a voice-over to walk through the display, covering anti-glare treatment, reflection protection and real-time pixel correction. The film shows touch gestures in use rather than listing specifications, and it ends on a line that plays on the word “click”.

Why this is a shift

Steve Jobs rejected touchscreen laptops in 2010, arguing that reaching up to a vertical screen would tire the arm, and Tim Cook later dismissed the idea of merging laptops and tablets. Meanwhile, Microsoft pushed touch through Windows 8 and the Surface line, and other PC makers expanded touchscreen and convertible laptops.

Apple’s route is different. It keeps the MacBook as a laptop and treats touch as an extra input, which could suit creative work such as design, music and video editing. Whether people use it much, or mostly stick to the trackpad, is the open question.

What to watch

Reviews will show how well touch works on a vertical screen and whether macOS feels natural with it. The pricing, which starts well above most laptops, will also decide how widely it sells.

Sources: Mixed. Prices are US figures. Check them against Apple’s newsroom before publishing.