AI & Tech · Los Angeles

Apple launches first touchscreen MacBook Pro with OLED display from $2,899

The 14-inch and 16-inch models pair a 2,000-nit OLED screen with a Dynamic Island and a returning glowing Apple logo, with deliveries set for 6 November.

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In brief

Los Angeles · United States

How it came to this

27 OctStandard MacBook Pro with M6 chip unveiled
28 OctTouchscreen MacBook Pro announced and preorders open
6 NovTouchscreen MacBook Pro deliveries begin

Apple's first touchscreen Mac

Apple introduced its first MacBook Pro with a touchscreen on Wednesday, 28 October, at a "Pro and Tell" event in Los Angeles. CEO John Ternus presented the 14-inch and 16-inch models, which use a PROLED XDR display. The move ends a long stance in which Apple kept touch input on the iPad and off the Mac. Apple first tried touch on a laptop nearly 10 years earlier with the Touch Bar, which it later removed. Apple says the touch sensor is built directly into the display panel rather than placed on top of it, which helps reduce latency. Demonstration footage showed people reaching up to touch the screen in a normal laptop configuration, and the design does not appear to be a 2-in-1 convertible.

Display and design

The screen uses a tandem OLED panel that Apple calls PROLED XDR, with 2,000 nits of brightness and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. It keeps a 120Hz variable refresh rate. References were made to burn-in protection, but the approach has not yet been shared. Apple says the 14-inch model weighs three pounds, about half a pound lighter than its predecessor depending on configuration. The notch is replaced by a Dynamic Island cutout, a concept first used on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max in September 2022. On the Mac it shows alerts, Live Activities, Spotlight and Siri AI, and Apple says users can answer a phone call, control music and accept an AirDrop request from it. The glowing Apple logo on the lid returns after its removal in the 2016 redesign, and because OLED pixels emit their own light, it needs a different lighting method than the old backlit version. The laptop keeps Touch ID rather than adding Face ID, and it includes a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera.

Pricing, chips and availability

US pricing starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model and $3,399 for the 16-inch model. Both sizes offer M5 Pro and M5 Max chip options, with memory up to 128GB and storage up to 16TB. Preorders opened on 28 October, and deliveries begin on 6 November. The M6 series, already in other Macs, is not used in this refresh. A standard MacBook Pro with the M6 chip, starting at $1,999, was unveiled on 27 October, the day before the touchscreen model. The sequence of key dates is shown below.

Other hardware in the same week

Apple also upgraded the iPad Mini with an 8.5-inch OLED display, a body 5.4mm thick and bezels 24 percent slimmer than before. The tablet uses the A20 Pro chip, a 12-megapixel landscape camera and an IP67 rating, and starts at $699 for Wi-Fi with 128GB of storage in midnight or starlight colors. The Mac Studio with M5 Ultra can now be configured with 512GB of RAM for $22,299, as Apple had promised for late October, while the M5 Max version still tops out at 128GB. The chart compares the US starting prices of the products covered here.

US starting prices of products announced this weekUSD

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