Apple unveils 1st touchscreen MacBook Pro after years of resistance

LOS ANGELES - Apple unveiled its first touchscreen MacBooks on Wednesday, ending the company’s long-standing resistance to bringing touch technology to its laptop lineup.

Dig deeper:

The new MacBook Pro models feature Apple’s PROLED XDR display, which uses tandem OLED technology and offers up to 2,000 nits of brightness, a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, according to the company.

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The backstory:

Apple executives have resisted touchscreen laptops for years. In 2010, Steve Jobs called laptop touchscreens "ergonomically terrible." Two years later, then-CEO Tim Cook compared combining a laptop and tablet to making a device as appealing as converging a toaster and a refrigerator. Before becoming Apple’s current CEO, John Ternus argued that the company already offered a touchscreen computer through its iPad lineup.

Touchscreens have been common on Windows laptops for more than a decade. And as the iPhone approaches its 20th anniversary, a new generation of consumers may increasingly expect computers to respond to touch.

What they're saying:

"I believe ‌they were ⁠always wrong on pushing back on touch, and this is the long arm of reality setting in," said Anshel Sag, an analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "Some things are purely inevitable."

Why you should care:

Apple said the new MacBook Pro’s touch features will allow users to scroll, pinch to zoom, drag and drop content and interact directly with creative software. Designers can use the display as a digital canvas, musicians can play software instruments onscreen and developers can test touch controls for iPhone and iPad apps.apple

What's next:

The new laptops will be available in 14- and 16-inch models and will use Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. Apple said the computers can be configured with up to 128 gigabytes of unified memory and 16 terabytes of storage. The company also said the devices will offer up to 24 hours of battery life.

The MacBook Pro is thinner and lighter than previous models. The 14-inch version weighs 3 pounds, while the 16-inch version weighs 4 pounds, according to Apple.

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The company is also bringing the Dynamic Island to the Mac, where it will serve as a hub for Spotlight, Live Activities and Siri AI. The laptops will run macOS 27 and include Apple Intelligence features.

Apple executives are betting that the new display and touch capabilities will attract creative professionals, developers and other customers who need computers capable of handling artificial intelligence tasks locally.

What you can do:

The new MacBook Pro models are available for preorder starting Wednesday, with shipments and in-store availability beginning Nov. 6. The 14-inch model with the M5 Pro chip starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch version starts at $3,399. Models with the M5 Max chip start at $4,499 for the 14-inch version and $4,799 for the 16-inch version.

"The new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is a monumental step forward for the Mac," Johny Srouji, Apple’s chief hardware officer, said in a statement. "With the magic of Touch coming to MacBook Pro, combined with the game-changing performance of M5 Pro and M5 Max, we’ve created a whole new way for pros to interact with their content."

Apple’s announcement confirms earlier reports that its first touchscreen MacBooks would use M5 Pro and M5 Max chips rather than a new processor. That could mean the biggest draw for buyers will be the touchscreen and display, rather than a major jump in processing power.

"The only thing people ‌want is more memory and better processors for local models!" prominent technology commentator Jason Calacanis, host of the All-In Podcast, wrote on X.

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