Apple Announces Touchscreen MacBook Pro With OLED Display

Apple announced on October 28 and gave a first glimpse of its first major MacBook Pro redesign in more than five years. The new model includes an OLED display and, for the first time on macOS, a touchscreen, while shown footage kept a conventional laptop configuration. It also brings a lighter design, a Dynamic Island cutout, and M5 Pro or M5 Max chips.

Display and touch features

Apple calls the OLED display the PROLED XDR. It can achieve 2,000 nits maximum brightness and has a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio, according to Apple. The demonstration video showed users reaching up to touch the screen, including file dragging and multi-touch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom. The footage did not appear to show a 2-in-1 convertible design. The display keeps the 120 Hz variable refresh rate of earlier models. References were made to burn-in protection, but details were not shared.

Design changes

The overall design is largely similar to the existing one, but the 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds, down around half a pound from the previous model depending on configuration. The top-of-screen camera notch has been replaced by the small black cutout Apple calls the Dynamic Island, which presumably works similarly to the iPhone version by expanding or contracting to show live activities and other information. The Apple logo on the back of the lid glows, a retro throwback to older MacBooks.

Chips, memory and storage

The refresh uses the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the same ones in the previous refresh. The M6 series has already arrived in other Macs, but Apple appears to be skipping it here; reports previously said Apple planned to hold off on updating the chip until the M7 series, which could bring significant improvements for AI performance, similar to the recently released A20 Pro chip for the iPhone. Memory tops out at up to 128GB of RAM, as in previous MacBook Pro models with M5 Max. Storage can now reach up to 16TB.

Pricing and availability

Preorders opened on October 28, and the device reaches consumers on November 6. The M5 Pro-equipped 14-inch model starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch starts at $3,399. The M5 Max version starts at $4,499 for the 14-inch and $4,799 for the 16-inch, before any RAM or storage upgrades.

Earlier coverage: Apple Reportedly Plans Touchscreen MacBook and iPad Mini Launch for This Month

Sources: Ars Technica · Engadget