Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro is finally here, and yes, touching the screen of a MacBook feels completely and wonderfully natural.
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Confirming one of Apple’s worst-kept secrets, Apple finally unveiled its first touchscreen MacBook Pro in 14- and 16-inch models on Wednesday, October 28 in Los Angeles. The news comes just days after Apple unveiled the M6-class MacBook Pros. Notably, the new PROLED touchscreen laptops run Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max silicon.
Apple CEO John Ternus didn’t waste much time on stage, quickly announcing the laptops and going over key innovations like the relatively lightweight tandem OLED (PROLED) displays (3 pounds for the 14-inch model and 4 pounds for the 16-inch) before leaving the stage and directing the assembled group of media, analysts, creators, and Apple executives to an adjacent space where I had my first experience with a touchscreen MacBook.
You’ve been waiting for this
If you’re not reading on, know this: It felt totally natural to tap, swipe, three-finger gestures, pinch, zoom, and more on a MacBook Pro’s screen. It seems like I’ve been waiting my entire life to do this on a MacBook (or at least since I’ve been using MacBooks).
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As a former Windows user, and more specifically a long-time Surface Pro fan, I’m pretty used to touching a screen, although maybe not one as beautiful as this one.
For those unfamiliar with tandem OLED technology, which Apple first introduced a few years ago with the iPad Pro, it combines two ultra-thin OLEDs that emit light. This increases the brightness and maintains incredibly dark blacks (they are beautiful). It also allows for a much slimmer display panel because it doesn’t need a backlight.
Although now there is a kind of “backlight”. This line of touchscreen MacBook Pros marks the return of the shiny Apple logo on the back of the screen. It lights up when you open the laptop and turns off when you close it (people at the Hollywood, California, event were applauding for that).
I mainly played with the largest, 16-inch model, which still features the expansive, backlit Magic Keyboard and a huge ForceTouch Trackpad, which will honestly get used a little less now that there’s a touchscreen just a few centimeters away.
A pair of large speaker grills sit on either side of the keyboard, although I couldn’t hear them due to the noise in the demo room. As with previous MacBook Pros, there’s still an SD card slot, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, a USB-4 port, HDMI, and a headphone jack.
In my hands, the 16-inch, 4-pound model felt a bit lighter than previous 16-inch MacBook Pros, although the 14-inch (which might be my preference) felt light at 3 pounds.
Touch it, touch it, please say what you want
But let’s talk about the use of the touch screen.
I tried a 3D design app where I used a couple of fingers to spin a model of a guy in battle armor and then a single finger to paint gold on some of the armor.
I opened Maps and used two fingers to rotate the map, then pinched and zoomed.
I used three fingers to slide across the desks.
You could use two fingers to grab a window, rotate it to the side of the screen, and see it instantly dock as a half-screen app (yes, I’ve done something very similar on a Surface Pro).
I played the touchscreen piano with all my fingers.
At no point did I doubt and wonder how I did this or that. It’s obvious. I never felt uncomfortable and my arm never got tired. Put another way, a touch screen is perfect for the MacBook Pro family.
Now, you can’t take the screen and rotate it all the way to the back of the laptop (something many Windows touchscreen laptops can do). Maybe it’s a shame because I can also use my finger to paint and, although I haven’t done it yet, draw.
Speaking of which, there’s no indication that the touchscreen MacBook Pro will support the Apple Pencil. Honestly, if you can’t fold it back at least flat, this stand is pointless anyway.
By the way, there is a dynamic island that is basically copied from the iPhone, but I didn’t see it do much.
While using the touchscreen MacBook Pro, I was reminded not only of my time with the Microsoft Surface Pro, but also of my first weeks and even months with the MacBook after switching platforms. Yes, I found myself touching the dead MacBook screen and had to retrain myself to stop doing it.
The point is, touch was something I used reflexively on the Surface Pro, and now I’m sure I’ll happily use it on the touchscreen MacBook Pro. You probably will too.
You will pay for the privilege of touch. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with touchscreen starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, and the 16-inch model starts at $3,399 / £3,399 / $5,499. Pre-orders are available today and the laptops will ship on November 6.
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