Apple’s New MacBook Pro Gets a Touchscreen, OLED Display, and a Glowing Logo

Apple’s latest MacBook Pro models bring some long-awaited changes to the lineup. Announced on October 28, the new 14-inch and 16-inch laptops feature OLED touchscreens for the first time. Apple also made the laptops thinner and lighter and brought back the glowing Apple logo. Both models run on the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. Buyers can pre-order the laptops now, ahead of their November 6 launch.

Apple Brings OLED Touchscreens to the MacBook Pro for the First Time

Apple offers its new touchscreen experience on both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. They also feature the new PROLED XDR display technology, which replaces the mini-LED panels used in earlier models. The OLED panel can reach 2,000 nits of peak brightness for HDR and SDR content. It also offers a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio and a variable refresh rate between 10Hz and 120Hz. The display supports P3 and Adobe RGB color spaces. Apple also offers an optional nano-texture finish etched into the cover glass. Unlike mini-LED panels, OLED displays light up individual pixels. This allows the new MacBook Pro models to produce deeper blacks and better contrast.

Apple has also updated macOS 27 to support the new touchscreen experience. Users can tap different parts of the screen instead of relying entirely on the trackpad. Existing apps will work with touch input without requiring developer updates. macOS will treat finger taps like regular clicks. Apple has also placed the touch sensor inside the display panel to reduce latency. The display also gets a new camera cutout with Dynamic Island. It replaces the notch found on previous MacBook Pro models. Apple will use this area to show Spotlight search, Live Activities, and Siri AI.

New MacBook Pro Brings Back the Glowing Apple Logo With a Thinner Design

The new MacBook Pro models also bring design and build changes. Apple has brought back the glowing logo on the lid after removing it in 2015. Both laptops now have a thinner, lighter body. The 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds, down from 3.5 pounds. Meanwhile, the 16-inch variant weighs 4 pounds. Apple has reduced the 14-inch model’s thickness by 0.5mm. The 16-inch version is nearly 1mm thinner than its predecessor. The company has also thinned the display bezels. This allows Apple to increase the screen sizes to 14.2 inches and 16.3 inches.

Apple has also introduced video stabilization for video calls. It reduces camera movement when users touch the display. The company also redesigned the thermal system. In the new design, air is forced through the hinge to optimize circulation and make the device lighter. Under the hood, Apple uses M5 Pro and M5 Max processors, which are identical to those used in previous generations of MacBook Pro. Customers can configure their devices with up to 128GB of unified memory and 16TB of storage. Both models also offer three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, MagSafe, and a headphone jack.

The new MacBook Pro supports up to 24 hours of battery life. Apple has also updated its six-speaker audio system with a redesigned woofer. The company claims this delivers 50% deeper bass. For external displays, the M5 Pro supports up to three screens. The M5 Max increases this limit to four screens. The M5 Pro and M5 Max also offer more CPU and GPU cores than the M6 chip. They also provide higher memory bandwidth. However, buyers who want the newer M6 processor can choose the separate 14-inch MacBook Pro. It features a mini-LED display instead of OLED and does not support touch input.

Price and Availability

Apple revealed the new MacBook Pro lineup during the Pro and Tell event in Los Angeles. Apple revealed these MacBooks on October 28, starting at $2,899. The $2,899 base price applies to the 14-inch M5 Pro model. The 16-inch M5 Pro model starts at $3,399. M5 Max models start at $4,499 and $4,799, respectively. The two touchscreen models cost $400 more than their non-touchscreen M5 Pro counterparts. The 14-inch model is the most expensive MacBook Pro at launch.

However, buyers have other MacBook Pro options. The first one is the 14-inch M6, which costs $1,999. Also, Apple keeps its M5 Pro and M5 Max versions without a touchscreen, which cost $2,499 for the 14-inch laptop and $2,999 for the 16-inch laptop. Users with Intel or M1 MacBook Pro laptops have good upgrade options because of newer models. New MacBook Pros offer several advantages, but only in hardware. If you already have an M5 Pro or M5 Max, you won’t gain much, since the new laptops use the same processors.