Apple unveils first touchscreen MacBook Pro with OLED display
Apple has announced its first Mac with a touch display, a MacBook Pro with a tandem OLED screen called PROLED XDR. The 14-inch model starts at $2,899, according to The Verge.
- Apple's first Mac with a touchscreen was shown at its "Pro and Tell" event on Wednesday
- The 14-inch model starts at $2,899, which is $400 more than a similarly specced M5 Pro MacBook Pro
- It weighs 3 pounds and uses a tandem OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate
Apple has announced a MacBook Pro with a touchscreen, the first laptop in the company's Mac line to support touch. It was unveiled at an event called "Pro and Tell" on Wednesday, according to The Verge. Apple CEO John Ternus revealed the machine.
The display is branded PROLED XDR. The Verge described it as a tandem OLED panel with up to 2000 nits of brightness and a 120Hz refresh rate. GSMArena said it uses the same tandem OLED technology seen on iPad Pro models, which layers two OLED panels to increase light output. Wired reported that the laptop comes with an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip.
The new 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds, The Verge reported. That is lighter than the non-touch MacBook Pro models, which start at 3.4 pounds for the newly introduced M6 versions. The 16-inch touchscreen model weighs 4 pounds, compared with 4.7 pounds for the M5 Pro version without a touchscreen.
In Apple's own apps, users can swipe to scroll, pinch to zoom and double-tap to maximize a window, The Verge reported. Third-party apps may need updates for touch, but macOS translates taps into clicks as a fallback. Apple enlarges the window buttons and drop-down menus when they are touched. The laptop does not support Apple Pencil.
The notch is replaced by a Dynamic Island, which shows items such as music playback and brightness or volume sliders. The lid carries a glowing Apple logo whose brightness matches the screen and which can be turned off.
The touchscreen model starts at $2,899, which The Verge said is $400 more than an otherwise similarly specced M5 Pro MacBook Pro. Apple also introduced an updated 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip and improved wireless connectivity.
The move reverses Apple's earlier position. Wired noted that Phil Schiller argued in 2015 against touch on Macs for ergonomic and software reasons, and said Apple's 2016 user tests concluded touch was not the right choice. Ternus told Wired: "The Mac is first and foremost an indirect input device, built around the trackpad and keyboard. But I think there's times when it's comfortable and handy to have touch." The reports reviewed here did not give prices or availability for Pakistan.
Why it matters
Pakistani buyers and tech followers are watching whether the new laptops reach local shops and at what price; the reports give only the US starting price of $2,899.
