From Ars Technica · · 2m
Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro arrives at last
After years of debate, Apple adds touch input to its flagship laptop alongside a stunning OLED display.
In brief
After years of debate, Apple adds touch input to its flagship laptop alongside a stunning OLED display. Apple released a touchscreen MacBook Pro with an OLED display, ending a long debate over whether laptops should support touch input. Originally reported by Ars Technica.
First look at Apple's new MacBook Pro
At a Los Angeles showroom, the new MacBook Pro impressed with its lighter weight and outstanding OLED display, though the design remains familiar.
Noticeably lighter than before
The new model weighs less than the previous 14-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max, a difference immediately apparent when picking it up.
Dynamic Island comes to MacBook
The laptop features a Dynamic Island cutout at the top of the screen, much less dominant than on iPhone but raising questions about fullscreen games.
Apple logo glows again
The back-lit Apple logo returns to the MacBook Pro, a nostalgic touch that some find essential and others consider tacky.
Touchscreen debate finally settled
Steve Jobs opposed touchscreen laptops, but under Tim Cook and John Ternus, Apple decided to move ahead with the idea.
What the touchscreen can do
The screen supports swiping between spaces, pinching and zooming, dragging windows, launching apps, drawing, and scrubbing video playback.
Touch adds little over trackpad
Most touchscreen gestures duplicate existing trackpad functions at the operating system level, though creative apps like finger painting offer more.
No tablet mode or Apple Pencil
The MacBook Pro remains in standard laptop form and does not support the Apple Pencil, unlike the convertible device some had imagined.
OLED display steals the show
The OLED screen impresses with peak brightness, absolute blacks, balanced color, and dynamic range, a major upgrade from the previous MiniLED panel.
Dynamic Island proves its worth
The Dynamic Island resizes to show live activities and information on the fly, turning a potential design flaw into an appealing feature.
Keyboard and ports unchanged
The keyboard, trackpad, and port selection remain identical to the previous generation, with no modifications to these components.
Price remains the barrier
A sixteen-inch model with M five Max, sixty four gigabytes of RAM, and two terabytes of storage costs five thousand seven hundred ninety nine dollars.
The big picture
Apple released a touchscreen MacBook Pro with an OLED display, ending a long debate over whether laptops should support touch input.
