# 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.
- Title: Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro arrives at last · Ars Technica
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: apple, macbook pro, touchscreen, oled display, dynamic island, laptop hardware, technology, science, Apple's, MacBook, Pro, arrives
- Source: Ars Technica — https://arstechnica.com/apple/2026/10/touchscreen-macbook-pro-hands-on-oled-looks-great-on-a-mac
- Published: 2026-10-28T19:10:29+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: apple, macbook pro, touchscreen, oled display, dynamic island, laptop hardware, technology, science
## 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.
## Key takeaway

Apple released a touchscreen MacBook Pro with an OLED display, ending a long debate over whether laptops should support touch input.