Apple Launches New Touchscreen MacBook Pro Featuring PROLED XDR Display

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Apple introduces a new touchscreen MacBook Pro line with advanced PROLED XDR displays, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, up to 128GB memory, and innovative design changes, priced from $2,899.

Apple has officially launched its much-anticipated touchscreen MacBook Pro, marking a significant shift in the company’s laptop design philosophy nearly a decade after its initial experiment with the Touch Bar. The new MacBook Pro is available in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes, starting at $2,899 and $3,399 respectively.

This latest MacBook Pro incorporates a PROLED XDR Display technology that offers up to 2,000 nits peak brightness for both HDR and SDR content and an impressive 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The MacBook is powered by Apple's new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, delivering a robust performance upgrade and customizable configurations of up to 128GB of unified memory and 16TB of storage.

Apple has addressed ergonomic concerns commonly associated with touchscreens on laptops by redesigning the hinge mechanism. This new hinge stabilizes the screen during touch interaction, enhancing usability and maintaining camera steadiness during video calls. In a departure from the previous notch design, the screen now features a Dynamic Island-style cutout.

The 14-inch model weighs 3.0 pounds (1.38 kg) and the 16-inch model weighs 4.0 pounds (1.82 kg), both lighter than their predecessors without touchscreens. Audio quality has been upgraded with a six-speaker array and a new woofer design for improved sound fidelity.

Connectivity options remain comprehensive with three Thunderbolt 5 ports, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, MagSafe charging, and a headphone jack. Display support is enhanced with the M5 Pro variant supporting up to three external displays, while the M5 Max variant supports up to four.

Preorders for the touchscreen MacBook Pro commence on October 30, with availability beginning November 6. This launch follows the introduction of a new standard 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring the M6 chip, priced from $1,999. The touchscreen MacBook Pro represents one of the first major product introductions by Apple's CEO John Ternus and signals a new era in Apple’s laptop design after the company’s past skepticism toward touchscreen Macs.