Apple unveils first MacBook Pro with touchscreen
Apple finally has a touchscreen MacBook Pro.
The tech giant refreshed its pro laptop line on Oct. 29 (Philippine time), with the newest addition equipped with features seen for the first time on a MacBook.
While a touchscreen laptop isn't new to the tech scene, Apple played catch-up and released the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, which comes in 14- and 16-inch models.
With its latest launch, the Cupertino company highlighted the laptop's upgraded visual capabilities, as the PROLED XDR display is capable of 2000 nits of peak HDR and SDR brightness, a 12Hz refresh rate, and a wider color gamut covering P3 and Adobe RGB.
The cherry on top is the touch capabilities, which will allow users to interact with their MacBook Pro in a new way—something similar to how they use their iPad or iPhone. They can tap, swipe, and scroll through webpages, drag and drop through workflows, and pinch windows on the new MacBook. Furthermore, graphic designers can simply use the display as their canvas and draw on it.
Powering the laptop is either an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip, which promises powerful CPU performance for creatives and software engineers tackling intensive projects. Unified memory starts at 24GB and can go up to 128GB, while storage begins at 1TB and can go up to 16TB.
Apple also brought the Dynamic Island, first seen on the iPhone 14 Pro, to the MacBook Pro to replace the notch on the display. This portion of the screen is where Spotlight, Live Activities, and Siri AI will live.
It will also house the 12MP Center Stage camera, which will take care of video calls.
Connectivity-wise, the MacBook Pro has three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, MagSafe, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Apple boasts that the laptop has a 24-hour battery life which can charge up to 50% in just 30 minutes.
One neat easter egg that Apple fans will see in the new laptop is that the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR's logo glows when the screen is on. This feature was last seen in the 2016 MacBook Pro.
The new device is on the pricier side, with the base 14-inch model with M5 Pro and 24GB+1TB starting at P214,990.
Decked out to the highest specs (with nano-texture glass, M5 Max with 18-core GPU and 40-core CPU, 128GB+16TB), the 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR can cost up to P979,740.
"The new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is a monumental step forward for Mac," Apple's hardware chief Johny Srouji said.
It comes following breakthrough releases from Apple, including the company's first foldable phone: the iPhone Duo.
The company also recently launched the new iPad mini, the iMac with M6, and the MacBook Pro (14-inch) with M6.