Back in 2010, Steve Jobs famously dismissed the idea of a touchscreen MacBook, arguing that reaching up to interact with a laptop display was "ergonomically terrible." Sixteen years later, Apple has apparently decided our arms can handle it.
The Cupertino giant has officially unveiled its first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro, marking one of the biggest changes to its flagship laptop in years. Available in 14-inch and 16-inch configurations, the redesigned machine introduces an entirely new OLED display, a Dynamic Island borrowed from the iPhone, and a noticeably slimmer silhouette.
Naturally, Apple has given the screen a suitably grandiose name: PROLED XDR. Behind the marketing department's handiwork is a tandem OLED panel capable of reaching an extraordinary 2,000 nits of peak brightness, with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a claimed 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. For photographers, filmmakers, and anyone who spends their working day staring at a screen, it's a fairly compelling upgrade.
The real headline, though, is the touchscreen functionality. Users can finally swipe through websites, pinch to zoom into photographs, rearrange windows, and manipulate creative projects directly on the display. Apple has also redesigned the hinge to prevent the screen from wobbling excessively when prodded, while macOS 27 introduces touch-friendly controls without abandoning the familiar keyboard and trackpad.
There's some serious hardware underneath, too. Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max chips handle the heavy lifting, supported by up to 128GB of unified memory and a frankly ridiculous 16TB of SSD storage. Battery life remains an impressive claimed 24 hours, despite the 14-inch model shedding roughly 200 grams and the 16-inch losing more than 300 grams.
Elsewhere, the familiar MacBook notch has been replaced by Dynamic Island, which now houses notifications, music controls, Spotlight, and Apple's increasingly ambitious Siri AI. There's also a refreshed six-speaker audio system, Thunderbolt 5 connectivity, and, in a welcome bit of nostalgia, the return of the illuminated Apple logo on the lid.
Early impressions have been broadly positive, particularly regarding the display. Tom's Guide described the OLED panel as jaw-dropping, while Ars Technica suggested the screen might ultimately be a bigger selling point than touch itself. The Verge, meanwhile, found the touchscreen useful but hardly revolutionary, noting that small interface elements remain fiddly and there's no Apple Pencil support.
Then there's the price. Australian buyers will pay $4,599 for the 14-inch M5 Pro model, climbing to $5,499 for the 16-inch, while M5 Max configurations start at $6,999. That's a considerable premium over Apple's existing non-touchscreen MacBook Pros, which remain available.
Pre-orders are open now, with Australian deliveries and in-store availability beginning Friday, 6 November.
Whether touchscreen functionality becomes indispensable or simply another expensive Apple party trick remains to be seen. But after nearly two decades of telling customers to keep their fingers off the screen, Apple's about-face is quite something. And knowing Apple, we'll probably all be wondering how we lived without it in a few years.