Touch is the headline feature on Apple’s redesigned MacBook Pro, but it may not be the upgrade that matters most once the novelty wears off.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has now shared early impressions of the new machine, with Apple’s implementation reinforcing an important point: this is still a Mac first. Touch is there when reaching for the screen is quicker or more natural, but Apple has not replaced the keyboard, trackpad or familiar macOS workflow. Bloomberg’s latest Power On newsletter looks at the new MacBook Pro after hands-on use.
For buyers deciding whether the new model is worth its substantial premium, that makes the rest of the redesign especially important. Touch adds useful direct interactions throughout macOS, but it is designed to complement the way people already use a Mac rather than fundamentally change it.
The new PROLED XDR display moves MacBook Pro to tandem OLED for the first time. Apple says it can reach up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR and SDR brightness, deliver a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio and refresh between 10Hz and 120Hz with ProMotion.
Unlike Touch, which will be more useful in some workflows than others, the OLED panel affects virtually everything displayed on the Mac. Deeper blacks, higher contrast, increased brightness and broader color support are improvements users benefit from whether they ever touch the screen or not. Our PROLED XDR breakdown explains the new display technology in detail.
The redesigned chassis is similarly universal. The 14-inch model now weighs 3 pounds, around half a pound less than its predecessor, while the 16-inch model drops to 4 pounds. Both are thinner, making the changes immediately noticeable to anyone carrying a MacBook Pro every day.
M5 Pro and M5 Max bring the new MacBook Pro substantially higher performance ceilings, with configurations offering up to 128GB of unified memory and 16TB of storage. Apple also rates the new models for up to 24 hours of battery life, alongside fast charging to around 50 percent in 30 minutes.
Those improvements are likely to be more important than Touch for developers, video editors, 3D artists and other buyers whose workloads are already limited by performance, memory or battery life.
The biggest issue is price. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at $2,899 in the United States and £2,899 in the United Kingdom, while the 16-inch model starts at $3,399 and £3,399 respectively.
Apple also sells a separate 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 from $1,999 in the US and £1,999 in the UK. That machine does not include Touch, PROLED XDR or the redesigned chassis, but the $900 difference makes it a serious alternative for buyers who primarily want a fast MacBook Pro rather than Apple’s most advanced display and input hardware.
Touch makes the new high-end MacBook Pro more flexible, particularly for creative apps and quick direct interactions. But the strongest argument for paying the premium is the combination of OLED, lower weight, M5 Pro or M5 Max performance, expanded memory and storage, and battery life rather than Touch alone. Our complete MacBook Pro guide compares all of the major changes.