Apple just dropped the touch screen MacBook Pro OLED we’ve waited years for

Apple’s first MacBook Pro with an OLED touch screen is here, and I hope you weren’t expecting it to have a simple name. The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display looks like the perfect marriage of an iPad Pro, a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, which has me asking all sorts of questions, starting with “is the Mac ready for a touch screen?”

We hope so, since Apple spent decades letting PC laptops woo users with touch screens before deciding to make its own. So let’s break down everything you need to know before you hit preorder ahead of its Nov. 6 release date, because Apple’s already selling this pricey beast as we speak.

Finally, an OLED touch screen MacBook

Available in both 14-inch and 16-inch models, the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display uses tandem OLED tech (previously seen in the iPad Pro) to deliver super-bright visuals with seriously high quality. This replaces the Liquid Retina XDR display in the MacBook ˇ M6, which we already thought was great, but knew was a step or two shy of OLED.

You’ll also get smooth scrolling and image quality, thanks to the 120Hz variable refresh rate previously seen in the MacBook Pro (as well as the iPhone 17), and there’s also a nano-texture glass option that reduces glare for $150 extra. Speaking of the iPhone, the Dynamic Island is also finally making its MacBook debut as a place where you can get updates from your apps, control music, take calls and more.

Everything should sound great too, as Apple updated the woofers in this MacBook Pro to provide 50% deeper bass than the nontouch M5 Pro model, while adding new tweeters for improved clarity. I’m personally excited to hear that the company also tuned these speakers for closed-lid use, as I love to close my MacBook Pro and keep it upright to save desk space when I connect to my external display. There’s also a headphone jack, which is becoming increasingly rare on the top Windows laptops.

But the big question on my mind is this: “Is macOS ready for touch?” And Apple’s answer appears to be … “Somewhat.” The good news is that small system controls will be enlarged for easier tapping. But then, there’s the question of app support. Apple’s press release states that its own “apps are optimized for the new MacBook Pro, and many existing apps work with Touch right away.”

Select third-party apps, including creative tools like Canva, DaVinci Resolve, Blender and Notion will support touch at launch. But we’re not sure when other everyday workhorses that Apple cites, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, or creative tools, such as Adobe Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve, will be optimized for this new display. As we’ve learned with the iPhone Duo, applications often need to be customized when new ways of interacting are introduced.

Either way, Apple is promising that users’ patience for waiting for a touch screen Mac will be rewarded with reduced latency in interactions and that we should expect all the same scrolling, drag-and-drop, pinch, zoom and double-tap interactions we’ve seen and performed on iPads, iPhones, Chromebooks and Windows 2-in-1s in the past. Oh, and don’t expect all of that touching to make your MacBook screen wobble, as Apple redesigned its laptop hinge for greater stability. The new laptop also uses video stabilization for the webcam so you don’t shake jarringly on calls while you touch the screen.

These are big (and overdue) check marks for Apple, as Windows and Chromebook laptops have offered touch and OLED for years and years.

All of the other specs, and that price

The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display may have Apple’s best laptop screen yet, but it’s actually in the previous generation when it comes to processors, as Apple is packing it with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. While we would have loved these laptops to debut with the M6 Pro and M6 Max, the previous chips are still phenomenal powerhouses, as we saw in our MacBook Pro M5 review. Apple starts you with 24GB of memory and 1TB of storage in both the 14-inch and 16-inch models.

This OLED touchscreen MacBook Pro doesn’t come cheap, either. It starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model, which is $900 more than the 14-inch Macbook Pro M6 the company just announced earlier this week. The 16-inch model is $3,399. This is the big flaw here, especially since touchscreen OLED PC laptops aren’t that expensive. For example, the newest version of the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x (whose predecessor is one of our favorite Windows laptops) has an MSRP of $2,100 and is currently down to $1,150.

The PROLED MacBook Pro starts at 3 pounds for the 14-inch model, which is a half-pound lighter than the nontouch M5 Pro MacBook Pro Apple previously launched. Portability also gets better with the 16-inch model, which goes from a 4.7-pound nontouch version to a 4-pound touch-capable model.

Apple’s also packed in many other MacBook Pro standards, including Touch ID (but no Face ID) biometric security, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, an HDMI out, an SD memory card reader, a trio of Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports and the magnetic MagSafe power port. For battery life, Apple claims the 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display will last up to 22 hours on a single charge when streaming video and that the 16-inch model will go up to 24 hours.

The takeaway

Apple users may have spent years telling themselves they don’t need OLED in their MacBook. That they don’t want to interact with their laptop’s screen via touch. Now, though, Apple’s making it all possible … provided you have around three thousand dollars. So who is this for, aside from folks who love to splurge? I can easily see it being a favorite of TV and movie-loving Apple users who want a screen that’s as great as one of the best TVs for their travels. Creatives might not need touch, but if they’ve gotten used to dragging and dropping video and audio tracks on their phone or iPad, it might be right for them too.

This sure looks like the best MacBook ever, but its price makes it hard for me to say it’s going to be the best laptop I’ve ever tested with a touch screen. I’m eager to get my hands on one and see how macOS adapts for touch, so stay tuned for our full review.

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CNN Underscored editors and writers ensure every product included in an article is thoroughly vetted and something we ourselves would feel comfortable buying and using. Our team has many decades of collective experience researching, testing and recommending products across every category — from fashion and food, to home goods and health, to electronics and everything in between — and we’re committed to using that expertise to help you make the most of your money and live a better life.

For this article, CNN Underscored tech writer Henry T. Casey utilized the knowledge he gained by testing and reviewing MacBooks and all of the top Windows laptops for over 11 years. He loves tech products, but he’s starting to wonder when we will stop seeing wild price hikes for computers and laptops.