Apple Unveils New MacBook Pro Line With Touchscreens and Israeli-Designed Chips
Translated & summarized from Now 14 by baba
Apple has launched its first MacBook Pro models featuring touchscreens and OLED displays, a significant shift from its historical stance. These new laptops, powered by M5 Pro and M5 Max chips designed in Israel, offer enhanced performance and intuitive touch interaction. The devices boast a brighter display, the Dynamic Island, reduced weight, and extended battery life. Pre-orders are open now, with devices shipping globally starting November 6, and prices starting at $2,899.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- Apple released new MacBook Pro models with touchscreens, breaking a long-standing company tradition.
- The new MacBooks feature advanced OLED displays and are powered by M5 Pro and M5 Max chips designed in Israel.
- The laptops incorporate the Dynamic Island, previously seen on iPhones, for notifications and controls.
- Apple's new MacBook Pro models are thinner, lighter, and offer up to 24 hours of battery life.
- Pricing for the new MacBook Pro models starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch version.
- Global availability for the new MacBook Pro line begins on November 6.
Apple has officially broken with its long-standing tradition by introducing its first MacBook Pro models equipped with touchscreens. The new laptops, available in 14- and 16-inch sizes, feature an advanced OLED display and a thinner, lighter design compared to previous generations. This move marks a significant departure from the company's historical stance, with co-founder Steve Jobs having previously dismissed the idea of touchscreens on laptops, stating that "your hand wants to fall." Former CEO Tim Cook also criticized hybrid computer concepts. The new touch functionality is integrated directly into the display panel, minimizing response lag and allowing users to interact with content intuitively, such as pinching to zoom or using the screen as a drawing surface. To address potential screen wobble, Apple has redesigned the hinge with robust steel components and incorporated an algorithmic image stabilization mechanism.
The technological advancements in these new MacBooks are powered by the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, along with an advanced storage controller supporting up to 16 terabytes of flash storage. These components were designed and engineered by Apple's hardware teams, including hundreds of engineers at Apple's development centers in Israel, led by Senior Vice President Jony Ive. The chips offer significant processing power, particularly for AI development and 3D creation, featuring a dedicated neural accelerator in each GPU core that enables local processing of large language models. With unified memory up to 128GB and high bandwidth, the new processors are reportedly up to 12 times faster than M1-based computers.
The MacBook Pro features a new PROLED XDR display with a dual Tandem OLED panel, offering up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness for both HDR and SDR content, and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The display supports adaptive ProMotion refresh rates from 10 to 120 Hz and offers full Adobe RGB color space coverage. The notch housing the camera has been replaced by the Dynamic Island, familiar from iPhones, which displays live notifications and controls. The adoption of the thinner OLED panel has resulted in a substantial reduction in the laptops' dimensions and weight, with the 14-inch model weighing approximately 1.36 kg and the 16-inch model around 1.8 kg. Battery life is extended to up to 24 hours, with fast charging capabilities. The audio system includes six speakers with enhanced bass. The laptops are equipped with Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI, an SDXC card slot, and MagSafe 3, supporting up to four 6K displays. Pre-orders in the US begin today, with global availability starting November 6. Pricing for the 14-inch M5 Pro model starts at $2,899, the 16-inch at $3,399, and M5 Max models range from $4,499 to $4,799.
