New MacBook Pro Gets Lighter With OLED Touch
Apple's MacBook Pro drops weight, adds OLED touchscreen and glowing logo while keeping the 2021 redesign's strengths.
TL;DR
- 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds and 16-inch hits 4 pounds thanks to tandem OLED.
- Touch works for tasks like Logic Pro mixer tweaks but stays optional day to day.
- M5 Pro or Max chips, starts at $2,899 for 14-inch and $3,399 for 16-inch.
Apple just dropped the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, its first touchscreen MacBook. The big upgrades are a tandem OLED panel, serious weight loss, and that long-rumored touch support.
The 14-inch model now weighs 3 pounds instead of 3.5, while the 16-inch drops to 4 pounds from 4.7. Both are also a bit thinner. Apple pulled this off mainly by switching from mini-LED to OLED, which skips the backlight and lets touch sensing sit right in the panel.
Other tweaks include slimmer bezels with rounded corners all around and the return of the glowing Apple logo. The logo brightness matches the screen and ambient light, just like the old days.
The display steals the show
The PROLED XDR screen gets praise for deep blacks, rich colors, and no blooming from local dimming. It stays readable in sunlight and hits just 1% reflectance. Burn-in protection uses real-time pixel monitoring, though long-term results are still unknown.
Touch is there and works fine for things like tweaking mixer controls in Logic Pro. Reviewers say it feels useful in spots but does not rewrite how you use the laptop day to day. Most of the time you forget it is even an option.
Performance and build
Inside are M5 Pro or M5 Max chips. The machines run cool thanks to redesigned thermals that protect the OLED panel. Prices start at $2,899 for the 14-inch and $3,399 for the 16-inch.
The Tea
This is the real 2021 MacBook Pro refresh we wanted: lighter, prettier screen, and touch as a bonus instead of the whole story. It finally fixes the weight trade-off without bringing back old headaches.