Apple debuts touchscreen MacBook Pro at $2,899

Apple introduced its first MacBook Pro with a touchscreen on Wednesday, closing out a week of product launches with the release of its highest-end laptop line.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR Display starts at $2,899 and includes the M5 Pro chip. The 16-inch model begins at $3,399. Both base models feature 12-core CPUs and 12-core GPUs. Customers can also select configurations with the M5 Max chip.

Apple CEO John Ternus presented the new hardware during an event he called "Pro and Tell." The laptop uses a tandem OLED display that refreshes at 120Hz and reaches 2,000 nits of brightness. The touch sensor is integrated into the display panel itself rather than added as a separate layer. Apple states this design choice reduces latency for gestures like scrolling, swiping, and pinching.

The new chassis weighs three pounds for the 14-inch model, making it lighter than previous generations. The lid features an illuminated Apple logo. The device also includes a Dynamic Island, a feature previously found only on iPhones. This interface displays real-time updates, allows file searches, and interacts with Siri AI.

Preorders for the new MacBook Pro opened on Wednesday. Units will begin shipping to customers on November 6.

Earlier in the week, Apple released an updated iPad Mini with an 8.5-inch OLED screen. The tablet measures 5.4mm in thickness and has bezels that are 24 percent slimmer than the prior model. It starts at $699 for the Wi-Fi only version with 128GB of storage. The device is available in midnight and starlight colors.

The iPad Mini includes an A20 Pro chip, a 12-megapixel landscape camera, and an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance. Apple describes a new audio feature called Acoustic Display, which uses the screen to enhance bass and volume. A nano-texture display option is available for the 256GB and 512GB models.

Apple also refreshed the standard 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip and a new N1 networking chip that supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. This model starts at $1,999 with 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage. It features three Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe 3, HDMI, and an SDXC card slot. Shipping for this model also starts November 6.

The iMac lineup now includes the M6 chip. Apple says the new processor offers up to five times faster on-device AI performance compared to the M4 iMac. The base M6 iMac costs $1,499 and includes 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Preorders are open for this device as well.

On the software side, Apple is adding an AI chatbot to Keynote, Numbers, and Pages. The tool is built on models from Apple and OpenAI. It can create and animate slides in Keynote, restructure drafts in Pages, and visualize data in Numbers. Apple also added an AI-powered fill feature to Pixelmator Pro and a new AI assistant to Logic Pro.