It wasn’t until I unboxed the all-new touchscreen MacBook Pro that I understood the enormity of what Apple had done. They’d told me it was now a 3lb system that was both thinner and smaller than the MacBook Pro M5 (and the recently released M6 model), but it wasn’t until I put the new laptop next to the M5 and then compared it to the MacBook Air M5 that I knew Apple had changed its laptop game.

Here's what you should know about me: I hate a heavy backpack. That’s one of the reasons I carried a Microsoft Surface Pro for a decade and have now carried a succession of excellent MacBook Air laptops for the last few years. At 2.7 lbs, it's light enough to be mostly unnoticeable in my backpack, and since the M-class Apple silicon chips, Apple has packed in more than enough power for my needs.

The new Touchscreen MacBook shrinks the traditional Pro chassis by a full half pound. That’s right, it’s now just 0.3 pounds heavier than my MacBook Air. It’s not just the weight. Overall bulk — despite a larger (and also in part because of) PROLED XDR display — is not much more than the Air.

Here are the specs:

MacBook Air 13-inch M5

• Height: 0.44 inch
• Width: 11.97 inches
• Depth: 8.46 inches

MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display 14-inch

• Height: 0.59 inch
• Width: 12.24 inches
• Depth: 8.52 inches

Obviously, the touchscreen MacBook Pro is fractionally larger in every dimension, but it no longer feels like a bulky, heavy Pro system.

Apple’s ability to shrink this powerful laptop's dimensions — while leaving ports, keyboard, trackpad, and speakers virtually untouched and oh-so-familiar — comes down, in large part, to the new tandem OLED display, which is considerably thinner than the M6’s mini-LED-based Liquid Retina Display.

It’s also wholly redesigned, stretching far deeper on the cover than the Liquid Retina panel on the traditional MacBook Pro. That extra depth is how Apple almost magically fits a 14.2-inch display on a smaller chassis.

Perhaps you can see where I’m going: By shrinking its most powerful portable (with a touchscreen, no less), Apple is, whether purposefully or not, introducing some buying confusion. A MacBook Pro is officially nearly ultra-portable territory.

Obviously, the price and power disparity is what will now cleave consumers one way or the other. The MacBook Air 13-inch M5 starts at $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,799 with 16GB of RAM, a 10-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU, and 512GB of storage. The 14-inch MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, with a 15-Core M5 Pro, 16-Core GPU, 24GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage.

The difference is clear: this is a Pro-grade system, which has far more power than anyone looking at a MacBook Air-class system probably needs.

Still, with this new MacBook Pro, I think the MacBook Air’s portability advantage has been taken off the table.

The magic touch

Now, I’ve spent some time with a slightly juiced-up MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display (M5 Pro with an 18-Core GPU, 20-Core GPU, 48GB of RAM, and 1 TB of storage for $3699) and have come to realize that aside from formidable, virtually endless power, it’s the remarkable screen that I now believe is set to change the trajectory of all Apple MacBooks.

I want to be clear: the ability to touch the MacBook Pro screen and manipulate data, content, screen views, desktops, and more is exciting. But I‘m not gonna lie, I’ve been struggling to figure out what it was made for. As I wrote when Apple unveiled the touchscreen MacBook Pro, I’m quite familiar with touchscreen systems and, when necessary, did touch my Surface Pro screen.

However, it’s becoming clear to me that as I use the MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display system as my everyday driver, I don’t touch the display very often. Instead, I kept looking for reasons to touch the display.

There are apps where it’s fun to try, like the 3D-manipulating ZBrush, which lets me pull and push 3D models like a digital sculptor, and 3D scene-creating Cinema 4D (using my fingers to manipulate a 3D couch was harder than I thought it would be), but these are, at least not for me, everyday tools.

I fiddled with the laptop’s touchscreen to scroll through web pages, but I'm just as happy to use the giant Force Touch trackpad.

I take a lot of screen grabs by holding down Command/Shift/4 to launch the grabber, and I usually use the mouse to select the capture area. With the touchscreen, I could drag my finger diagonally across the screen to select a capture area. That was kind of cool, though not a game changer, and I’m fine with using the mouse.

I tried using my fingers to manipulate my Cyberpunk 2077 character, and it was a disaster. I kept accidentally drawing my weapon and blasting away at random strangers. I decided to stick with the mouse and trackpad. Side note: I ran all of these games and apps at once. This system is such a beast.

The point is, I think touch has its applications and place, but I think it’ll end up being mostly useful in specific, vertical workflows.

That feeling may change over time. After all, sometimes touching a MacBook display does feel like an illicit act. Each time I went to close a window or scroll a webpage with a fingertip, I did glance around to see who was watching, wondering if they thought I’d gone a bit daft, as they thought, “Dude, you can’t touch a MacBook screen; Steve Jobs told us so.”

Those who do choose this relatively lightweight and incredibly powerful system probably won’t do so because of touch, but they may choose it for another reason:

The astonishing display.

From the new Dynamic Island that replaces the giant notch on my old MacBook Pro (and provides some useful live info but sadly not Face ID) to the thinner bezels and curved bottom, it’s more aesthetically appealing. The tandem OLED technology, though, transforms the visuals in ways that no other laptop I’ve ever used or seen can approach.

I put the MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display next to the MacBook Pro M5, and the difference is nothing short of remarkable.

The promised 10,000,000-to-1 contrast ratio pays dividends with blacks that are inkier than the deep center of a black hole. That’s paired with colors and clarity that make everything pop, and with ProMotion (up to 120Hz), everything is smooth as silk.

Viewed separately, imagery still looks great on the MacBook M5’s Liquid Retina XDR, but next to the new PROLED XDR, everything on the M5 Pro looks muted. Even the off-angle viewing is noticeably better on the PROLED XDR Display. I wasn’t alone in this assessment. I showed the side-by-side laptops to a group of coworkers, and they all agreed.

That spectacular screen is paired with a more performant silicon that easily bested the standard M5 in my older MacBook Pro. In my side-by-side tests with Resident Evil 4, the M5 Pro MacBook Pro loaded the game faster and stayed a step ahead of the M5 MacBook Pro.

Here’s my conundrum. Most people shopping for laptops are not making a feature film, cutting a studio album, working on giant CAD-level projects, or running large language AI models locally, all things that the MacBook Pro PROLED XDR and its M5 Pro are more than capable of (often, as I noted above, at the same time, but with a lot of fan noise). But I cannot think of a single potential user who would not want this display.

They don’t all need the touchscreen, for as cool as it is, but as for that big, efficient, bright, and contrast-rich tandem OLED, everyone could use that.

So the question I’m left with after my MacBook Pro PROLED XDR Display 14-inch experience is: when will the next MacBook Air get this display, shrink by half a pound, and regain its position as the ultra-portable king? Oh, and how soon can the MacBook Air get that glowing logo on the back?

At a glance: Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display scorecard

How the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display scored in our review

Value

3

Design

4.5

Performance

5

Battery life

5

Overall

4.5

Group 1 Data

Product	Value ()	Design ()	Performance ()	Battery life ()	Overall ()
Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	3	4.5	5	5	4.5

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max): Value for money

Starting at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599 for the 14-inch version, and $3,399 / £3,399 / AU$5,499 for the 16-inch model, and going all the way up to an astonishing $14,549 / £14,549 / AU$22,424 for the fully specced-out model, the question of value isn’t so much about price, but about what this laptop can enable you to do.

Put simply, if you just want a MacBook that will excel at day-to-day tasks you’d be much better off buying a MacBook Air (M5), and even for more ambitious workloads, the recently-announced MacBook Pro (M6), which starts at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,199, will likely more than suffice. Neither of those, of course, feature a touchscreen, but I wouldn’t suggest buying any model of the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display for the touchscreen alone.

Thankfully, this version of the MacBook Pro has other features that help to justify the higher price tag, including tandem OLED screen technology, a lighter design, and more powerful components. Despite being older than the M6 chip, both the M5 Pro and M5 Max outperform it, so if you need a seriously powerful laptop, and image quality is of the utmost importance, the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display could be a worthy investment, especially if its raw performance means you can complete projects faster, allowing you to take on more work, for example.

If you don’t need that kind of horsepower, then there are much more affordable options you should consider, tempting as the touchscreen functionality or OLED display might be.

Compared to rival RTX Spark laptops, the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is much more competitive. The Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark starts at $4,399.99 / £3,899.99 / AU$7,999, though it comes with a lot more memory, packing 64GB.

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max): Design

• PROLED XDR screen is a clear highlight
• Slightly lighter than previous models
• iPhone-like Dynamic Island replaces the controversial ‘notch’ around the webcam

Given that the MacBook Pro design hasn’t changed in years, the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display in both size variants comes with some major tweaks in this department. This isn’t, though, the kind of overhaul we saw when Apple introduced the 16-inch and 14-inch MacBook Pros that replaced the 15-inch and 13-inch models, respectively, around five years ago; instead, this is a more subtle refinement of the design, and pretty much all of the tweaks are a result of the new display, so let’s start there.

Apple calls the new PROLED XDR screen "the best display on a laptop" and, to be fair, it has a good reason to be boastful. Previous screens on the MacBook Pro were already pretty darn good, and now Apple has swapped the mini-LED tech for tandem OLED. This essentially uses two layers of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) on top of each other, rather than just a single layer, so peak brightness can go even higher, while the display can remain power-efficient. The PROLED XDR screen can achieve 2,000 nits of peak brightness, whereas the mini-LED screen of previous MacBook Pros had a peak brightness of 1,600.

1

2

3

SDXC Card Slot

Memory card slot for importing photos and videos straight from your camera

HDMI & USB-C port

On the right-hand side there's a full size HDMI port and one of three USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports

Touch ID button

This button powers on the MacBook Pro, and can scan your fingerprint to log in

Side view of the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)

Explore

Combine that with the usual benefits we’ve come to expect from OLED displays, namely the higher contrast ratios and lack of halo effects (where there’s noticeable bloom surrounding light colors that bleeds into pixels that should be showing darker, or completely black, colors) that come thanks to each OLED pixel being independently controlled (including being able to be turned off completely), rather than relying on an LED backlight, which offers less precise control over the pixels in the display.

The contrast ratio of the PROLED XDR screen is an incredible 10,000,000:1, a pretty huge bump over the 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio of the previous model with a Liquid Retina XDR display. Contrast ratio is a way of comparing the brightest white to the darkest black of a display, and the greater the difference, the more vibrant the image quality, so you can forget about washed-out colors and blacks that look more gray, and enjoy rich, deep colors that really pop compared to darker tones, and even the total blackness that OLED technology enables.

While MacBook displays have supported the P3 color gamut, which is particularly important for people working with video who require accurate colors, the PROLED XDR screen also supports the Adobe RGB gamut, which offers wider coverage for green and cyan colors, and is popular with photographers and designers.

The addition of touch functionality has also had implications for the design. The hinges of the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display have been tweaked to reduce movement and flex when you touch the screen. I’d have loved it if Apple had taken this opportunity to increase the amount by which the screen can be pushed back, ideally introducing hinges to allow the touchscreen to lie flat on a desk, or even flip behind the keyboard to turn the laptop into an iPad-like device.

This would have made the redesign of the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display even more ambitious, and would have likely meant much more work for Apple to ensure the macOS operating system works with a 2-in-1 laptop form factor, but it would have made the whole idea of a touchscreen much more viable. Instead, we’re still stuck with a traditional clamshell laptop design, so touchscreen gestures require you hovering your arm over the keyboard as you jab horizontally at the screen — it's not the most natural-feeling way to interact with a device, and this was one of Steve Jobs’ biggest criticisms of touchscreen laptops when, as CEO, he dismissed the idea of Apple making one all those years ago.

The PROLED XDR screen also allows for thinner bezels around it, and the once-controversial notch that surrounded the webcam has been replaced by Apple's Dynamic Island, as seen on the iPhone, which gives you quick touch access to controls such as media playback, AirDrop sharing and accessing Spotlight. It’s one of the best examples of Apple tweaking macOS to better make use of the touchscreen, and I can confidently predict that the Dynamic Island will be less hated than the notch, which was just dead space that intruded on the desktop.

The more compact Dynamic Island and thinner bezels mean the screen of this 16-inch Pro is slightly larger than on previous models at 16.3 inches vs 16.2 inches, with a higher resolution of 3472 x 2266 pixels vs 3456 x 2234 pixels.

The OLED screen technology (and new thermal system that’s used to keep the laptop’s components cool) has also helped Apple reduce the weight of the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) by half a pound — that's 15% lighter — and make it around 1mm thinner.

The MacBook Pro was always a great showcase that proved powerful workstation laptops don’t need to be big and bulky, so it's impressive that Apple has been able to make this new model both lighter and thinner.

The final design change is a relatively minor one, but one that will likely prove to be very popular. Apple has returned to having an illuminated Apple logo on the back of the lid — it's a nod to the past, while also helping the latest MacBook Pro stand out more compared to the previous models.

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026): Specs

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max): Performance

• No M6 version with PROLED XDR Display
• Touchscreen is responsive, but not an essential addition
• Very fast SSD

I’m going to be honest: I think Apple has got itself into a little bit of a pickle with its M-series naming convention and release cadence. For a company that was often lauded for offering an elegant simplicity here, compared to the complexity of some competitors, it’s made a bit of a confusing mess.

Want the very latest M-series architecture, the M6, which is the company’s first-ever 2nm compute chip? Well, if so, you can forget about the PROLED XDR Display, as Apple is only offering it in the 14-inch MacBook Pro with Mini-LED screen. If you want the M6 and don’t care about a touchscreen or OLED, but prefer the larger 16-inch screen size, then you’re out of luck.

If you want the most powerful chips in a MacBook, then you’re left with the previous-generation M5 Pro and Max chips. But, getting an M5 Max-powered MacBook Pro doesn’t guarantee it’s the most powerful chip, as the default M5 Max chip that comes with the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch features an 18-core CPU and 32-core GPU, but you can upgrade (for $300 / £300 extra) to a more powerful M5 Max with a 40-core GPU. To be honest, unless you’re working with extremely graphically-intensive projects, the standard M5 Max chip will be more than enough, and even the M5 Pro will handle pretty much anything you throw at it.

As I mentioned, if you want the M6 generation and the improvements it brings, namely with a smaller 2nm process, which should lead to better power efficiency, and a dual 16-core Neural Engine for improved on-device AI performance, then you’ll need to forego both the PROLED XDR Display and 16-inch screen size.

Benchmarks

How the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) performed in our suite of benchmark tests

< Prev

3DMark

Next >

3DMark: Steel Nomad

4402

3DMark: Steel Solar Bay

78412

020,00040,00060,00080,000

Score

3DMark

Data

Product	3DMark: Steel Nomad (Score)	3DMark: Steel Solar Bay (Score)
Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	4402	78412

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test: Write

13335

Blackmagic Disk Speed Test: Read

12783

03,7507,50011,25015,000

Score

Blackmagic Disk Speed Data

Product	Blackmagic Disk Speed Test: Write (Score)	Blackmagic Disk Speed Test: Read (Score)
Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	13335	12783

Geekbench 6.7.2: Single-Core

4359

Geekbench 6.7.2: Multi-Core

30327

Geekbench 7.1.0: Single-Core

3766

Geekbench 7.1.0: Multi-Core

35679

Geekbench AI 1.8 (Core ML/Neural Engine): Single Precision Score

6200

Geekbench AI 1.8 (Core ML/Neural Engine): Half Precision Score

47515

Geekbench AI 1.8 (Core ML/Neural Engine): Quantized Score

64473

020,00040,00060,00080,000

Score

Geekbench Data

Product	Geekbench 6.7.2: Single-Core (Score)	Geekbench 6.7.2: Multi-Core (Score)	Geekbench 7.1.0: Single-Core (Score)	Geekbench 7.1.0: Multi-Core (Score)	Geekbench AI 1.8 (Core ML/Neural Engine): Single Precision Score (Score)	Geekbench AI 1.8 (Core ML/Neural Engine): Half Precision Score (Score)	Geekbench AI 1.8 (Core ML/Neural Engine): Quantized Score (Score)
Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	4359	30327	3766	35679	6200	47515	64473

PugetBench for Adobe CC (Photoshop)

18431

PugetBench for Adobe CC (Premiere Pro)

155248

050,000100,000150,000200,000

Score

PugetBench Data

Product	PugetBench for Adobe CC (Photoshop) (Score)	PugetBench for Adobe CC (Premiere Pro) (Score)
Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	18431	155248

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)

109

037.575112.5150

fps

Cyberpunk 2077 (Ray Tracing Ultra, 1920 x 1200) Data

Product	Value
Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	109

1 of 5

The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display model Apple sent to me for review comes with the M5 Max chip with 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU, 128GB of unified memory, and 2TB of storage. That’s a hefty list of specs, and would set you back a similarly hefty $7,399 / £7,399 / AU$11,699.

I’ve previously tested the M5 and M5 Pro in the 14-inch MacBook Pros launched earlier this year and late last year, and as expected, the M5 Max in my 16-inch Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is incredibly powerful, with macOS and its built-in apps all launching quickly and feeling fast and snappy.

When it comes to the touchscreen, macOS again feels fast and responsive, and using a finger to quickly browse up and down a website, selecting options in a dialog box or menu, and moving windows around the screen all feels natural, especially if you’ve ever used an iPhone or an iPad.

Unlike people who have only used Macs and MacBooks from the once touchscreen-phobic Apple, I’ve had extensive experience using Windows laptops and Chromebooks with touchscreens, so using one on the MacBook Pro isn’t as big of a culture shock as it might be to some. While it worked well, and there are some nice touches (forgive the pun), such as pressing down your finger on certain tools in Final Cut Pro to open up a radial menu for more precise touch control, I have to say that Windows 11, Chrome OS, and Google’s new Googlebook OS are better suited to touch controls.

This might come as little surprise, as this is Apple’s first MacBook to have a touchscreen, while Windows laptops and Chromebooks have had them for decades, and in the case of Chrome OS and Googlebook OS, Google has used its experience working on Android to develop the operating system. And, for as much grief as a lot of us (myself included) gave Windows 8 when it launched back in 2012, it inspired Microsoft to make a touchscreen-friendly interface, elements of which are still found in Windows 11, primarily with larger, easier to tap, buttons and menus.

Currently, macOS Tahoe still looks and feels like an operating system that’s best used with a traditional mouse and keyboard, because that’s what it is. But that also means some elements of the user interface, such as menus, feel a bit fiddly to control via touch.

Hopefully this will change if more MacBooks come out with touchscreens. But, because Apple has decided to put its first laptop touchscreen on its most powerful (and expensive) MacBooks, there’s a danger that the company will end up thinking that because the numbers of touchscreen MacBook users is so small, it’s not worth making big changes to the interface.

Another issue I have with Apple’s decision to put a touchscreen on its highest-end MacBook Pros, rather than a more mainstream MacBook Air or Neo — something I’ve written about — is that touchscreen gestures and controls often aren’t the best way to control a laptop when you're performing complex tasks where precision is key. Sure, you can pull up a virtual piano in Garage Band and tap on the keys on screen, but while this is handy for quick ideas, you don’t want to play or write an entire song using it.

Most professionals will have peripherals, such as physical MIDI keyboards, for precise control. It’s the same with photographers and digital artists — using your fingers to pinch and zoom an image feels fast and natural, as does scribbling some notes or doodles, but for long-term use, many professionals will use a drawing tablet. If the MacBook’s PROLED XDR Display was compatible with the Apple Pencil stylus, that would make it a more useful tool for professionals, but it's not, which is a rather odd omission.

One touchscreen-friendly change Apple has made to macOS, and which I’m a big fan of, is adding an iPhone-like Dynamic Island where the notch around the webcam used to be. Tapping this gives you quick context-relevant tools, such as media controls when watching a video. Spotlight search and Siri AI are now located here as well. This is a great addition that adds value to the MacBook Pro’s touchscreen, and I’d like to see it expanded, and more touch-friendly UI elements to make the touchscreen a must-have, rather than nice-to-have-but-far-from-essential, which is what it feels like at the moment.

The tandem OLED tech powering the PROLED XDR Display is a much bigger deal, and likely the reason why most people will consider the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display over the standard model. The previous Mini-LED screen was already one of the best displays you’d find on a laptop, and thanks to tandem OLED, this new screen is even better. Straight out of the box without needing any calibration, the colors are bright and vibrant — so much so that I was surprised to see that the screen was only at 50% brightness.

Placing my 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 chip and Mini-LED screen next to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch really highlighted just how much better the PROLED XDR screen is. The Mini-LED looked dimmer, despite it being at 100% brightness, even with the PROLED XDR screen remaining at 50%. Now, as I said, the Mini-LED display of the (slightly) older MacBook Pro is no slouch, so to see such a stark difference in image quality is a big deal, especially for people who want a laptop for working with photos, videos and digital art. The new support for Adobe RGB color gamut is another big plus here, though as usual for Mac devices you’ll want to turn off the True Tone feature — it tweaks the colors of the screen depending on the ambient light you’re working in, which can make what’s on the screen look better to you in that moment, but could lead to color inaccuracies in a production workflow.

I won’t delve too deep into the performance of the M5 Max, as it’s been in other Apple devices for a while now, but this is the first time I’ve used a MacBook running it (I have tested both the previous M5 and M5 Pro MacBook Pro models).

According to Apple’s benchmarks, the M5 Max is around nine times faster than the M4 Max when it comes to ‘first token performance’, while AI image generation is apparently around six times faster. If those are the kind of stats that excite you, then enjoy!

In our benchmark tests, compared to the M5 MacBook Pro with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) with an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU unsurprisingly outperformed the older MacBook Pro when it came to graphic-intensive tests. In the 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme graphics test, for example, the M5 MacBook Pro scored 73.6fps compared to the M5 Max’s 214.1fps.

With gaming, the M5 MacBook Pro hit 11fps at 1920 x 1200 with Ray Tracing set to Ultra, while the M5 Max model managed a much more playable 38.75fps. This is a good example of the graphical performance gap, but if you want a laptop to game on you’re still better off buying a dedicated gaming laptop, which is a bit of a shame, as the PROLED XDR Display makes games look fantastic.

The SSD inside the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) offers up to 14.5GB/s speeds, with Apple claiming it’s twice as fast as the SSD in the previous generation, and in our tests it scored a very good 13,334.7MB/s and 12,782.7MB/s write and read speeds, respectively. A fast SSD like this is important if you’re working on large files and complex projects.

The SSD in the Surface Laptop Ultra with RTX Spark N1X chip scored a rather paltry 1,921MB/s write speeds in comparison. Check out our benchmark result charts for more comparisons.

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) review: Battery Life

Battery life results

How long does the battery last?

Versus Comparison Data

Attribute	Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)	Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (2024, M4 Pro)	Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark
Battery life video test	24.35	21.5	11.383333333333333

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (2024, M4 Pro)Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark

VS

Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (2024, M4 Pro)Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark

Battery life video test (hours, mins)

+13%24:21:00

21:30:00

Our battery life benchmark involves playing a looped 1080p video at 50% brightness until the laptop turns off.

Apple has claimed the new 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display lasts up to 24 hours on battery when streaming videos, and up to 17 hours when browsing the web, and I found those claims to be pretty much spot on, with the device lasting an incredible 24 hours and 21 minutes in our battery test, which involves playing a looped 1080p video at 50% brightness.

It blows past the MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024), which managed 21 hours and 32 minutes in the same test, and over double the 11 hours and 23 minutes the Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark hit. The MacBook Pro is able to sustain its performance when on battery life, rather than throttling it to conserve energy, so you’ll be able to go multiple work days on a single charge while still being productive, though of course the battery will drain more quickly if you’re using it for more intensive tasks.

Should I buy the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)?

Also consider

How I tested the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max)

• I used as my main work laptop for five days
• I used a variety of apps during my testing
• I have extensive experience reviewing MacBooks, laptops and Chromebooks

As soon as Apple sent me the Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max) I started using it as my daily laptop, and even wrote some of this review on it. I tested numerous apps including Photoshop, and played Cyberpunk 2077 on it to see how it performs, and to see how good the PROLED XDR Display looks. I also viewed and edited some very high-quality photos by photographer Paul Reiffer, and supplied by Apple.

Throughout my time with the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display 16-inch (2026, M5 Max), I used both the standard keyboard and touchpad, and the touchscreen.

I’ve been reviewing laptops, including MacBooks and touchscreen laptops, for nearly 20 years, and have used that experience to inform this review.

• First reviewed: November 2026
• Read more about how we test

At a glance: Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2026, M6) scorecard

How the Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2026, M6) scored in our review

Value

4

Design

4

Performance

4.5

Battery life

4.5

Overall

4

Group 1 Data

Product	Value ()	Design ()	Performance ()	Battery life ()	Overall ()
Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (2026, M6)	4	4	4.5	4.5	4

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Value for money

No, this isn't the headline-grabbing new MacBook Pro with an OLED touchscreen and a thinner, lighter build. Alongside introducing those new models, Apple is sticking with a trend I'm a big fan of: yearly updates that ensure the entry-level MacBook Pro remains a solid proposition, with Apple's latest silicon and other top-end specs under the hood.

Apple hasn't changed much with the 2026 14-inch MacBook Pro, but it didn't need to. As the entry-level Pro, and a step up from the MacBook Air in terms of specs, it offers more ports in a familiar design that's slightly bulkier than the Air, but still plenty portable. You also get a very capable 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED display with a notch at the top, a clicky-clacky keyboard with nice travel, a larger trackpad, and great sound with Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos support.

The big change is the M6 chip under the hood, with this model joining the still-available M5 Pro and M5 Max models. Those chips, while older, are more powerful, but don't let the M6 Pro's entry-level positioning fool you: Apple's latest silicon is no slouch, delivering excellent everyday performance with plenty of power for more intensive tasks, including photo and video editing, coding, and AI work.

I've been using the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 for the best part of a week, and it's been smooth sailing. It's handled my daily mix of productivity and creative work in apps like Slack, Safari, Google Chrome, Notes, Pages, Pixelmator Pro, and Final Cut Pro, running alongside Messages and FaceTime, effortlessly, without me needing to quit or close anything. The configuration I'm testing pairs the M6's 12-core CPU — split between two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores — with a 12-core GPU and Dual 16-core Neural Engine, and the base 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Design

• Same design as M5 Pro, with plenty of ports
• Excellent 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion
• Comfortable keyboard, oversized trackpad, and 12MP Center Stage camera

The M6 14-inch MacBook Pro sticks with the well-loved and well-tested design of recent Pro models. It's a little bulkier than the Air on account of its plentiful connectivity options, which include three Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, a headphone jack, and a MagSafe 3 port.

It's the same sleek design as the M5, M4, and even M3 versions that came before it. It's a design I know well, and one I use daily myself, and I appreciate that it doesn't feel too light or flimsy, but also not too heavy at just 3.4 pounds.

It keeps the same overall dimensions as last year's 14-inch Pro at 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches. You also get the same two color choices, Space Black or Silver; my review model is Silver, and it contrasts quite nicely with the darker, mirrored Apple logo on the rear — unlike the logo on the newly redesigned touchscreen MacBook Pro, though, this one doesn't light up.

The M6 Pro also doesn't pack Apple's fancy new tandem OLED display, which is a stunner, with especially impressive contrast and the added benefit of not having the notch. The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display here is no slouch, though, and even with that higher-end model's arrival, this remains one of the best laptop screens on the market.

It supports refresh rates up to 120Hz thanks to ProMotion, and delivers a 3024 x 1964 resolution with vibrant colors and excellent contrast, including wonderfully inky blacks. I've found it great for photo editing in Photos or Pixelmator Pro, video editing in iMovie, CapCut, or Final Cut Pro, streaming videos, FaceTime calls, and even the more straightforward task of writing this review. I always appreciate those inky blacks as I type away.

I've become used to the rectangular cutout notch centered at the top of the display, and I'm still confident that if you've never experienced it before, any initial annoyance at its presence will quickly fade. I am eyeing the pill-shaped Dynamic Island on the more expensive MacBook Pro, but it's really not a necessity.

Here, the menu bar wraps around the notch, which houses a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera that keeps you in the frame and looking sharp during video calls. It also supports Portrait mode to blur your background, and you can use the edges of the screen as a ring light in low lighting conditions.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Specs

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Performance

• M6 is an excellent chip
• Handles everyday multitasking, creative apps, and gaming with ease
• Apple's N1 chip brings support for latest Wi-Fi and Bluetooth standards

Any Mac with Apple silicon really pushes the value meter, and the M6 inside the MacBook Pro is no different. But that also means that if you have an M5, M4, M3, or even an older MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, and its performance is still good enough for your needs, you likely don't need to rush to upgrade just yet.

The M6 14-inch Pro sits alongside the M5 Pro and M5 Max, and only one chip configuration is available as the entry-level option. It's a 12-core CPU — made up of two super cores, four performance cores, and six efficiency cores — alongside a 12-core GPU and a Dual 16-core Neural Engine. While the M5 Pro and M5 Max can outperform it on the GPU front, those chips don't feature efficiency cores in the CPU or the doubled-up Neural Engine. The M6 starts with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage — the configuration I've been testing — but can be specced with up to 32GB of RAM and 4TB of storage.

So just how good is the M6 chip inside the 14-inch MacBook Pro? Well, quantitatively, it scored 4,752 in Geekbench 6's single-core test and 21,184 in multi-core. In Geekbench 7, it hit 4,027 single-core and 22,305 multi-core. Compare that to the M5-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro, which scored 4,288 and 17,926 in Geekbench 6, respectively. That's a considerable improvement of around 11% in single-core performance and 18% in multi-core. It also shows off the M6's multitasking chops and efficiency, the latter of which is mission-critical for a laptop with a battery inside — more on that below.

On the storage front, the SSD is largely unchanged. In the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, the M6 MacBook Pro clocked read speeds of 6,684.6 MB/s and write speeds of 6,501.6 MB/s. That's essentially on par with the M5 model, which managed 6,619.7 MB/s read and 6,517 MB/s write. So, no major improvement here, but not a step backwards either.

Over the past few days, I've put the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 through its paces as my daily machine. I regularly use Slack, Google Chrome, Safari — both browsers with dozens of tabs open, as I don't love closing them — Notes, Photos, Pixelmator Pro, Siri, and Music, alongside Messages and the occasional FaceTime or iPhone Mirroring session. I also put it through some video exports and project-creation work, mainly for social video at 2K or 4K, using iMovie, Final Cut Pro, and Edits. I also spent some time gaming with titles like Mini Metro, Mini Motorways, and Disney Dreamlight Valley.

Apple Intelligence is another area where the M6 feels right at home. Siri AI was particularly quick in my testing, especially with multimodal tasks, such as asking it about items on-screen or handling multi-step processes. Apple's Creator Studio improvements also ran smoothly, including Generative Fill in Pixelmator Pro. These are the kinds of tasks that show off the M6's Neural Engine, and I didn't have to wait around for results.

Generative Fill in Pixelmator Pro, as part of Creator Studio, is really impressive, and while it can take a beat to process, it's on a par with Photoshop's Generative Fill. Take a look at the example below, where I added a river below a photo of a Rivian R2 in a parking garage.

With plenty of apps open and a demanding workload running, I did occasionally hear the fans kick in, but never for sustained periods. For the most part, the MacBook Pro remained quiet, even with my usual mix of productivity and creative apps running.

The M6 doesn't quite beat the M5 Pro or M5 Max 14-inch MacBook Pro models for more intensive tasks, like larger video exports. It can certainly hold its own, but those jobs take a little longer, and the fans might kick in along the way. For everyday use and then some, though, whether that's photo or video editing, music creation, or even gaming, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 easily holds its own.

And that's the case whether you're plugged in or unplugged and running on battery. I didn't notice any performance throttling when switching to battery power, so you can expect the same capable performance without being tethered to an outlet.

Beyond adding the M6 chip, Apple also upgraded the connectivity specs, with the in-house-made N1 wireless chip bringing support for Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and the Thread smart-home standard.

Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro (M6) Review: Battery Life

• All-day battery life
• Beats Apple's own web-browsing estimate of 16 hours
• Lasted an impressive 19 hours and 5 minutes in our browsing test

Unsurprisingly, the 14-inch MacBook Pro remains a battery-life champ with the M6 inside. Since Apple switched to its own in-house chips, performance, efficiency, and battery life have all improved compared to its previous Intel-powered laptops.

The M6 model features a 72.4-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery like the M5 before it, with Apple promising up to 24 hours of video playback, 16 hours of web browsing, and, as always, "all-day battery life." You can still charge it either with MagSafe — Apple includes a USB-C to MagSafe cable in the box — or via USB-C.

Even with pretty heavy use, the 14-inch MacBook Pro can comfortably last a full workday, and might stretch to multiple days without charging, depending on what you're doing. That's seriously impressive — and as I noted above, performance stays fast whether you're plugged in or running on battery.

Should I buy the Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6?

How I tested the Apple 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6

I spent five days using the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6 as one of my daily work machines, taking it through the kind of workload I'd typically throw at my own MacBook. That meant plenty of writing, editing, and multitasking, with dozens of tabs open across Safari and Chrome, with Slack, Notes, Messages, and other everyday apps running alongside creative tools like Pixelmator Pro.

I also tested how well the M6 handled more demanding tasks, including video exports, Apple Intelligence features, and gaming. I compared its performance with the M5 Pro-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro and an M4 14-inch MacBook Pro, and I also used it plugged in and on battery to see whether performance changed when untethered.

First reviewed November 2026.

Earlier this week, Apple did the thing we’ve all known it would for months and finally unveiled its touchscreen MacBook Pro. Awkwardly dubbed the “PROLED XDR Display,” Apple says the touchscreen panel gives pro users “a whole new way to interact with their content.”

Yet, to say I’m unconvinced would be an understatement. While I’m excited for that OLED goodness, I’ve long been skeptical of the benefits of touchscreen laptops, as I find their gesture interactions to be by turns unnecessary and uncomfortable to use for long periods of time. And if something is either so unnecessary that you don’t use it or so uncomfortable that it causes your arms to ache, it probably shouldn’t be in a product.

But hey, what do I know? Practically every Windows laptop manufacturer offers at least one touchscreen version, and now Apple has got in on the act. I’m sure Apple will do what it often does and blow everyone else away with a perfected feature that redefines what a touchscreen display should be about … right?

Actually, scratch that, I’m still totally unconvinced. Because not only has Apple completely sidestepped the entire issue of arm fatigue, but it seems the company can’t even convincingly explain why anyone should buy a touchscreen MacBook in the first place (and let’s not even talk about the $2,899 starting price or the $14,549 maximum configuration). No, I think I’ll be sitting this one out. Here’s why you might also want to.

Simply the best?

If we want to understand why this touchscreen MacBook Pro exists — and maybe why you should buy one — we should look at how Apple frames it. The company says that “Graphic designers can now use the entire display as their canvas, no longer constrained by the area of the trackpad when drawing,” and that “musicians can play software instruments right onscreen.”

But does Apple actually think that doing either of those things is going to be remotely comfortable for more than about 10 seconds? There’s a reason why people play keyboards horizontally, after all: because playing an entire gig with your arms held rigid and outstretched is a quick path to aching limbs. Why would it be any different on a laptop?

Surely Apple doesn’t picture long-term usage like that, so my guess is it expects you’ll do a few quick taps on-screen and then go back to a normal, sane way of using your laptop. But if you only interact with the touchscreen for a few seconds at a time, is it really worth it? Is that kind of limited interaction good value for money when you’re paying a $400 premium over the regular MacBook Pro?

Maybe, maybe not, but the fact that Apple’s big, expensive, flagship feature is something many people will simply shrug their shoulders at suggests a failure of inspiration on Apple’s part.

Yes, you get a beautiful OLED panel as well for your $400, and that I think is easily justified. But every feature in a product you buy should be able to justify its existence, especially in an Apple product and especially in these expensive times. Yet the touchscreen panel just feels like it’s come along for the ride.

After all, Apple is the company that has reinvented category after category, from portable music players to smartphones to tablets and beyond. And now the best it can do is a feature that isn’t comfortable to use for long periods and that is best employed in short bursts with extended periods of inactivity in between.

If Apple, of all companies, can’t blow you away with a feature that resets expectations of how the category should work, why is it bothering at all? Apple’s mantra has long been not to be first, but to be best. Does this touchscreen really feel like the best in the industry, or just another addition to the pile?

An uninspired feature

In hands-on demos across the land, plenty of people have said that using the touchscreen MacBook Pro feels great — or “totally and wonderfully natural,” in the words of my colleague Lance Ulanoff — and I don’t doubt that it does.

But that doesn’t negate Steve Jobs’ criticisms of the idea of touchscreen laptops at all. In his famous critique, Jobs said that “after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time your arm wants to fall off.”

I’m sure that Apple has crafted its touchscreen display in such a way that it does indeed feel amazing when you first start using it. A few taps and swipes and you’re probably ready to part with your cash.

The problem is that, unless I’ve missed something, our arms haven’t evolved in the 16 years since Jobs made that oft-cited pronouncement. Keep using a touchscreen laptop, whether it’s made by Apple or anyone else, and you will eventually start to feel fatigue and pain.

Given the laws of biology haven’t changed, I was hoping that Apple at least had some sort of killer feature up its sleeve for the touchscreen display. Sadly, I’ve come away disappointed.

Even John Ternus, Apple’s new CEO, can’t seem to sell it well. When asked by Wired why Apple decided to release a touchscreen MacBook, Ternus had this to say:

“We needed to get to a point where adding touch didn’t make the product lesser in any way. It didn’t make it heavier. It didn’t make it thicker. That came together with the OLED screen, the best display we’ve ever put into a Mac. All of these things, and, oh yeah, it has touch as well.”

“Oh yeah, it has touch as well.”

It feels like that sums up the inclusion of the touchscreen almost too well. Why did Apple include it in the MacBook Pro? “Yeah, I guess we may as well do it.” That’s the way it sounds to me.

Is that the attitude of a company that leads? Of one that prides itself on inspiration and innovation? Or just one that sees everyone else doing touchscreen laptops and thinks it should probably tag along?

Look again at what Ternus said. The time was right to include a touchscreen because Apple could do so without making the MacBook Pro worse. Not the time was right because including a touchscreen would elevate the MacBook Pro to exciting new heights. Just, “hey, what’s the worst that could happen?”

Apple’s playbook has often been to let others go first and wait until it has the capability to blow everyone else away, not to let others go first and then add their own thing because “I suppose the time is right.” It just screams of passive, unimaginative thinking. Where’s the drive, the passion? The desire to make something “insanely great”?

Are we really expected to believe that Steve Jobs made the first iPhone a touchscreen product because he wanted the company’s customers to say “oh yeah, it has multi-touch as well”? That designing an Apple device was a checkbox exercise of adding what you could as long as it didn’t make the experience crap? Jobs was famous for his conniptions, and you can bet everything you’ve got he’d have one if that’s how his teams thought.

And yet here we are, with Apple’s own CEO making the headline feature of his latest MacBook Pro feel like an afterthought that half of the company’s users might not even notice. It boggles the mind.

Before the PROLED MacBook Pro launched, my colleague Lance Ulanoff pointed out that Steve Jobs often changed his opinions and argued that Jobs would have loved the idea of a touchscreen MacBook Pro. Maybe so, but he would have hated the milquetoast way that Apple has framed it.

I reviewed the MacBook Neo way back in March, and even then I knew there was very little chance that I'd be giving our Laptop of the Year award to any other device at the TechRadar Product of the Year 2026 Awards.

It's not necessarily the best choice for everyone — many far more powerful laptops have been released this year, and if you want to play PC games on your laptop don't even think of buying the Neo — but what Apple did with the MacBook Neo is pretty incredible, and it set the tone for a lot of other laptops that have come out this year.

Apple has always been seen as a premium brand, offering expensive devices that (usually, but not always) justify their price tags with superior build quality, and the kind of lifespans that owners of Windows laptops, who feel they have to upgrade every five years, can only dream of.

With the MacBook Neo, however, Apple has produced a (relatively) cheap laptop that manages to keep a lot of what we love about Apple's more expensive MacBooks, while making it affordable for more people.

The timing couldn't have been better, as a global cost-of-living crisis has meant that more people are struggling to afford day-to-day essentials, let alone 'luxury' purchases like laptops. At a time when a lot tech is also increasing in price because of the RAM crisis, it was very welcome to see a company like Apple release a relatively inexpensive new device.

Before the Neo's announcement, rumors had been swirling that Apple was planning on announcing a cheaper MacBook, but I don't think any of us were expecting the earthquake of its $599 / £599 / AU$1,049 starting price.

I say 'earthquake' because not only was it a lot cheaper than expected, it changed the landscape of the laptop market, shaking Apple's competitors, and leaving them scrambling to come up with a response.

And respond they did, with the likes of Dell and Acer releasing laptops at a similar price point that were explicitly pitched as competitors to the MacBook Neo when I discussed them with the makers.

A victim of its own success?

The fact that the MacBook Neo has had such an influence on the laptop market is one of the key reasons why I've picked it as TechRadar's Laptop of the Year. The likes of the Dell XPS 13 (2026) and Acer Swift Air 14 have made affordable Windows 11 laptops worth buying again, and the higher price of the new Googlebook laptops have a more difficult time justifying their price tags when the MacBook Neo, and the laptops it inspired, offer such good value.

In fact, you could almost argue that the MacBook Neo proved a bit too successful in inspiring its competitors, especially given that, a few months after launch, Apple increased the price of the MacBook Neo by $100 / £100. Not only did this make the MacBook Neo less groundbreaking value (and less of an 'instant recommendation' when people asked me which laptop they should buy), but its competitors seem to have mostly held steady with their initial pricing.

All of a sudden, Apple appeared to have inspired its competitors to make rival products that were cheaper than the MacBook Neo. Whoops.

Despite that price bump, the MacBook Neo remains an excellent laptop that continues to offer plenty of value. If you're looking for a dependable, well-built laptop for day-to-day tasks that doesn't cost a fortune, it's still one of the best laptops you can buy — and it remains the cheapest way to get into the Mac ecosystem.

The MacBook Neo proved that, at a time when hardware prices appear to be rising inexorably, it's still possible to make an impressive, affordable device, without making too many sacrifices — and that's exactly what we need in 2026.

Now that I've seen and touched the touchscreen MacBook Pro, I'm starting to understand that, despite the invention of a Frankenstein-ed new display term ('PROLED'?), this display might be something special. It looks extraordinary, and when compared visually with, say, the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition, which also has a Tandem OLED, it doesn't even seem to be of the same species.

There are good reasons for this, which span from the fabrication process to the core specs of what is clearly Apple's most advanced laptop display yet.

Starting with manufacturing, Apple says it employed an unnamed manufacturing partner to build these panels in what's known as a Gen-8 OLED Fab. Seeing as there are just four of these cutting-edge facilities in the world, and that one of them is operated by Samsung Display, which has reportedly partnered with Apple on display tech previously, I'd guess it's Samsung.

One of the most notable features of these manufacturing facilities is their massive size. Whoever the partner is, we know that the touchscreen MacBook Pro's panels are being manufactured in a chamber around the size of the Colosseum in Rome. These huge facilities improve yield, efficiency, and costs.

Though less than a millimeter thick, the laptop PROLED XDR panel is comprised of 50 layers. Even what appear to be individual panels have many layers, sometimes just a nanometer thick. The two stacks of OLED have, for instance, 30 layers, though the organic self-emissive material is layered onto the panels and dried, making the layers range from one nanometer to hundreds of nanometers thick. FWIW, I held some of these individual panels, and they are incredibly thin and light.

Behind the OLED is the TFT (thin-film transistor) glass substrate that powers and drives the imagery on the surface.

What's not mentioned here is the digitizing layer (basically the same touch technology you find on the iPhone and iPad) that drives touch; that's because it's integrated with the whole in a process that, if it isn't already, probably should be patented.

Despite working with a third party, the production is another Apple trademark bespoke process, and one not necessarily replicated in other Tandem OLED or even basic OLED display manufacturing processes.

The specs bear that out. Where the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i Aura Edition touch display has a pleasing 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, Apple's touchscreen MacBook Pro boasts 10,000,000:1. In person, and even under bright lighting conditions, the blacks and definition I saw on the touchscreen MacBook Pro PROLED XDR are stunning.

The MacBook Pro display also looks better because Apple equipped it with up to 2,000 nits for HDR and SDR content, and both an anti-reflective screen and the option of the nano-etched one, as well. Essentially, I could see myself reflected in the Lenovo, and could not detect my reflection in the MacBook Pro.

Also, for those concerned about fingerprints collecting on the touchscreen MacBook Pro, Apple has applied an oleophobic coating to the standard and etched displays. In my hands-on time with several of the new laptops, I didn't notice any significant fingerprints.

Compared to the Lenovo Yoga Pro 9i's 1,600 nits, the touchscreen MacBook Pro looks better equipped for working in direct sunlight. Based on what I saw, the MacBook Pro also maintains much better off-axis color quality.

Looking beyond direct visual comparisons with pro-grade Windows laptops, Apple is positioning the touchscreen MacBook Pro display as both a color reference screen and one that has grayscale precision reportedly sufficient for medical diagnostics. This is basically a reference monitor on a laptop frame.

So, sure, the story is that we finally have a touchscreen MacBook, but it may be the visual quality that ultimately wins over creative, business, medical, and film professionals. It's probably the best display Apple has ever produced, not just for a laptop, but possibly for any Mac system.

Of course, a screen panel alone does not make a laptop, and there are questions around whether everyone wants or needs touch, if the redesigned hinge is stable enough to keep the laptop from wobbling with every touch — and if touch capability is worth the almost $1,000 premium.

Well, it’s finally happened: Apple has got with the times and finally made a laptop with a touchscreen. However, while the new MacBook Pros with PROLED screens look like fantastic devices, I think Apple has made a mistake by putting its first laptop touchscreen on the more expensive MacBook Pro, rather than the more mainstream MacBook Air… or even the MacBook Neo.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with a touchscreen starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, and the 16-inch model starts at $3,399 / £3,399 / AU$5,499. That’s a big ask for most people, especially these days.

Of course, MacBook Pros, as the name suggests, are aimed at professionals, and thanks to their high-end components, they should really be seen as investments that allow you to speed up your workflow.

Interestingly the new touchscreen MacBook Pros come with Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. If you want Apple’s latest M6 chip, you’ll need to go for the non-touchscreen 14-inch MacBook Pro that was announced a few days earlier. Perhaps confusingly, the M6 is less powerful than the M5 Pro and M5 Max, and so far there are no hints that Apple is preparing to release M6 Pro and M6 Max chips.

My point is that by putting its first-ever laptop touchscreen on its most powerful — and expensive — MacBooks, Apple is severely limiting the potential audience for the technology. Had it instead put a touchscreen on the more affordable MacBook Air, it could have had a real hit on its hands.

Who’s it for?

As someone who has used plenty of Windows laptops and Chromebooks with touchscreens in the past, I know how useful they can be for certain tasks, and I often miss them when using a MacBook.

Being able to scroll down a website with a finger, turn a page in an ebook, or quickly tap a menu item feels natural and intuitive, and I’m sure it will on the new MacBooks. My daughter, who grew up with touchscreens on everything, would also instinctively poke an often sticky, grubby (kids, you’ve got to love them!) finger at a MacBook screen and be surprised when nothing happened.

These are all pretty simple tasks and gestures. What I've never used touchscreens on laptops for, however, is for complex tasks and tools, such as recording and editing music in Ableton Live, or editing videos in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Instead, for things that needed precision or complexity, nothing beat the good old combo of keyboard and touchpad (or even better, keyboard and a mouse), as well as other external peripherals such as MIDI controllers and drawing tablets. Which leads me to wonder why Apple picked the MacBook Pro, a device that’s supposedly designed for exactly those type of tasks, to showcase its first laptop touchscreen.

If you’re dropping $3,000+ on a touchscreen laptop to mostly just to use the touchscreen for browsing websites, then you’re either super-rich or you should get help with your budgeting.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and no touchscreen starts at $2,999 / £2,999 / AU$4,799. As the MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR touchscreen with the same specs costs $400 / £400 / AU$700 more, that’s quite a premium for the touchscreen.

Yes, I know the PROLED XDR screen offers better image quality as well thanks to its tandem OLED tech (check out our explainer on why this is a big deal), but if you don’t need that additional image quality, which includes better contrast, higher brightness levels, and support for the Adobe RGB color gamut, and are just interested in the touchscreen, then essentially yeah, you’re paying $400 extra for it.

If you’re a professional, especially one in the creative industry, you’ll need to think long and hard if that investment is worth it. Meanwhile, the likes of the MacBook Air and MacBook Neo aren’t really used for complex creative tasks, and instead used for casual day-to-day use, where touchscreens are much more useful.

Granted, adding an extra $400 / £400 / AU$700 to the price of a MacBook Neo or MacBook Air wouldn’t be great, especially as they’ve just had a price bump earlier this year, but Apple wouldn’t need to include the OLED tech and advanced image-quality options included in the MacBook Pro. A touchscreen MacBook Neo for $899, say, could be a real hit, especially if Apple was to also keep the non-touchscreen model for people who still want the ultimate affordable way to get into the Mac ecosystem.

This isn’t just an Apple problem, of course. The new laptops powered by Nvidia’s RTX Spark SoC, which are aimed at the same creative professionals and heavy local AI users as the MacBook Pro (with similarly high price tags), come with touchscreens. I’ve spent a decent amount of time with each one at various events, and I found that the touchscreen was the least-used part of the laptop — in fact, I often forgot those laptops had one. Because there aren’t cheaper, non-touch, models, though I didn’t resent its inclusion.

As I said, I do get the appeal of touchscreen laptops, but I find the technology is best used in 2-in-1 devices where the keyboard can be flipped behind the screen (or removed entirely) so that it can be used as a tablet-like device.

In an ideal world, then, Apple would have put its touchscreen on an entirely new 2-in-1 MacBook, but I can’t see that happening any time soon. Apple sort of has a device like that — the powerful iPad Pro, which can be paired with a Magic Keyboard that turns it into a touchscreen laptop. The problem there, however, is that despite coming with Apple’s powerful M-series chips, the same you’ll find in MacBooks, the iPad Pro is limited to the iPadOS operating system and mobile apps.

Put macOS on that bad boy, however, and allow us to run full desktop applications on it, and hey presto: Apple has a touchscreen MacBook that utilizes the tech in a way that’s actually useful. Until then, I’ll stick with my standard MacBook Pro, and just try to remember not to prod it with my sausage fingers too often.

For Apple fans, the touchscreen MacBook Pro PROLED XDR tandem OLED display may be the gift that keeps on giving. Obviously, new integrated digitizing technology made the touchscreen possible, but the ultra-thinness of the display tech can also be credited with enabling the return of a beloved MacBook feature.

The touchscreen MacBook Pro is the first MacBook in almost a decade to feature an illuminated Apple logo on the back. I've seen it in person, and it somehow looks like polished metal when closed, and then a glowing bright white when open.

Apple bringing back the illuminated logo back is directly attributable to the PROLED XDR display. Each pixel in an OLED panel is emissive, which means there's no need for a backlight. Even after Apple made the laptop lid thinner, it still had some room left there — and it turns out there was enough room left to give the Apple logo its own backlight.

As improbable as it seems, there's now a dedicated light for the logo, but not for the rest of the screen. And it still doesn't take up extra space (nor eat up measurable energy).

Do it for the fans

Why did Apple do this? Well, Apple's not telling us, but it's clearly a nod to the fans.

CEO John Ternus tried to tell us the glowing logo was returning in his tiny X tease that showed light shining on the logo, which was on a flat surface. I simply thought it was another way of highlighting the Apple brand, and the big news to come. Granted, I was never that hooked on the old light-up logo.

In fact, my strongest memory around the Apple logo on the back of MacBooks is a conversation I had with Ternus when he was still Apple's hardware lead, during which he explained how Apple milled an ultra-thin and shiny stainless steel Apple logo for the MacBook 12 (the rest of the chassis was brushed aluminum). That was a big deal back then, even if it didn't light up

When Ternus revealed that the glowing logo was returning to the new MacBook Pro during the launch presentation ("the logo is back"), the crowd basically lost their collective minds. It's a big deal.

The illuminated logo also serves another purpose, instantly telegraphing that you're using a special MacBook Pro — the first with a touchscreen.

What Apple is not sharing, though — and it merits further investigation — is how it managed to make the glowing logo look like polished metal when the laptop is closed. It's an engineering secret that I suspect Apple execs and engineers will take to their graves, even after the inevitable teardown.

Apple has unveiled its first OLED MacBook Pro laptops, and that means we've got a new bit of display branding: PROLED XDR. You can have the laptop in 14-inch or 16-inch variants, pre-orders are open now for shipping on or after the 6th of November — and we've gone hands-on with them. Literally, because they're also the first touchscreen Macs.

The name 'PROLED XDR' is a new piece of jargon that Apple's debuting with this machine. So what actually is it?

The short answer is that it's a 'Tandem OLED' panel, which means that it uses multiple layers of organic light-emitting diodes — in this case, two layers. Two OLED layers are better than one because the result is considerably brighter than a single-layer OLED: you literally have two OLEDs firing per pixel. It also boosts longevity, because each of the two layers doesn't have to work as hard, so they have a longer lifespan and are more likely to avoid burn-in.

Apple has stayed away from OLED for its MacBook Pro displays in the past, and clearly that's changed. According to Apple that's because PROLED XDR "finally" overcomes the traditional limitations of OLED: low and variable brightness, off-axis color shift and the risk of burn-in from displaying the same interface elements, such as toolbars and palettes, whenever the screen is on.

The confusing thing, however, is that this isn't Apple's first use of Tandem OLED. It used the technology in its shift to OLED in the iPad Pro, but those aren't branded as PROLED XDR. Those are called 'Ultra Retina XDR' displays.

So let's look at the performance differences listed by Apple that put the 'pro' in PROLED.

What's so special about PROLED XDR displays

The Tandem OLED inside the new MacBook Pros is very bright, delivering up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness (ie, in a small area of the screen for a short time) and up to 1,000 nits of sustained fullscreen brightness (ie, across the entire screen at once, without having to dim quickly).

The iPad Pro (2025)'s display is also capable of 1,000 nits of fullscreen brightness, but has a rated peak brightness of 1,600 nits — so the MacBook Pro is 25% brighter. That will bring a nice extra boost to clarity in bright HDR scenes, but won't make a huge difference really — the fullscreen brightness is the most important factor, and that's the same on both.

Because it's OLED, it gives you the blackest of black tones — there's no backlight to leak light into areas it shouldn't go — and a very high contrast ratio, in this case 10,000,000:1. That again is an interesting difference from the iPad Pro, which has a claimed contrast ratio of 2,000,000:1.

Why a 5x difference if the brightness is only 25% different? Apple hasn't explicitly said, but it must come down the lowest level of brightness that can be measured on the screen. Doing the math on the iPad's 1,600-nit display with a 2,000,000:1 ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0008 nits. On the PROLED XDR's display, a 2,000-nit panel with a 10,000,000 contrast ratio gives us a lowest brightness of 0.0002 nits.

We can assume this is down to the new panel design, aimed at "minimizing internal reflections common in traditional OLED designs" — so less light is reflected within the panel itself, which could be the difference between those two different black levels.

But if you're looking at 0.0008 nits and 0.0002 nits and thinking the difference must be indistinguishable, then… yes, correct. They will both appear totally black to the human eye when they're supposed to. But it produces a big difference in contrast ratio, because multiplication is overdramatic.

There are other indications that the MacBook Pro's PROLED XDR display might beat the iPad Pro's in other areas. Apple says it can achieve over 80% of the BT.2020 color gamut, which suggest it's likely to hit close to 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut — the iPad Pro was measured by our lab at around 82% of DCI-P3, so that would be a clear jump here.

The screen is powered by a display engine that's been built into the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which Apple says "continuously compensates each pixel for content, usage, temperature, and ambient conditions".

Refresh rates are variable from 10Hz to 120Hz (with discrete options for film-makers: 47.95Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, and 59.94Hz), and as we've seen with other Apple products there's a nano-texture glass option for people who'll be working in overly bright environments.

The big selling point here is reference monitor accuracy that you can take wherever you go, making these MacBook Pros ideal for video pros and mobile creatives of all kinds.

So do you need it? If you're making the next Wildwood — go see this movie, it's incredible — or working with high-res, high-quality video then these are by far the best Mac mobile laptops that Apple has ever made. But I suspect most of them will end up with people who aren't video pros, but who really like really good displays. I'd love to see Cyberpunk 2077 on one of these.

If you're technically minded Apple has put together a full technical paper on the new displays, and you can read it right here.

Confirming one of Apple's worst-kept secrets, Apple finally unveiled its first-ever touchscreen MacBook Pro in 14-inch and 16-inch models on Wednesday, October 28, in Los Angeles. The news comes just days after Apple unveiled M6-class MacBook Pros. Notably, the new PROLED touchscreen laptops are running M5 Pro and M5 Max Apple silicon.

Apple CEO John Ternus didn't waste much time on stage, quickly announcing the laptops and running through key innovations like the tandem OLED (PROLED) screens and relatively lightweight (3lbs for the 14-inch model and 4lbs for the 16-inch one) before leaving the stage and directing the assembled group of media, analysts, creators, and Apple execs to an adjacent space where I got my first experience ever with a touchscreen MacBook.

You've been waiting for this

If you read no further, know this: it felt totally natural to tap, swipe, gesture with three fingers, pinch, zoom, and more on a MacBook Pro display. It feels like I've been waiting my whole life to do this on a MacBook (or at least as long as I've been using MacBooks).

As a former Windows user, and more specifically a longtime Surface Pro fan, I'm actually quite used to touching a screen, though maybe not one quite as beautiful as this.

For those unfamiliar with tandem OLED technology, which Apple first introduced a few years ago with the iPad Pro, it sandwiches two ultra-thin, light-emitting OLEDs together. This increases the brightness while maintaining incredibly inky blacks (they're gorgeous). It also allows for a far thinner display panel because you don't need a backlight.

Though there now is a "backlight of a sort. This touchscreen MacBook Pro lineup marks the return of the glowing Apple logo on the back of the display. It lights up when you open the laptop and turns off when you close it (people at the Hollywood, California, event were cheering for that).

I played mostly with the larger, 16-inch model, which still features the expansive, backlit Magic Keyboard and a huge ForceTouch Trackpad, which honestly is gonna get a little bit less use now that a touchscreen is just inches away.

A pair of large speaker grills sits on either side of the keyboard, though I couldn't hear them over the din of the demo room. As with previous MacBook Pros, there's still an SD Card slot, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, one USB-4 port, HDMI, and the headphone jack.

In my hands, the 4 lb, 16-inch model felt a tad lighter than previous 16-inch MacBook Pros, though the 14-inch (which might be my preference) felt lightweight at 3lbs.

Touch it, touch it, please say you want to

Let's talk, though, about using the touchscreen.

I tried a 3D design app where I used a couple of fingers to spin a model of a guy in battle armor and then a single finger to paint gold on some of the armor.

I opened Maps and used two fingers to spin the map, then pinch-and-zoom.

I used three fingers to swipe through desktops.

I could use two fingers to grab a window, flip it to one side of the screen, and watch it instantly dock itself as a half-screen app (yes, I've done something very similar on a Surface Pro).

I played touchscreen piano with all my fingers.

At no moment did I hesitate and wonder how I did this or that thing. It's obvious. It never felt uncomfortable, and my arm never got tired. Put another way, a touchscreen is a perfect fit for the MacBook Pro family,

Now, you cannot take the screen and flip it all the way to the back of the laptop (something many touchscreen Windows laptops can do). That might be a shame because I could also use my finger to paint and, though I haven't done it yet, draw.

Speaking of which, there is no indication that the touchscreen MacBook Pro supports the Apple Pencil. Honestly, if it can't fold back at least flat, there's no point in this support anyway.

There is, by the way, a Dynamic Island that's basically copied from the iPhone, but I didn't see it do very much.

As I used the touchscreen MacBook Pro, I was not only reminded of my time with the Microsoft Surface Pro but of my initial weeks and even months with the MacBook after I switched platforms. Yes, I found myself touching the inert MacBook screen and had to retrain myself to stop doing it.

Point is, touch was something I reflexively used on the Surface Pro, and I am now certain I will happily use it on the touchscreen MacBook Pro. You probably will, too.

You will pay for the privilege of touch. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with touch starts at $2,899 / £2,899 / AU$4,599, and the 16-inch model starts at $3,399 / £3,399 / $5,499. Pre-orders are live today, and the laptops ship on November 6.

The big headline in Apple news this week is the debut of a brand new MacBook Pro series with the M6 chipset. The brand has just refreshed its flagship laptops with a shiny new processor without hiking the prices, but these new machines still start at an eye-wateringly high $1,999.

If you're on more of a budget, then I'd highly recommend checking out the MacBook Air 13 (M5) for $1,099 (was $1,319) at B&H Photo today. Not only is this a great price for the latest MacBook Air 13, but it's one of the best deals I've seen since the laptop was hit by a massive price hike.

The record low for the MacBook Air 13 is technically $949, but it's been hovering anywhere between $1,299 and $1,149 ever since June. It's been a pretty bitter pill to swallow, considering the MacBook Air is arguably the best value MacBook for most people right now. With this deal, however, we're starting to creep closer to that pre-hike price tag.

MacBook Air 13 (M5) deal at B&H Photo

• See more: check out all of today's deals at B&H Photo

Overall, this is a great deal, and one that I wouldn't expect to go much lower over Black Friday. We're just about to hit the end-of-year sales madness, so you could wait it out to see if it drops any lower, but I doubt it will hit the rock-bottom prices we saw before the hikes took place. Annoyingly, component prices have hit both laptop and tablet prices really hard in recent months, with no end in sight.

For more details on this model, I'd highly recommend checking out our MacBook Air 13 M5 review. Overall, the latest MacBook Air 13 is more of an iterative upgrade, but it's still a fantastic machine — enough to score an impressive four and a half stars out of five, in fact.

• Apple has revealed M6 upgrades for the iMac and MacBook Pro
• The iMac's pricing starts at $1,499, the same as its predecessor
• Pricing for the MacBook Pro M6 also starts at the same level as its M5 predecessor, which is $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,199

Apple has given its iMac and entry-level MacBook Pro models a minor refresh with new M6 versions for both, ahead of the expected launch of a touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro.

The M6 is Apple's first 2nm chip, although it has already debuted in the Mac mini from earlier this year. As ever, Apple promises it'll be a beefy upgrade for the new Macs, with what should be a notable boost for local AI processing in particular thanks to the M6's dual 16-core Neural Engine (for a total of 32-cores).

The iMac M6 has the same colorful designs as its M4 predecessor, with that chip upgrade being the main change. With the M6 inside, Apple claims the new iMac is up to 5x faster for on-device AI tasks than the previous-gen all-in-one with the M4 chip, which is a big speed boost.

The GPU can be specced with up to 12-cores, and has Neural Accelerators in each core. Apple says it's up to 2x faster for graphics performance in tasks like photo editing.

On top of that, we're told that the storage on board the iMac M6 is up to 2x faster compared to its predecessor, and you get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support.

You can pre-order the new iMac from tomorrow (October 28), with configuration options starting from a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. The base pricing is also the same as before, starting at $1,499 / £1,499 / AU$2,399.

MacBook Pro with M6 goodness

It's a similar story with the refreshed entry-level MacBook Pro 14-inch with M6. The main change is that chip upgrade, and again Apple provides some illustrative performance boosts across various workloads.

Apple claims that the 12-core GPU in the M6 offers 30% faster graphics performance compared to the M5 in the previous base MacBook Pro. It also ushers in a 25% performance boost for on-device AI processing versus the M5.

On top of that, the dual 16-core Neural Engine offers up to 1.9x swifter performance than the M5, working with the GPU to pep up AI tasks like creating images or upscaling for boosting game frame rates.

Apple talks up the power-efficiency of the M6 chip, and mentions that it has "industry-leading performance per watt", offering up to 24 hours of battery life for the new MacBook Pro.

As with the new iMac, you get Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and again, you'll be pleased to hear that Apple hasn't hiked the pricing here.

You can pre-order the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M6 from tomorrow (October 28) with shipping expected to start on November 6, and pricing starts at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,199 for the model with 16GB RAM.

It's been an excellent year for tech releases, with the arrival of everything from new TV panel developments, to groundbreaking drones, to awesome spatial audio speakers, to a new breed of AI-connected screenless fitness wearable.

It's also been a really difficult year in tech, though, due to the component crisis and rising prices across nearly all products. In the middle of that tension, it only makes sense for us to find out which companies navigated the challenges best by asking the community of tech lovers out there — and so here are the first TechRadar Readers' Choice Awards.

The results are in, so below we've listed the TechRadar Readers' Choice Awards 2026 winners winners in every category, all 100% voted by you!

Phones & tablets

Phone of the Year

Phone Brand of the Year

Phones Innovation of the Year

Best Value Phone

Best Mid-Range Phone

Best Folding Phone

Best Flip Phone

Best Camera Phone

Best Gaming Phone

Best AI Phone

Best Phone Accessory

Best Tablet

Best eReader

Cameras & drones

Camera of the Year

Camera Brand of the Year

Camera Innovation of the Year

Best Beginner Camera

Best Mid-range camera

Best Professional Camera

Best Compact and Instant Camera

Best Action and Vlogging Camera

Best Camera Lens

Best camera accessory

Best drone

Computing

Computing Brand of the Year

Best Computing Innovation

Best Value Laptop

Best AI Laptop

Best Gaming Laptop

Best PC Gaming Handheld

Best Gaming Keyboard

Best Gaming Monitor

Best Gaming Mouse

Gaming

Gaming Device of the Year

Gaming Brand of the Year

Gaming Innovation of the Year

Best Console Accessory

Best Gaming Service

Best Gaming Controller

Best Gaming Headset

Best Gaming Chair

TV & home theater

TV of the year

Home Entertainment Brand of the Year

Home Entertainment Innovation of the Year

Best Gaming TV

Best TV for Sound

Best OLED TV

Best mini-LED TV

Best Value TV

Best Projector

Best Soundbar

Best Wireless Home Theater Speakers

Streaming

Streaming Service of the Year

Best Streaming Service for Movies

Best Streaming Service for Documentaries

Best Streaming Service for TV Series

Best Free Streaming Service of the Year

Audio

Headphones of the Year

Audio Brand of the Year

Audio Innovation of the Year

Best Wireless Headphones

Best Wireless Earbuds

Best Open Earbuds

Best Value Headphones

Best Value Earbuds

Best Value Open Earbuds

Best Wired Headphones

Best Wired Earbuds

Best Bluetooth Speaker

Best Wireless Speaker

Best Portable Audio Player

Best Turntable

Best DAC

Best Stereo Speakers

Health & Fitness tech

Health and Fitness Device of the Year

Health & Fitness Brand of the Year

Health and Fitness Innovation of the Year

Best Smartwatch

Best Running Watch

Best Fitness Tracker

Best Smart Ring

Best Electric Toothbrush

Best Connected Fitness Tech

Home tech

Home Device of the Year

Home Tech Brand of the Year

Home Tech Innovation of the Year

Best Home Light Tech

Best Home Security Device

Best Robot Vacuum

Best Vacuum

Best Air Fryer

Best Coffee Machine

Best Value Coffee Machine

Best Fan

Amazon has just offered up a rare discount on the MacBook Neo, which brings the budget Apple laptop down to the best price I've seen since June. Stock is very limited, but there's still time to grab the MacBook Neo at Amazon for £609.97 (was £699).

Unfortunately, that's still around £50 more than the previous record-low price, but the chances of seeing a discount like that again are very slim, given the MacBook Neo received a fairly hefty price hike earlier this year. Still, at around £600, the Neo is an excellent value buy for home use, college, and university, if you want a reasonably powerful entry-level MacBook at a more budget-friendly price.

At this sort of price, it puts it more comfortably in direct competition with the likes of the Dell XPS 13 and several more modern Snapdragon-powered machines, which offer a similar level of power, performance, and battery life. It also means you no longer need to pay quite such a premium to get on the Apple ecosystem, if that's your preference for a laptop.

Amazon's rare MacBook Neo deal

Our MacBook Neo review was full of praise for Apple's newest device, calling it "the best budget laptop you can buy". It's a tougher recommendation following the price hike, but discounts like this bring it back down into that mid-to-entry-level price range that we find it excels in.

Yes, with specs that include an A18 Pro chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage, you aren't getting the raw power you'd find in the Air or Pro. However, the Neo isn't designed for the advanced creative and productivity workloads that the more expensive MacBooks excel at. Instead, it's a smart buy for general use, or for students to take to college and university who prefer the Apple ecosystem.

If the rumors are true, next week could mark the introduction of the first-ever touchscreen MacBooks. That's a Mac laptop with a touchscreen. People will probably embrace them and, no, I don't think their arms will fall off.

Steve Jobs famously hated the concept of a touchscreen MacBook. During an October 2010 product launch, he famously dismantled the notion:

"You know, the first thing you think about is this [he gestured toward the image of someone reading out to touch a MacBook screen]. Right, we thought about this years ago. We've done tons of user testing on this, and it turns out it doesn't work. Touch surfaces don't want to be vertical. It gives a great demo, but after a short period of time you start to fatigue, and after an extended period of time your arm wants to fall off; it doesn't work. It's ergonomically terrible. Touch surfaces want to be horizontal, hence touchpads for a notebook. That's why we've perfected our multi-touch trackpads over the years."

In short:

• It doesn't work
• Touch demands horizontal screens
• Your arm gets tired
• Your arm falls off

Jobs' comments came just 10 months after he unveiled the original iPad, which did have a sort of oddball keyboard accessory that put your hands way too close to the display, and two years before Microsoft introduced its first Surface Pro computers, which were basically tablets with kickstands and detachable keyboards.

Still, Jobs drew a line in the sand, and for more than a decade, Apple toed that line. Even when Apple seemed to split the difference with the Touch Bar on the 2016 MacBook Pro, Apple executives insisted a touchscreen was not the right move for Apple's popular line of MacBooks.

As former Global Head of Marketing Phil Schiller told Steve Levy back then,

"Our instincts were that it didn’t [make sense to do a touchscreen], but, what the heck, we could be wrong—so our teams worked on that for a number of times over the years. We’ve absolutely come away with the belief that it isn’t the right thing to do. Our instincts were correct.”

But unless the rumor mill is very, very wrong, Apple is set to prove Jobs and the rest of the old guard wrong and introduce its first touch-screen MacBook Pro next week in Los Angeles.

It will be, perhaps, a recognition that all those Windows OEMs who build 2-in-1 convertibles where the screen can fold all the way onto the bottom of the laptop or even detach to become a stand-alone tablet aren't wrong. There is a market for touchscreen computers.

What would Steve say?

What, though, would Steve Jobs make of this? The iconoclastic tech maverick, who died in 2011, would surely be appalled. Apple devotees might claim, "This never would've happened on his watch." Maybe they'll unfairly blame new CEO John Ternus, an actual engineer and 25-year company veteran who must've had a hand in the development of the new, alleged, touchscreen MacBook Pro. Surely Ternus was somehow involved over what was likely a 2-to-5-year development process, but the credit or blame should lie with now Executive Chairman Tim Cook, who probably greenlit the project.

If Steve Jobs were alive today, what might he say to Cook and Ternus about this? "Well, you better sell a line of arm sling accessories for all those aching muscles!"

No. In fact, I'm certain Steve Jobs would applaud the innovation. You see, Jobs was often adamant about something until he was not. He would insist Apple had no interest in making a phone, until the company delivered the iPhone.

There was a thing called the Steve Jobs "reality distortion field" for a reason. Steve Jobs didn't think an App Store and third-party apps were needed (or at least he claimed as much) before the App Store was unveiled. Video on the iPod was a bad idea until there was the technology to support it. Then it was a great one.

Steve Jobs believed in changing his mind. In an interview Jobs gave to Playboy as he turned 30, he said, "If you want to live your life in a creative way, as an artist, you have to not look back too much. You have to be willing to take whatever you’ve done and whoever you were and throw them away."

Jobs was more a marketer than engineer and, perhaps, more artist than tactician. In order for him to change his mind, the technology had to inspire him, or in order for him to be satisfied, he'd change the technology and specs (see the last-minute swap of the original iPhone's plastic screen cover to glass) until he was satisfied.

Sure, Jobs could say one thing on stage, and the company leadership would parrot it for years until, like Jobs, the innovation met the moment. And then, as Jobs was wont to do, change their minds.

So, if we do see our first touchscreen MacBook Pro next week, don't shed tears for Steve Jobs' discarded design principles. I'm sure he would say that this is as it should be and that a touchscreen MacBook Pro is, in fact, "magical."

• Apple tells us it will 'Pro and Tell' on October 28
• The touchscreen MacBook Pro, an iMac with M6, and an iPad mini with an OLED screen are likely incoming
• It comes in the middle of an incredibly busy product cycle for Apple

Apple’s on a roll! Just eight days after dropping the HomeView, HomePod mini 2, and Apple TV 4K, and four days before the iPhone Duo starts shipping, the Cupertino-based technology giant is teasing more.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Apple’s SVP of Marketing, Greg Joswiak, writes, “Can’t wait to pro and tell next week,” alongside an Apple logo being drawn. The same graphic was also posted to @HelloApple on Instagram with the caption, “About next week…” The latter gives us the timing and leaves us marking our calendars for a reveal similar to Apple’s recent home product launches. However, Joswiak’s post teases something Pro that could be on the horizon.

Alongside the teasers, Apple has also sent media invites for an experience in LA on October 28, 2026. That’s the same wording the company used to describe its ‘Welcome Home’ event, so I’d suspect there won’t be a formal keynote, but there will be plenty of hands-on time.

The teaser depicts the Apple logo being drawn using an array of colors, mostly silver, white, and blue, with small, vibrant pops of red, orange, and yellow. To me, it looks as though a finger could be drawing the logo, given the overall shape, or perhaps a brush of some sort is being used to create it.

Either way, it points to the likely arrival of new Macs or iPads. Remember, like most of Apple’s products, these devices feature an Apple logo on the back.

There’s been no shortage of rumors, and it’s likely that Apple will drop a significant update to the MacBook Pro family next week, finally delivering a touchscreen laptop.

That’s something the company has been pretty firm about ruling out, but it seems to have turned a corner if recent reports are to be believed. Both the new 14-inch and 16-inch models are expected to pair the first touchscreen on a Mac with an OLED display, delivering the same vibrant, rich viewing experience as an OLED iPhone or iPad Pro, all within a redesigned, slimmer notebook.

Under the hood, these flagship MacBooks will likely get Apple’s best chips, whether that’s the M6 or the M5 Ultra, which premiered with the Mac mini and Mac Studio in August 2026.

Recent reports also hint that the M6 could be coming to the iMac, which is due for an upgrade after launching with the M4 in 2024. A new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro could also arrive with a design similar to the current generation, likely featuring the M6 chip instead of the M5 for better performance across the board, particularly for AI tasks.

Alongside the Mac, the iPad could also be in the mix, potentially hinted at by the vibrant colors and what appears to be a finer, brush-drawn Apple logo. Coming shortly after the iPhone Duo starts shipping, a major iPad mini upgrade is also rumored. It could carry a considerably higher price — a reminder that the current model starts at $699 / £699 / AU$949 — and add a ProMotion OLED display, a redesigned body, and a more capable chip under the hood.

I’ve been wishing for a redesigned iPad mini with Magic Keyboard support and a better screen for a while, so this would be music to my ears, and likely to many others’ too. The iPad lineup is still in pretty good shape, with the Air and Pro models already receiving updates with better processors earlier this year. Besides the iPad mini, the only other model likely due for an upgrade is the entry-level iPad, but it’s unclear whether it will be updated next week.

Either way, we only have a few more days to wait to see what Apple has been working on. After all, the company has promised to ‘Pro and Tell.’ Let me know what you’re most excited about in the comments below.

• Microsoft just launched the Surface Laptop Ultra
• It's urging Apple laptop owners to "break up with your MacBook and get up to $1,000"
• The trade-in values you'll get for older MacBooks are low, and you'd be much better off selling second-hand yourself

It's clear enough that the new Surface Laptop Ultra is aiming to poach MacBook Pro owners, and Microsoft is making no secret of that fact – indeed, it's trying to bribe Apple laptop users in a way.

Mashable flagged up that if you head to the Surface Laptop Ultra product page in the US, there's a banner along the top where Microsoft is urging folks to "break up with your MacBook and get up to $1,000."

An asterisk is attached to that amount, as it is a trade-in scheme where buyers of the new Surface model, at quite a cost, can get money off if they're willing to part-exchange their MacBook Pro. The cash you'll receive very much depends on the age and the condition of your Apple laptop, as you'd expect.

$1,000 is the maximum payment, but you won't get this unless you are trading in a newer and well-specced MacBook.

The typical payment is considerably lower. For example, if you have a MacBook Pro 13-inch from 2020 with an entry-level spec (8GB/256GB) the trade-in value is just $45. A MacBook Pro 14-inch from 2023 with an M3 chip (8GB/512GB) will land you $275, which isn't going to make a huge dent in the asking price of most Surface Laptop Ultra models.

You'll need a newer laptop for a decent payout, such as a MacBook Pro 14-inch from 2024 with an M4 chip (16GB/1TB), which will net you $755.

That's a value based on your provided assessment of the MacBook, but bear in mind that if Microsoft's trade-in partner doesn't feel you've been accurate or truthful, it'll drop the value – you can then decide whether to take that lower offer, or have your MacBook returned.

This offer appears to be for the US only (it wasn't available in the UK when I looked).

Analysis: a touch of desperation?

Yes, I get that Microsoft is making no bones about going after the MacBook market, but you only have to look at the design of the Surface Laptop Ultra to realize that. Urging Apple fans to 'break up' with their MacBook is, I guess, supposed to be a playful or amusing way of trying to attract defectors to the Windows side of the OS world, but it just comes across as a little desperate.

It's fair enough that Microsoft wants to highlight that it has a trade-in program for those interested enough to browse to the product page for its new, much more powerful Surface, but I think the manner in which this is currently couched needs to be revisited.

I've been flitting about various Reddit threads today gauging the broad reaction to the Surface Laptop Ultra, and if there's one thing that's clear, it's that Apple owners are pretty disparaging, by and large, of Microsoft's efforts here. Of course, those are the people most likely to be drawn to comment, as always.

Also bear in mind that while a trade-in may seem tempting in some respects, as noted, you may find the initial offer is downgraded – and you're going to get more (maybe a fair bit more) selling the device second-hand yourself. That's not as easy, naturally, but it might well be worth the effort, or at least having a quick punt at it.

• MacBook Pro OLED is rumored to be "significantly lighter"
• Leaker Mark Gurman believes it could possibly arrive later this month
• If it is thinner and lighter, Apple laptop fans are worried that it might compromise on battery, or other areas – and concerns about the price remain strong

The supposedly imminent MacBook Pro with OLED is expected to be much lighter than a traditional MacBook Pro model, according to a new leak.

This comes from Mark Gurman's latest Power On newsletter (via MacRumors), where the leaker tells us: "Apple has reengineered the machine's interior, miniaturizing parts and rearranging components to make the computer much easier to carry."

As a result, the MacBook Pro OLED should be "significantly lighter" as well as thinner. Other rumors include a touchscreen with a dynamic island instead of a notch, and running on Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.

The theory is that we're now very close to a launch, and that this will happen either later this month or in November.

Take all of this with an appropriate quantity of seasoning, of course, but this latest nugget of info about the trim nature of the MacBook Pro OLED has received a surprising amount of negative reaction.

Analysis: resistance to change

Some of the snipers who have Apple in their sights with this latest revelation – assuming that it's true – are happy with the MacBook Pro just as it is, and they don't want Apple messing with that design too much.

This Redditor complains: "The thick chassis of the current Pro is perfect. If people want thin they have the MacBook Air."

Others just don't want any change at all, with the following comment being heavily upvoted: "The current design is genius I'm actually not ready to move on from it."

Part of the whole point of going OLED, though, is that this allows for a slimmer screen, thereby contributing to the thinness of the notebook. So this should be no surprise really, although I guess the 'significantly' addition to the wording of the rumor is what's worrying folks.

I get that Gurman's comment about "miniaturizing parts" is going to cause something of a stir, too, as people are concerned that this means the battery may be in line for a compromise, and the laptop's longevity could suffer.

Another Redditor says: "Let's hope this isn't affecting the battery capacity… the current design of the internals is packed, it's not like there's anything redundant nor do I see them changing the chassis material."

Others fear that connectivity rather than battery life will be sacrificed in the pursuit of thinness, and there'll be fewer ports on the MacBook Pro OLED.

The biggest complaint by far, though, remains the price, with worries about Apple's OLED laptop being even more exorbitantly expensive if you throw another premium design element – being a lot thinner and lighter – onto the configuration sheet.

Rather than talking about the weight, this Redditor jokes: "I think this is a misunderstanding. Your wallet will be significantly lighter."

They aren't the only person cracking that joke on Reddit, either. We'll just have to see how this incoming MacBook Pro pans out, but for now, the cynics and skeptics firing flak clearly outnumber those who are excited for the arrival of the first OLED model.

Apple made headlines earlier this year with the launch of the MacBook Neo, which we called “the best budget laptop you can buy” in our review thanks to its low AU$899 launch price and premium materials — all while in the midst of RAM and storage shortages.

The RAM crisis did eventually come calling for the MacBook Neo, and the inevitable price increase saw its starting price increase for AU$1,049. Despite this, the MacBook Neo is still a great budget laptop that’s leagues ahead of its Windows and Chromebook competitors.

The price hike does sting a bit, but this discount from Amazon for the base 256GB variant brings the MacBook Neo down to AU$997 — a deal that’s hard to pass up if you missed out on the launch price.

Apple achieves the low-for-a-MacBook AU$1,049 price point by cleverly employing an iPhone processor, the A18 Pro chip found in the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max, instead of its M-series silicon found in higher-end MacBooks. The Neo also only comes in a base configuration of 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. You can increase storage to a 512GB SSD and gain Touch ID capabilities for AU$1,249 — Amazon currently has it discounted to AU$1,199.

What I like the most about the Neo is its repairability, which is very much an improvement over its more expensive siblings, with plenty of online content creators having demonstrated how easy the laptop is to take apart and reassemble.

Even with the price increase, I still believe the Neo is a fantastic budget laptop that will easily handle basic tasks like web browsing and media consumption, and it can even do some light gaming and video editing. Our tests have found that the 8GB RAM isn’t as much of a limitation as initially thought, with the laptop running most Mac apps with no issues.

The all-metal chassis, hi-res display and repairability still make the MacBook Neo a standout in the budget space, and the fun colours are a nice touch as well.

As someone who writes about tech deals for a living, I was amazed to see a deal on TikTok that claimed you could get a MacBook Neo for only $119.99. That's a shocking discount, so much so that I thought there had to be strings attached, or maybe it was just too good to be true. And it was.

The $119 MacBook Neo offer, claimed as a "back-to-school deal," was a scam. Advertised on TikTok and Instagram as a real deal at Target, but the retailer has no such discount or promotion.

When you click on the offer, it takes you to a third-party website that promises up to $750 in Target gift cards if you complete 3 to 5 partner deals that include offers, trials, and sign-ups. Generally, if you have to jump through those hoops, it's a good sign it's a scam.

This scam has become viral because who wouldn't want Apple's shiny new MacBook Neo for only $119? Ever since the price hike on Apple's MacBooks in July, you couldn't find Apple's budget MacBook for under $699.

The 13-inch Neo is Apple's cheapest MacBook on the market, yet it's packed with premium features, including a 13-inch Liquid Retina display, Apple's powerful A18 Pro chip for speedy performance, and AI capabilities. In our MacBook Neo review, we called it 'the best budget laptop you can buy right now', praising its design, build quality, and performance for the price.

While direct discounts are sparse, I've listed today's best deals on the MacBook Neo, including a trade-in offer and a free Starbucks gift card at Best Buy, a $10 price cut from Amazon, and Apple's popular $100 education discount for students and teachers.

Today's best discounts on Apple's MacBook Neo

• Apple's MacBook Air is facing supply constraints, as delivery estimates last up to a month
• The delivery delays are a direct result of the ongoing RAM crisis
• Consumers may have to look at Windows alternatives, as the RAM crisis gets worse

PC hardware manufacturers can't catch a break from the ongoing RAM crisis, and unfortunately, Apple arguably knows that more than anyone.

As reported by 9to5Mac, MacBook Air shortages are worsening, as delivery estimates for configurations on Apple's online store are longer than usual. Nearly all configurations have a 2-3 week shipment estimate, while those with 32GB of RAM have up to 4-5 weeks.

It's increasingly clear that RAM shortages are causing supply issues for Apple, and the extended delivery estimates come shortly after Apple's recent slate of price hikes on Macs and iPads. Notably, the MacBook Air M5 saw a $200 price increase earlier in June, and despite that, shortages remain.

Supply is so bad that 9to5Mac notes that Apple retail employees state that the MacBook Air shipments are "more constrained than they can ever recall", and that's a fitting statement since the PC hardware market is possibly at its worst state ever.

Fresh rumors also point to Apple being set on a price increase for its iPhone 17 — so without a doubt, proceedings aren't looking great for the tech giant (and several other hardware companies) in terms of supply stability.

Apple also has a history of rarely dropping prices for its devices, so the only other options consumers have are to buy MacBooks from other retailers or consider Windows alternatives.

What now?

Outside of Apple's online store, Amazon currently has the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air available at a lower price ($1,256) and a shorter delivery window using Prime. The same applies to several other configurations, including the 15-inch model.

Apple's RAM and supply constraints won't end anytime soon, so Windows alternatives are also sensible for consumers to aim for. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, Yoga Slim 7i Aura, and even Dell's XPS 13 are solid laptop options. They may not all match the MacBook Air in performance, but they are enough to get the job done.

There's no better time than now for consumers to act on purchasing a new laptop, as insiders like Mark Gurman and even Apple chief financial officer Kevan Parekh indicate that Apple's supply constraints aren't set to improve, but only worsen — and that likely extends to 2027 and beyond.

With a new school year almost upon us, Apple has brought back its education offer on MacBooks and iPads, making it a smart time to buy if you're shopping for some new tech.

• View all offers at Apple's Education Store

On top of small savings on several of its most popular laptops and tablets, you can also get a gift card of up to £120 with your purchase. While that can't be used on the product you're buying, you can put it towards other extras you might want, such as AirPods, accessories such as the Apple Pencil, or software like Apple Creator Studio.

One important point: you need to be an eligible student, parent, educator, or homeschooler verified on Unidays to take advantage of the offer. Once that's all set up, though, you simply go through the checkout process at the Apple Store using the same email address to prove that you qualify for the discount.

You can check out all of the best deals I've found below.

5 best Apple Education Store deals

• Microsoft is eating humble pie over its unrealistic RAM recommendations
• It has deleted articles that pushed 32GB as an ideal or 'no-worries' loadout
• Apple is also feeling the heat in the RAM crisis, with rumors that it's struggling to secure an alternative source of memory supply from China

There are some fresh twists with the RAM crisis hitting some big tech companies, as Microsoft has backtracked on its previous memory recommendations, and even Apple is apparently finding it difficult to cope with the scarcity of memory.

Let's discuss Microsoft first, and as Windows Latest pointed out, the company has been busy backpedalling on previous memory recommendations now that the RAM crisis – which just keeps getting worse – has made those suggestions look foolish.

Microsoft previously had support documents in its Windows Learning Center which have now been removed, and Windows Latest highlights two of them. One was about optimizing your gaming PC, and it advised that "32GB is ideal for serious players who run the most demanding titles" (albeit the article also said 16GB was "plenty" for most games).

Another piece said that 32GB of RAM was the "no-worries zone", and that article was also quietly deleted as there was some backlash against this, given that it was published when the price of system memory had become ridiculous. (And buying a 32GB kit was very much a worry for your wallet).

The links to those articles now redirect to the home page of the Learning Center, and Microsoft is evidently trying to forget about pushing 32GB of RAM as an 'ideal' or 'worry-free' target for memory on your PC.

More broadly, since Copilot+ PCs were launched and the AI features for these devices made them require 16GB, Microsoft has obviously been keen to have that as a baseline memory configuration. Except now, a change of stance is necessary, as with the RAM crisis reaching alarming new heights, Microsoft has been forced to enact huge price hikes with its Surface devices.

And of course, the latest twist with that Surface hardware is that Microsoft has brought back 8GB models with last year's Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Which makes it kind of difficult to push 16GB as a minimum, let alone make suggestions that 32GB is where it's really at for properly smooth performance.

The abandonment of these Learning Center articles is hardly surprising, then, and Microsoft is also addressing how speedily Windows 11 runs with 8GB of memory (not quickly enough currently). One of its promises with fixing the OS was better performance with a leaner RAM loadout, and Microsoft just made it clear that the company is now actively working to make Windows 11 run better with 8GB before the end of the year.

This has become a vital goal, really, when you consider that Apple has pulled off a commendable showing of performance with its MacBook Neo that packs 8GB of RAM. That was effectively a gauntlet thrown down for Microsoft – something of a declaration that macOS is coming to try to take Windows 11's market share – and one that the Windows maker had to respond to (which became clear enough when Microsoft went on the attack against the Neo).

Apple turnover: China play rumored to end in a fumble

Speaking of Apple, Microsoft isn't the only tech giant being buffeted by the rising costs caused by the RAM storm. While it has had a big success with the Neo, the challenge for Tim Cook's firm – soon to be John Ternus's, of course – is to maintain that momentum, and by all accounts, that's proving a tricky task.

Recent Mac price hikes have caused a good deal of pain – taking some of the wind out of the good ship Neo's sails – and Apple is trying to secure its RAM supply lines for the future, with rumors abounding that it's turning to Chinese chip makers to find extra production capacity.

The latest speculation, however, is that according to a report from Digital Daily (a Korean tech site, via Wccftech), Apple has floundered in negotiations with Chinese memory giant CXMT.

Apparently CXMT has strong enough domestic demand that it doesn't have to offer more attractive pricing to Apple. Essentially, CXMT is holding the line and has "insisted on prices that were higher or similar to those offered by Samsung or SK Hynix" (bear in mind there may be nuances lost with the translation of the article).

You get the message, though: Apple is failing to obtain better deals on mobile DRAM, which includes LPDDR5X, for its iPhones (and that RAM is also used in its MacBooks, of course). And CXMT was supposed to be an escape route from the difficulties of getting enough RAM inventory from Samsung and SK Hynix (and also Micron, a key supplier for Apple), but it seems like a dead-end for now.

At least if this report is correct, but analyst Tim Culpan has also written a short post which backs up the notion that Apple is in trouble here. Culpan writes: "Apple and its suppliers are scrambling to get enough memory chips for its upcoming release of new iPhone models."

'Scrambling' is a word that evokes quite a sense of panic, and indeed with the iPhone 18 models – and the foldable offering – not much more than a month away from launch now (in theory), I'd bet there are some heated words flying here and there. Culpan notes: "Assemblers are working with Apple to rush shipments of DRAM used in mobile devices."

That report is specifically about smartphones, mind, but this same situation applies to mobile RAM that's also used in MacBooks.

The overall theme is more RAM misery all round, which is hardly a surprise given all the negative news we've been hearing on the grapevine of late. GPU pricing has been the latest round of doom and gloom over the past week or two, and I don't think the pessimistic news is going to stop flowing for the foreseeable.

It's not bad news for everyone, though. A source in the semiconductor industry told Digital Daily that: "With the general-purpose DRAM floor remaining unbroken and Samsung and SK Hynix monopolizing the lead in high-value AI memory such as HBM4, the operating profit margins and global market control of the domestic semiconductor sector are expected to rise even more steeply in the second half of the year."

So, it's a familiar story: profits will be on the up and up for memory makers, while consumers will be suffering the pain of the hikes. Apple's purported rush for RAM supplies as the clock runs down on the iPhone launch window is a particularly worrying sounding story, one that doesn't bode well in terms of avoiding more Mac (and iPhone) price rises in the future. Neither can we rule out more Surface price rises, or other laptops for that matter.

With back-to-school season in the air, you might be looking to stock up on a new Mac for college. But doing so can be a confusing affair, with many different models and configurations to choose from, and you can waste a lot of time trying to work out what’s best for your needs.

To skip all the bother, just give our guide a read. We’ve put together everything you need to know, from which Mac is best for you to how to get those all-important student discounts. You’ll be kitted out and ready to go before you know it.

How to choose the right specs for your Mac

When you buy a Mac, there are a few specifications you need to choose, including the chip, memory and storage. You’ll also need to pick a color and, with some Macs, extra options like the display coating and power adapter.

The first three factors — chip, memory and storage — are the most important, and the ones where there’s the most to learn.

We’ll start with the chip, which determines how powerful your MacBook is. More powerful and more recent chips will generally be better, and the higher the chip’s number, the more recent the generation it belongs to.

The chip usually comes in a few different tiers. There’s the baseline option, such as the M5, M4, M3 and so on, then Pro chips like the M5 Pro, M4 Pro and M3 Pro. Then there are Max chips, including the M5 Max and M4 Max. The most powerful level is the Ultra, and it’s limited to desktop Macs like the Mac Studio. The latest version there is the M3 Ultra.

Apple’s chips combine CPU, GPU and memory onto a single system on a chip (SoC). The CPU and GPU will have their own core counts, and the more cores you get, the better able the chip is to handle difficult workloads.

So, which do you need? The baseline chips will be more than enough for essay writing and basic research. On the other hand, you might want a Pro or even Max chip if you’re doing anything that involves complex apps, data processing or graphics work.

As for memory, this is built into the SoC, but you can increase or decrease it separately from the chip selection when configuring your Mac (although it’s worth noting that some memory amounts require upgrading to a more powerful chip). More memory helps speed up multitasking and is also useful for demanding workloads.

The amount of storage you choose depends on how long you want to keep the Mac, how much of a digital hoarder you are, and the type of things you’ll be storing. Run lots of large apps or work with high-resolution video files? You’ll need lots of storage.

Here, it’s best to err on the side of caution, as it’s very difficult (although not impossible) to upgrade your storage once you’ve bought your Mac. While it can be done, it’s not for the faint of heart.

One alternative is to plug in an external storage drive to give yourself extra space. This isn’t optimal, though, as it’s one more thing to carry around, and if it becomes accidentally disconnected, you could suffer data loss.

Make sure to regularly back up your Mac, either using an app like Time Machine or with a cloud service like Backblaze.

How to get Apple’s student discount

Apple has a special education store for students, teachers and more. Here, there are various savings available, depending on the product. For example, the MacBook Neo is priced at $599, down from the regular $699 price (bringing it back to the price it had when it launched, before Apple’s recent price rises).

Apple says that student discounts are available to “current and newly accepted college students and their parents, as well as faculty, staff, and homeschool teachers of all grade levels.” You’ll need to verify your student status, which you can do online or at an Apple Store.

Student savings can be had on more than just Macs. In total, the discounts apply to:

• Mac
• iPad and select accessories
• Apple Watch
• Displays
• AppleCare+ for Mac
• AppleCare+ for iPad
• AppleCare+ for Display

Apple says to look out for the mortarboard icon, which indicates a product bought through the education store is discounted.

You get all the same perks as if you were to buy through Apple’s regular store. You can pick components and colors, trade in an old device, personalize your device with engraved monograms and emojis, pay in full or over time, and more.

The three best Macs for back to school

Here, we’ve picked three Macs that we recommend the most for students. All three are Apple laptops, which will be perfect for carrying to lectures and around campus. Note that if you don’t have many lecture hours or are studying from home, you might want to consider the Mac mini, which starts at $699 in Apple’s education store. It’s a brilliant computer with an affordable price tag, but as it requires an external display, it’s not ideal for lectures and seminars.

MacBook Neo

The MacBook Neo is the perfect option for students on a budget. The default model comes with 256GB of storage, an Apple A18 Pro chip and 8GB of memory. It costs $599 from Apple’s education store, marking a saving of $100 over the regular price.

If your school or college work mostly involves writing essays and researching online, the MacBook Neo is exactly what you need and will be able to handle everything you do. The only question is whether you should upgrade to 512GB of storage — doing so also adds a Touch ID button to the keyboard, which is a handy way to log in and verify purchases.

MacBook Air

Stepping up, a solid mid-range option would be the 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 chip. You can choose between M5 chips featuring an eight-core GPU or a 10-core GPU, but we’d stick to the former — if you need more graphical power, the MacBook Pro will be a better option, which we’ll come to later.

Next, you can choose between 16GB, 24GB and 32GB of memory. The option you choose here depends on your workloads, but generally 16GB will be enough for most students. Again, if you need more, go for the MacBook Pro.

As for storage, the entry-level M5 chip is locked to 512GB of storage. To get more, you’ll need to upgrade to the higher-end M5 chip, which ups the price. Consider how much storage you need before making this move — if you have an existing computer, see how much you’re using with that. Bear in mind that you can’t change the internal storage after purchase, so if in doubt, opt for more.

Finally, there’s the matter of the charger. The M5 MacBook Air comes with a 40W charger that can handle loads up to 60W. If you want fast charging, which Apple says can power your laptop up to 50% in about 30 minutes, you’ll need the 70W option. This adds $20 to the cost.

MacBook Pro

For the most demanding student workloads, you’ll want to look at the MacBook Pro. Our recommendation is to start with the 14-inch model with M5 Pro chip. Skip the nano-texture display for now — it’s a nice addition, but unnecessary for students on a budget.

Do upgrade to the M5 Pro chip, however, or the M5 Max if you know you’ll be doing really heavy work that requires a lot of computing power. Unlike the MacBook Neo and MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro has built-in fans that mean it has a far superior cooling system that is much better equipped for demanding jobs. With that at your disposal, you can pick a beefy chip if you need it.

With the M5 Pro, your choices for memory are 24GB or 48GB. The former should be enough for most, but if you’re unsure, step up to the higher amount. While there are other options, including 36GB, 64GB and 128GB, these require swapping the M5 Pro for an M5 Max and paying a much higher price.

The configuration we’ve picked so far comes with 1TB of storage included, which is enough for most people. That said, anyone working with large photos and videos, high-grade apps or machine-learning models will likely need more space.

Finally, there’s the issue of the charger. The default option is 70W, which isn’t enough for fast charging (the MacBook Pro uses much more power than the MacBook Air, where 70W is enough for fast charging). Seeing as the 96W upgrade costs just $20 more and enables both fast charging (empty to 50% in about 30 minutes) and High Power Mode, we think it’s worth it.