Apple's First Touchscreen MacBook Pro Costs Up to $14,549 Fully
Apple's First Touchscreen MacBook Pro Costs Up to $14,549 Fully Loaded as Memory Crunch Drives Steep Upgrades

Apple's first touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899, but buyers who choose every top upgrade will pay more than $14,000. Steep storage and memory prices are pushing the high-end models into territory once reserved for professional workstations.

Apple's online configurator prices a fully loaded 14-inch MacBook Pro with the new PROLED XDR Display at $14,249 and a maxed-out 16-inch model at $14,549, MacRumors reported.

Both top configurations include Apple's M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU, 128 gigabytes of unified memory, a 16-terabyte solid-state drive and optional nano-texture glass.

Storage drives the price

Storage upgrades account for much of the jump.

On M5 Max models, moving from the standard 2TB drive to 4TB adds $1,000, according to MacRumors. An 8TB drive costs $3,000 more, and the new 16TB option adds $7,000.

Upgrading memory from 48GB to the maximum 128GB adds another $2,000. Nano-texture glass, which reduces glare, costs $150.

The prices come amid a global shortage of memory chips, driven by surging demand from companies building artificial intelligence data centers. Memory makers including Samsung and SK hynix have said they expect supply to stay tight into next year.

Starting prices rise

The new models also cost more at the entry level than the MacBook Pro models they replace at the top of Apple's lineup.

U.S. starting prices:

  • 14-inch, M5 Pro: $2,899, up from $2,499
  • 16-inch, M5 Pro: $3,399, up from $2,999
  • 14-inch, M5 Max: $4,499, up from $4,099
  • 16-inch, M5 Max: $4,799, up from $4,399

The entry 14-inch model comes with a 15-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 24GB of memory and a 1TB drive. The base M5 Max models include 36GB of memory and 2TB of storage.

MacRumors said a 16-inch model with 8TB of storage costs $10,549, about $400 more than a comparable configuration of the previous 16-inch model.

First Mac with touch

The new laptop is Apple's first Mac with a touchscreen, a feature the company resisted for years even as Windows laptop makers embraced it.

Apple introduced the machine on Wednesday, nearly a decade after launching the Touch Bar, a thin touch-sensitive strip above the keyboard of the 2016 MacBook Pro that the company later dropped.

The touch sensor is built directly into the display panel. Apple said it designed a new hinge to keep the screen steady when users tap it and added video stabilization to keep the camera image steady during video calls.

"The new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is a monumental step forward for the Mac," said Johny Srouji, Apple's chief hardware officer.

Many existing apps work with touch immediately, Apple said, and some third-party developers are expected to add support later.

New OLED display

The laptops use a tandem OLED panel that Apple calls the PROLED XDR Display.

"PROLED XDR is the world's best laptop display," Srouji said.

The screen reaches up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness for both HDR and standard content and has a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio. It supports refresh rates from 10Hz to 120Hz.

Apple is targeting creative and technical professionals with the display. It includes factory calibration, reference modes and medical imaging modes for nondiagnostic use.

The display replaces the notch with a Dynamic Island cutout, a design borrowed from the iPhone. On the Mac, it serves as a home for Spotlight search, Live Activities and Siri AI.

Lighter and longer-lasting

Apple said the new models are lighter and thinner than their predecessors.

The 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds, half a pound less than before. The 16-inch model weighs 4 pounds, 0.7 pounds lighter than the previous version.

Apple rates battery life at up to 24 hours, depending on use and configuration. Fast charging can reach 50% in about 30 minutes.

Key specifications:

  • Display: 14.2-inch or 16.3-inch tandem OLED, up to 2,000 nits
  • Chips: M5 Pro or M5 Max
  • Memory: up to 128GB
  • Storage: up to 16TB
  • Battery: up to 24 hours
  • Ports: three Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SDXC slot, MagSafe, headphone jack
  • Software: macOS 27

Availability

Preorders opened Wednesday. The laptops begin arriving to customers and in stores on Friday, Nov. 6.

The touchscreen models sit above the standard MacBook Pro with Apple's new M6 chip, which launched a day earlier at a starting price of $1,999 and does not include a touchscreen.

A busy fall for Apple

The MacBook Pro launch caps a busy stretch for Apple under Chief Executive John Ternus. The company also released the iPhone Duo, its first foldable phone, priced from $1,999.

Ternus took over as CEO earlier this year and has overseen some of the biggest design changes to Apple's products in years. Those include the company's first foldable iPhone and its first touchscreen Mac, two categories Apple had long avoided.

The pricing of the new MacBook Pro underlines how much rising component costs are weighing on the electronics industry. Even so, Apple's most expensive configurations are aimed at a small group of professionals in fields such as film, music, 3D design and AI development, who need large amounts of memory and storage.

For most buyers, the cost of the new technology will depend less on the touchscreen itself than on how much storage and memory they decide they need.