Apple's first touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model and $3,399 for the 16-inch. Max out every option on that larger machine, though, and the receipt reads $14,549, according to The Verge. The 14-inch version tops out at $14,249.
Both ceiling prices assume the M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU, $150 of nano-texture glass to cut glare, 128GB of memory (a $2,000 upgrade from the base 36GB), and 16TB of storage. That last option is the real culprit. Apple's 16TB tier adds $7,000 on its own, largely a function of the memory chip shortage that has been pushing storage prices up across the industry this year.
For comparison, MacRumors found that fully specifying the previous-generation 16-inch MacBook Pro topped out at $10,149. Stop at 8TB of storage on the new model instead of going all the way to 16TB, and the max configuration comes to $10,549, just $400 more than last year's ceiling. The jump to $14,549 only happens if you go all in on storage.
Most buyers will never see either number. The base configurations, at $2,899 and $3,399, are what most people shopping for this machine will actually pay.
Why Apple added touch now
The headline feature on these machines is a PROLED XDR display, Apple's branding for the OLED panel, and the touchscreen that comes with it, the first time Apple has put touch input on a MacBook. CEO John Ternus told Wired that Apple still considers the Mac "first and foremost an indirect input device," built around the trackpad and keyboard, but said "there's times when it's comfortable and handy to have touch."
Hardware chief Johny Srouji told Wired that display technology, Apple silicon and software had finally advanced enough to clear Apple's internal bar for adding touch without compromise. Marketing chief Greg Joswiak said pro users had been asking for it, and that younger creators simply expect a touchscreen on a laptop in 2026.
Apple says it redesigned the thermal architecture so the screen doesn't heat up under a finger, added an anti-reflective coating that it claims won't smudge more than a standard display, and reinforced the hinge to keep the screen steady when you're pressing on it.
That hinge is also where the compromise shows. CNET's early impressions, based on specs rather than hands-on time with the machine, note that the screen doesn't fold flat or rotate the way an iPad's does. It tilts to normal laptop angles and stays there while you tap it, a far more conservative approach than the convertible designs rivals have sold for years. Apple's own marketing for the laptop, officially named the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, doesn't mention touch at all.
Pre-orders for the new MacBook Pro opened Wednesday, with the laptops shipping November 6. Whether touch input earns its keep on a machine still built around a trackpad and keyboard is a question nobody outside Apple has had the chance to answer yet.
CDFiled by The Computing Desk
Laptops, desktops, processors, graphics cards and the operating systems that run on them.
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