Apple has revealed its first touchscreen MacBook Pro – and the fully featured 16-inch model comes in at a jaw-dropping $14,549.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant introduced the redesigned laptop on Wednesday, touting a new OLED display, touchscreen controls and a thinner, lighter design.
But getting all the features of the larger model will cost customers more than four times its $3,399 starting price, as tech news site MacRumors pointed out.
The high-end configuration includes Apple’s M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU, 128GB of unified memory, a 16TB SSD, and optional nano-textured glass designed to reduce glare.
The biggest expense is increasing the storage from 2TB to 16TB, a whopping $7,000 upgrade. Maxing out the memory to 128GB adds an additional $2,000 over the 48GB configuration.
Customers who want the nano-textured glass must pay an additional $150.
Even the smaller 14-inch version can fetch a whopping $14,249 when equipped with the more expensive upgrades.
The entry-level 14-inch touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899, while the cheapest 16-inch model costs $3,399, which is $400 more than comparable non-touchscreen models equipped with M5 Pro chips.
The sticker shock sparked an outcry among some Apple fans on Reddit.
“$3,399 for the 16-inch. That’s crazy,” one user wrote on the r/apple forum.
Another commenter, who said they work in 3D rendering, complained about the high price, even for customers needing high-end equipment.
“I mean, I’m a professional. It’s still too expensive,” the user wrote.
“This exact machine was made for me, I need accurate colors and I also work in higher education. It’s too expensive. It starts at 2,899. Professional devices can still be too expensive for professionals.”
Not everyone was outraged.
Some Reddit users pointed out that the touchscreen models only cost $400 more than comparable non-touchscreen MacBook Pros, while the astronomical $14,549 price tag only applies to the most upgraded version.
The new laptop marks a major shift for Apple, which has long resisted adding touchscreens to its Mac computers, instead relying on keyboards and trackpads while embracing touch controls on its iPhones and iPads.
The redesigned MacBook Pro lets users move and resize windows with their fingers, drag files between apps, scroll web pages, and pinch to zoom photos.
Its new PROLED XDR display uses tandem OLED technology that Apple says offers improved brightness, contrast and color accuracy, especially for professional photographers, video editors and designers.
The new laptops run on Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which are also available in the company’s existing non-touch MacBook Pros.
Apple says the redesigned machines can offer up to 24 hours of battery life, depending on configuration.
The pricey laptop rollout comes less than a week after Apple launched its first foldable smartphone, the iPhone Duo, which starts at $1,999.
The Oct. 23 debut sparked a buying frenzy, with customers camping out outside Apple stores for hours and some locations running out of walk-up inventory shortly after they opened.
But the highly anticipated phone also faced early complaints from customers who reported cracked interior screens and glowing lines appearing near the hinge.
Apple acknowledged Monday that a “small number” of Duo devices were affected and directed owners experiencing issues to AppleCare to replace them.
The new touchscreen MacBook Pros are available for pre-order now, with deliveries and in-store sales expected to begin on November 6. The Post has requested comment from Apple.
Gn tech
