Apple has placed a touchscreen OLED panel inside its laptop line, and a Tom's Guide reviewer, after living with the new MacBook Pro, judges it the finest display he has used on a computer. The machine is lighter than its predecessor, its screen reaches brightness and contrast levels that few laptops have matched, and its performance rests on the same chips already sold in March. What remains is a question every buyer must answer for themselves: whether the sight, the touch, and the battery life justify a price that starts well above the models that do the same work.
Apple's PROLED MacBook Pro Delivers the Best Laptop Display Yet, at a Steep Price
Apple somehow perfected its already stellar MacBook design.
Mark
Why does this review read so glowingly? It's a laptop, after all.
Mimi
Because the display is the story. A 10 million-to-1 contrast ratio and about 2000 nits, where the brightest laptop they'd tested before peaked at 1600.
Mark
And touch is built into the panel itself?
Mimi
Yes, instead of a separate digitizer layer. The reviewer says it's the most responsive touchscreen laptop they've used, with no input lag.
Luke
Careful, though. Those are one reviewer's impressions, plus lab numbers from the same outlet. The 2000 nits is Apple's claim; the lab came in just under it.
Mark
Fair. What about the performance claims?
Mimi
The chips are the same M5 Pro and M5 Max as the March 2026 models, so there's no speed gain. The review says it was more than twice as fast as the Dell XPS 16 in transcoding.
Luke
And that comparison involves differently configured machines, so it's not a clean fight. Also, the review text I have cuts off mid-battery section, so the nearly 17 hours is stated but not detailed.
Mark
So who's it for?
Mimi
Pros who can afford it. The tested 16-inch unit was $8,549 as configured.
Luke
Whether the display justifies that over the March models is something the reporting leaves to the buyer.
Il Polso
- A premium price tag of $2,899 and up sits uneasily against chips identical to the March 2026 MacBook Pros.
- The first touchscreen OLED in an Apple laptop breaks long habits, with touch built into the panel and the notch replaced by the Dynamic Island.
- Tandem OLED hits roughly 2000 nits and 10 million-to-1 contrast, pushing well past the 1600-nit ceiling of earlier laptop displays.
- Battery life near 17 hours and a display that feels responsive to the finger make the case that the premium may be earned, though buyers are urged to weigh it against the non-OLED models first.
Apple has placed a touchscreen OLED panel inside its laptop line, and a Tom's Guide reviewer, after living with the new MacBook Pro, judges it the finest display he has used on a computer. The machine is lighter than its predecessor, its screen reaches brightness and contrast levels that few laptops have matched, and its performance rests on the same chips already sold in March. What remains is a question every buyer must answer for themselves: whether the sight, the touch, and the battery life justify a price that starts well above the models that do the same work.
The first thing the reviewer noticed about Apple's new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display was how light it felt. The 14-inch model is half a pound lighter than its predecessor and the 16-inch is 0.7 pounds lighter, and the difference shows the moment the laptop leaves the table. This is Apple's first MacBook with an OLED touchscreen, and the reviewer calls it the finest laptop he has tested.
The panel is the heart of the machine. Its tandem OLED offers a 10 million-to-1 contrast ratio and roughly 2000 nits of brightness, with lab tests landing just under Apple's claim. Dark night scenes in the Dune: Messiah trailer held their detail, and the lab tester, who evaluates TVs for a living, said he had never seen a lovelier display. Touch is built into the panel itself, and the reviewer, who usually avoids touch on laptops, found himself reaching for the screen more than expected.
Performance is where the caveat lies. The M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are the same ones found in the March 2026 MacBook Pros, which makes the results comparable. The machine was more than twice as fast as the Dell XPS 16 in video transcoding, and battery life reaches nearly 17 hours. Starting prices run from $2,899 for the 14-inch and $3,399 for the 16-inch, and higher configurations climb well past $4,000.
The verdict rests on two points: the price, and the fact that the performance matches the earlier models. Anyone weighing the cost should compare it against those March MacBook Pros and decide whether the display and touch are worth the premium.
The first thing a Tom's Guide reviewer noticed about Apple's new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display was the weight. Pick up either size and it is lighter than its predecessor: the 14-inch model sheds 0.5 pounds and the 16-inch sheds 0.7. The reviewer, who uses MacBook Pros constantly, says the difference is felt the instant the laptop leaves the table. The 14-inch version weighs only a little more than a MacBook Air.
This is Apple's first MacBook with an OLED touchscreen, and the review calls it the finest laptop the writer has tested. The 14-inch model with an M5 Pro chip starts at $2,899. The 16-inch model with a more powerful M5 Pro chip starts at $3,399. Both come with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. The M5 Max configurations start at $4,499 for the 14-inch and $4,799 for the 16-inch, and more memory, more storage or the optional nano-texture display all add to the bill.
The panel is the centerpiece. It is a tandem OLED with a 10 million-to-1 contrast ratio. Apple claims 2000 nits of brightness, and the outlet's lab benchmarks landed just under that mark. The brightest laptop displays Tom's Guide had previously tested topped out at 1600 nits. Images stay clearly defined even when parts of the screen run at maximum brightness. Color accuracy, measured by Delta-E, is slightly better than on most laptops the reviewer has tried, and sRGB and DCI-P3 reproduction is identical on both sizes. The outlet's lab tester, who evaluates TVs for a living, said he had never seen a lovelier display. The reviewer tested it with the latest Dune: Messiah trailer, praising the dark night scenes and the detail in the characters' dusty faces.
The notch is gone, replaced by the Dynamic Island, which expands during video and music playback and gives access to Live Activities. Touch is built directly into the tandem OLED rather than added as a separate digitizer layer. The reviewer, who has tested dozens of Windows touchscreen laptops, found none as responsive. Tapping, swiping and pinch-to-zoom felt as snappy as on an iPad Pro, with no input lag. Menu bar items expand under a fingertip and window controls grow larger. Google Docs and Drive worked well with touch, Apple's own apps worked seamlessly, and no third-party compatibility problems have turned up so far. The reviewer, who usually avoids touch on laptops, found themselves using it more than expected.
The design keeps the squared-off aluminum chassis Apple has used since late 2021, but the lid was redesigned to withstand constant tapping and swiping. It is thinner yet doesn't wobble, and it still opens with one hand. Bezels shrank by 15%, and the Apple logo on the lid glows again with its own backlight. The keyboard and large touchpad are unchanged and still among the best around. Touch ID remains; Face ID does not. Ports are the same: three Thunderbolt 5/USB-C, HDMI, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an SD card slot and MagSafe. The six-speaker system now has 50 percent deeper bass, according to Apple, and the reviewer felt it with Tommy Johansson's cover of Black Sabbath's "Headless Cross" and the Godzilla Minus Zero trailer.
Performance is where the review adds its caveat. The M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are the same ones in the MacBook Pros released in March 2026, so results are comparable. The reviewer tested a 14-inch model with an M5 Pro, 48GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD ($3,699 as configured), and a 16-inch model with an M5 Max, 128GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD and nano-texture display ($8,549). In video transcoding the new MacBook was more than twice as fast as the Dell XPS 16, and both it and the Lenovo Yoga 9n trailed Apple in other benchmarks. Cyberpunk 2077 ran at 85 fps and 95 fps on the two models using the "For This Mac" setting. Battery life reaches nearly 17 hours, well ahead of Windows rivals.
The verdict: the price and the identical performance to the March models are the only real complaints. Anyone weighing the cost should compare against those earlier MacBook Pros and decide whether the display and touch are worth the premium.
Citazioni salienti
The reviewer says no Windows touchscreen laptop they've tested has felt as responsive or intuitive as this one.— Tom's Guide reviewer
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