Apple has opposed touchscreens in laptops for years. In fact, Steve Jobs once called this idea nonsense. Now the touch-screen MacBook Pro is on sale. On SDNTV, we unboxed this model with Tolga Cem Küçükyılmaz, shared our first impressions and asked "return or continue?" We looked for an answer to the question.
The model we have is the 16-inch entry-level MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro processor. Türkiye price is 234.990 TL. 14-inch models with touch screen start from 200 thousand TL. For versions with M5 Max processor, the price increases to 315 thousand TL for 14 inches and 333 thousand TL for 16 inches.
Hardware of the touch MacBook Pro
The model we bought has 24 GB memory and 1 TB storage. Models with M5 Pro processors can be configured with up to 64 GB of memory. In MacBook Pros with M6 processors, the memory is limited to 32 GB. This difference is especially important for those who want to run large language models locally and do rendering and 3D work. Because more memory means larger open source models can be run.
The computer weighs 1.82 kilograms and feels really heavy in the hand. The illuminated Apple logo on the cover returned after many years. On the connection side, there is a card reader, HDMI and Thunderbolt supported Type-C inputs. A 140 W MagSafe charging adapter comes in the box; However, this size adapter has only one input.
Screen: OLED, 2,000 nits and 120 Hz
The real innovation is on the screen. The dual-layer OLED panel offers 2,000 nits of brightness and 10 million to 1 contrast. Thanks to ProMotion, the refresh rate increases to 120 Hz and there is a Dynamic Island at the top of the screen. The vibrancy of the colors and the brightness were what we liked most about the unboxing. The nano-texture coating option that reduces reflection requires an additional fee of approximately 10 thousand TL.
At first glance, the touch experience feels like touching an iPad Pro. In the first attempts, no visible fingerprints remained on the screen; The scars are only noticeable when viewed from certain angles. The keyboard, Touch ID and speakers are the same as previous MacBook Pros. There is no Face ID.
Is macOS touch ready?
The hardware is powerful, but the real question mark is in the software. While the touch areas on iPhone and iPad are designed to be large, the menu bar icons on macOS are too small to use with fingers. We had difficulty touching the Wi-Fi and Siri icons in the video; It is also necessary to find the right point to resize the window. Such small errors direct people back to the trackpad and keyboard.
The price difference is also an important issue. Compared to MacBook Pros without touch screen with M6 processor, the difference is approximately 60 thousand TL. With this money, it is possible to buy an iPad mini, an Apple Watch and a few accessories.
Return or continue?
We both made the same decision: We would not prefer the touch screen with today's price difference. The image quality of the screen is truly impressive; However, what the touch feature adds to daily use does not cover this difference for now. The situation may change if the price difference decreases in the next generation.
At the end of the video, we also touched upon the products Samsung made before Apple: from wireless headphones to smart watches, from foldable phones to 120 Hz screen. A detailed review of the touch screen MacBook Pro will be on SDNTV soon.
