Apple’s new MacBook Pro makes its biggest impression with an OLED display and a lighter design, while retaining the same keyboard, trackpad and ports. The high-end configuration remains expensive: a 16-inch model with an M5 Max chip, 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage is priced at $5,799, with a further $1,600 required to increase memory from 64 GB to 128 GB.
OLED and the Dynamic Island
OLED took far too long to reach the MacBook Pro, but Apple appears to have delivered the technology without cutting corners on quality.
The display also includes a cutout near its top edge in place of the camera notch. Apple calls this feature the Dynamic Island. It can resize to show live activities and other information, much as it does on the iPhone. That is one of my favorite iPhone features, partly because Apple has repeatedly turned what could have been an awkward design compromise into something useful and compelling.
A familiar design elsewhere
The keyboard and trackpad are unchanged from the previous models. The ports are unchanged as well.
High-end hardware, high-end pricing
Based on the time spent with the device and Apple’s announcement, the display appears to be its biggest attraction. The significantly lower weight would also be welcome, but the price is the more substantial barrier.
The 16-inch model with an M5 Max chip, 64 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage currently costs $5,799. Those are high-end specifications, but the total is still hefty, and memory and storage account for much of the cost. Increasing the memory from 64 GB to 128 GB adds $1,600.
Most people do not need that much RAM, although some users may want it to future-proof local artificial-intelligence workflows.
I’m looking forward to spending more time with the new MacBook Pro. For now, it appears to follow the established pattern for the lineup: impressive high-end components, including an outstanding OLED panel, paired with a price to match. There are no major surprises—although after more than a decade of speculation and back-and-forth, the arrival of touchscreens is surprising. It finally happened.
Source: arstechnica.com
