Apple has confirmed an Oct. 28 product event in Los Angeles called “Pro and tell,” Bloomberg reported on Oct. 19. What it will unveil remains a forecast: In his Oct. 25 Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman of Bloomberg reported that Apple plans to introduce its first touch-screen Mac at the event, in the form of a higher-end MacBook Pro.
Bloomberg expects 14- and 16-inch models that look similar to current MacBook Pros but weigh less. They would add an OLED touch display and Dynamic Island, the screen element familiar to iPhone users. Gurman expects them to cost “significantly” more than current $2,499-and-up models, but gives no price for the new laptops.
Touch would be an extra way to use the laptop, not a replacement for its keyboard and trackpad. Bloomberg reports that Apple is adapting macOS Golden Gate to present controls based on whether someone has been using touch or the trackpad. Its account also describes a menu that could appear around a finger touching a button. These are reported plans for the interface, not a hands-on assessment. Bloomberg separately expects an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M6 chip and its current design on Oct. 28; that is not the OLED touch model.
The prospect reverses a position Bloomberg says Apple leaders held for years. Its newsletter recounts Steve Jobs calling touch-screen laptops “ergonomically terrible” and Tim Cook comparing a combined tablet and PC to a toaster merged with a fridge. Bloomberg’s analysis argues that reaching up to a laptop display remains uncomfortable and sees revenue and marketing, rather than an ergonomic breakthrough, behind the change. 9to5mac.com, in a page by Michael Burkhardt, calls the prospective models especially exciting but warns of a premium; the starting prices proposed on the page are explicitly guesses.
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