MacBook Ultra: Everything We Know About Apple's OLED Touchscreen Mac

[Smartuser]

Any idea if they will solve PWM issues that affect people who can’t use the iPad pros? Just bought the m5 pro 16 and hope my bet to buy this now was correct, PWM eye strain is a big fat deal killer

Maybe if you can tell us what “PWM” is supposed to be.

 

[Smartuser]

deleted

Oh? What are their new plans then?

 

[Smartuser]

What a dud. So if I have this straight: Apple will release a v1 Ultra Macbook sometime between Q4 '26 and Q1 '27 with M5 chips (at that point dated), and release v2 Ultra in late 2027 with M7 chips? Am I understanding that right? So if you're naive enough to buy v1, you'd be slapped in the face with v2 + M7 chipset no more than 1 year later. No thank you.

Yes, as always all plans are 200% set in stone and rumors never change.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

Eating hamburger, fish & chips (or fries) and juicy pork or beef ribs... and than touching you new Macbook Ultra's OLED screen. 😊

No problem, you just lick the screen every now and then

 

[johnsawyercjs]

Maybe if you can tell us what “PWM” is supposed to be.

Pulse Width Modulation. It's a method for controlling a display's brightness levels that has some degree of flicker, since it turns the pixels on and off at a high speed, rather than dimming them, but most people can't see this flicker. For people who can, it's pretty annoying and leads to eye fatigue and other issues.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

Ah yes, Tim's last grasp at a viable product. Laptop touch screen users are worse than dogs.

Given that dogs are so great, anyone who's somewhat less great can still be pretty good.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

If Jobs were still around, I'd say he would want to make it make sense—not just be a laptop with a touchscreen. He'd want something that was truly going to merge the laptop and the tablet into a device that served both users equally.

I think Jobs and everyone at Apple who has been involved in this issue has stated that completely merging the iPad and the Macbook is the last thing they want, since it would necessitate compromises that might dilute the unique capabilities of both.

It could also make the two products so similar that many Macbook users would shift to buying the cheaper alternative, the iPad, when Apple could have sold them a more profitable Macbook.

 

[johnsawyercjs]

As a long-time Apple user, I’m not surprised. It’s a recurring pattern. Instead of showcasing the latest and greatest technology, such as creating an M5 ULTRA or M6 ULTRA chip before or during this product launch, they consistently revert to older, depreciated technology with higher prices and present it in a new form, labeling it as innovation.

But no M-series Ultra chip can run in a Macbook (none ever have) since they get too hot for the cooling systems built into Macbooks, and they would eat battery power far too quickly. At the moment, the M5 Pro and Max chips aren't deprecated technology, and still won't really be when the Macbook Ultra is released in late 2026, even if the base M6 (which is the only version of the M6 Apple will be designing) is released at the same time or shortly after, and even after the base M7 is released some time in early 2027, since the base M6 and M7 will be slower than the M5 Pro and Max. The M5 Pro and Max won't be "last year's hardware" until late 2027, if Apple releases them near the end of 2027. Apple usually releases the best they have, when they can.

 

[lusty]

If Apple added said features at no additional cost, I expect the "outrage" would be greatly muted. However, history has shown Apple adds to the price when they add features (at least in the initial release).

Which is even worse, it’s not even a premium feature in the Windows world it’s available at all price points.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

The developer has the ability to opt-out yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that iOS and iPadOS apps do in fact already run natively on macOS on Apple Silicon and has been doing so since macOS Big Sur.

Right, but the Netflix, Disney+ and other apps would require additional work due to the less strict security regime of macOS. Having a Mac that would be able to download a number of Netflix videos to be viewed offline would be a benefit that the current web based solution doesn’t offer. The downside would be that all apps for this new device would come from the App Store, but for folks on iPad that only get apps from the App Store anyway, that’s no downside.

 

[n-evo]

Right, but the Netflix, Disney+ and other apps would require additional work due to the less strict security regime of macOS

That has little to do with being able to run their apps natively or not on macOS. That’s just a self-imposed issue if it truly exists in the first place.

 

[Steve Adams]

In Steve's Era, I upgraded every 1-2 years on average. With the current pricing and trend, I can't tell anymore.

The good thing is that you don't need to. Computers today last much longer and there is a lull in how much compute power you need for most tasks that a Macbook Pro M5 will last you 7 or 8 years before you even notice a lack of compute power. Quite remarkable.

 

[erkanasu]

Maybe if you can tell us what “PWM” is supposed to be.

Pulse width modulation - certain panels cause extreme eye strain for certain eye balls

 

[mandrake2016]

If you cannot find a use for a touch screen laptop, then you’re using it wrong. 😂