Touchscreen MacBook Pro to Be 'Touch-Friendly, Not Touch-First'

[MacRumors]

Apple's rumored touchscreen MacBook Pro will be a "touch-friendly device, rather than one that's touch-first," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Writing in Power On, Gurman said users will be able to easily move between touch-based and point-and-click inputs, thanks to changes coming in macOS 27 – set up in part by last year's Liquid Glass redesign. However, Apple is said to be taking a conservative approach to touch-based input, offering it more as a "bonus" than a prominent feature.

"Before anyone gets too excited, the touch-based MacBook Pro will not feel like an iPad," said Gurman. "This is the MacBook Pro you've known for the past two decades – with touch offered as a bonus."

Users will be able to tap or click on-screen elements, and controls will change based on input method. If a user taps on a menu bar item, for example, it will display a larger set of controls optimized for touch. Touch-based options will be integrated throughout macOS, and it will support iPad features like pinch gestures for zooming in or out and fast scrolling.

Anyone looking for more of a hybrid iPad/Mac experience will have to wait until 2029, when Apple's foldable iPad could arrive – although even this is said to be "designed through and through as an iPad."

The touchscreen MacBook Pro is expected to be released as soon as later this year, equipped with the M6 chip and an OLED display. The redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are also expected to have a hole-punch camera at the top of the display. Expect an iPhone-style Dynamic Island to house it, rather than the notch we've become accustomed to.

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Article Link: Touchscreen MacBook Pro to Be 'Touch-Friendly, Not Touch-First'

 

[Kaiserschmarrn]

"Before anyone gets too excited, the touch-based MacBook Pro will not feel like an iPad," said Gurman. "This is the MacBook Pro you've known for the past two decades – with touch offered as a bonus."

There's people who would get excited if the Macbook Pro would feel more like an iPad? I want the iPad to feel more like a Macbook.

 

[wanha]

There's people who would get excited if the Macbook Pro would feel more like an iPad? I want the iPad to feel more like a Macbook.

Came here to say exactly the same, and I would imagine most folks here feel that way

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

*BUT WHY* meme

Edit: I mean why would a laptop need a touchscreen at all. Seems like a waste of money and resources. Fix macOS and stop messing around with this nonsense. iPadOS and iPads already exist.

 

[HouseLannister]

To be expected. Until touch screen is everywhere and it has been several years, you can't assume everyone has a touch screen. Also, they are not going to be putting in the effort needed to substantially redesign macOS so soon after Tahoe. It will be minimal effort and feel like a side project for at least a few years.

 

[Stormz]

Just looking at that picture is giving me ergonomic anxiety

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

There's people who would get excited if the Macbook Pro would feel more like an iPad? I want the iPad to feel more like a Macbook.

Do you not just want a MacBook?

 

[Dark-Signature]

It would be a big challenge for me to touch the crystal-clear MacBook screen with my fingers, because fingerprints would eventually smudge the beautiful image.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

To be expected. Until touch screen is everywhere and it has been several years, you can't assume everyone has a touch screen. Also, they are not going to be putting in the effort needed to substantially redesign macOS so soon after Tahoe. It will be minimal effort and feel like a side project for at least a few years.

You’ve no idea how long it would have planned though. They’ll probably do it. I question why though. I don’t get it.

 

[bradman83]

There's people who would get excited if the Macbook Pro would feel more like an iPad? I want the iPad to feel more like a Macbook.

There would be a legitimate use case for a MacBook with a 360 hinge and Apple Pencil support given the Mac is heavily used by creative types. Sadly I doubt this model would have either of those.

 

[cheesygrin]

Happily use my iPad every day - as an iPad, not a "computer". Also have a Lenovo Yoga Laptop, which I had legitimately forgotten had a touchscreen and stylus. I use it as a laptop and never really feel there's a time when touchscreen or stylus would be an improvement for input over keyboard and mouse.

 

[kevdsg]

People are gonna wait for this so much time and get dissapointed because is a experiment.

 

[ginkobiloba]

I still find it hard to believe this rumor. Adding limited touch to MacBooks is useless, nobody is asking for that.

 

[MayaUser]

they tried with the touchbar....it failed...even on windows laptops very very few people use touch in clamshell...only if they use it 360degree in tablet mode

 

[cibonak]

Friendly and touch in the same sentence looks weird 😕

 

[johnrlaporta]

Buying the M5 MBP when it is announced....I have no need for this touch nonsense.

 

[podiki]

I don't like the idea at all, but wouldn't mind if it's optional. I don't want to pay for a touch screen I am never going to use. One of my company laptops is a Windows 11 machine and I have never used the touch screen. Also, the touch screen looks ugly from the side. It's not flat.

 

[TVreporter]

Maybe we’ll also get the new Apple Polishing Cloth Pro!

Sales will skyrocket!

 

[DrWojtek]

If I could rotate my mba so that the screen is flush yet outwards (360 degrees) so I could take notes on it with an Apple pen, that would be cool and useful, sometimes. I could pay $150 more for such a feature.

If it were to cost more I’d rather get another device for these situations, or just use pen and paper.

 

[frou]

Why do people have such trouble understanding that young people expect to be able to touch screens when they feel like it?

The market is not all about you and your preferences/biases until the end of time.

 

[TundraKing]

Drip, Drip, Drip, Drip...... this is getting ever more ridiculous with each OS release............. Just do the obvious Apple..... Release a MacPad device that can run everything......

Many users including me would gladly buy it in a heartbeat......

....but darn..... then many would not buy multiple devices!! (I've got a MacMini, MacBook Air and an iPad Air...) .... You can't blame them as it is all about profits...... but it denies users more useful options.....

 

[polyphenol]

Having used touch-screens on Windows, I know how much I hate switching between touch and non-touch on the same OS.

No problem between IOS/iPadOS and macOS because they are different.

But when you get touch and non-touch devices running the same OS, there is a horrible tendency to try to use touch when you can't, or not using it when it would actually be easier.

Of course, I use the word "you" when it is really me who has this problem. But I have seen so many others have the same issues.

This got to be especially awful on larger devices where touch required big arm movements. I simply could not cope with touch on anything from about 15" up due to musculoskeletal problems. But a mouse is absolutely fine.

 

[vertsix]

Apple has lost its way.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Code for, we’re going to impose software restrictions to neuter any actual benefits.

“Touch options will only be accessible once the screen has stopped moving.”

 

[Anaxarxes]

I would highly double Apple would just offer touch to macOS without any changes in software - or calling just an add on.

This is against every way of doing things at Apple.

Apple would most likely merge and utilize iPadOS and macOS into one and offer both functionalities based on the use scenario of the devices at hand - ie working in laptop mode --> more like macOS // others more like iPadOS.

I see macOS to be ported to iPad before Macbooks adapting touch.