Apple MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review

Does touch change the Mac experience?

This is the first Mac to get a touchscreen, but Apple hasn’t actually done much to make use of it. Apart from slightly expanding certain UI elements when you touch them, there’s not much else. Which is just as well, because I hardly found myself reaching out to touch the screen. But then I’m the type of user that memorises and customises keyboard shortcuts – I don’t take my hands off my keyboard if I can help it. 

But if you use touch, it works just like any other Apple device with a touchscreen. Touch inputs are responsive and accurate. If you like, you can ignore the fantastic trackpad and use your fingers to find your way around this Mac. I’d think you are mad if you do that, but it’s perfectly doable. 

That’s not to say touch is superfluous. In my week with the PROLED MacBook Pro, I found it easier to markup and sign documents using touch as opposed to the trackpad and mouse. It’s also immensely useful when I’m using iPhone Mirroring. I’m no developer, but I can also see how developers working on iOS and iPad apps will find it useful to be able to test their apps directly on this MacBook Pro. There will be instances where touch will be useful. 

That said, touch support stops at your fingers, because this screen doesn’t support the Apple Pencil. Some people are disappointed at this, but I’m not convinced it makes sense to draw or write on a vertical surface. 

Ultimately, this laptop supports touch, and you can choose to use it or ignore it. What’s more important is that Apple has managed to bring touch to the MacBook Pro without sacrificing other aspects like size, weight, or performance. 

Thinner and lighter body, and better speakers

One of the benefits of an OLED display is that it can be really thin. Because there’s no need for backlights, the display in the PROLED MacBook Pro is less than 1 mm thick. As a result, the PROLED MacBook Pro is slightly thinner, measuring 15mm thick – 0.5mm thinner than the standard MacBook Pro. 

Incredibly, it’s lighter too, tipping the scales at 1.38kg. To put this figure into context, it’s 220g less than the standard MacBook Pro and just 150g more than the MacBook Air. I know I said in my hands-on that I didn’t notice any difference, but I’m thinking now that that could be because I was at a crowded show floor and lugging my work bag as I went around. Right now, at my work desk and in the comfort of my home, and with a last-gen MacBook Pro to compare with, the difference is immediately noticeable. The 16-inch model has slimmed down even more. The 16-inch PROLED MacBook Pro is 16mm thick and weighs 1.82kg – a reduction of 0.8mm and 320g. 

Despite these considerable size and weight reductions, Apple has somehow managed to make the PROLED MacBook Pro’s speakers sound even better. It’s still a six-speaker system, but the overall sound signature is fuller and more forward-sounding. There’s more impactful bass, and the treble is crisper and more extended. The standard MacBook Pro sounds muffled and tinny in comparison.

Thankfully, ports for both models remain unchanged, so you get three USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports, a full-size HDMI port, a MagSafe 3 port, a headphone jack, and an SDXC card reader. The USB-C ports also support Genlock, which can be useful for professionals who need precise syncing of devices for video production.

Play

Fans will also be happy that the glowing Apple logo on the cover is back. What’s interesting is that since these laptops have OLED displays, it means they have no backlights, which also means the logo is being lit by a separate lighting element. It’s so nice to see Apple devoting this much attention to bringing back one of the MacBook’s most iconic features.

Powered by the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips

It’s telling that we didn’t get more powerful versions of the M6 chip. Instead, the PROLED MacBook Pros are powered by the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that power the standard MacBook Pros. That’s no bad thing given how performant these chips are, but it probably means that rumours of Apple intending to transition as quickly to the M7 architecture as soon as possible are right. At any rate, even though the M5 Pro and Max chips are based on an older architecture, they feature greater memory bandwidth and more cores, and are therefore vastly superior to the M6 chip in terms of performance. 

If you opt for a unit with the M5 Pro chip, you’ll get 24GB of memory and a 1TB SSD as standard. As for the M5 Max, that gets you 36GB and a 2TB SSD as standard. And for the first time, you can get up to 16TB of storage, though that’s a – wait for it – S$10,500 option. 

Apple says that despite the thinner chassis, the new PROLED MacBook Pros will perform identically to the standard MacBook Pro. And as you can see from the results below, that’s mostly true except for the video transcoding test, where it was noticeably faster than a standard MacBook Pro. 

Geekbench 6

Geekbench 7

Cinebench 2026

Video Transcoding (in seconds, lower is better)

Assassin’s Creed (1080p, low graphics setting)

Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, ray-tracing: low)

The unit I’m testing is the 14-inch model with the M5 Pro chip that has 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores, 48GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD. Configured as such, it costs S$5,149. Upgrades will add to the price very quickly, so be very sure of how much memory and storage you need. 

Battery capacity is unchanged, and so are Apple’s battery life claims. It says owners can expect to get up to 14 hours of wireless web and up to 22 hours of video streaming. As is the case with all Apple Silicon MacBooks, I can easily get through an entire day of work with battery to spare, so I don’t think battery life is much of a concern for people anymore.

Final thoughts and buying advice

There’s no question that the PROLED MacBook Pro is an impressive laptop, and maybe the best MacBook ever made. The display is magnificent, and somehow it maintains its class-leading performance despite being thinner and lighter. The keyboard and trackpad are both great, but there’s now the option of touch. 

Really, the only bad thing you could say about them is that they are expensive – but then again, you could say the same for many other things. Prices now start at S$3,999 and S$4,499 for the 14- and 16-inch models respectively. Here’s how they compare to the standard MacBook Pro with mini-LED displays. 

You’ll notice that the PROLED MacBook Pros command a S$500 premium over the standard mini-LED MacBook Pros. Now if I were in the market for an M5 Pro or Max MacBook Pro, I would find ways to get that extra cash for the PROLED model. Not only are you getting a better display, but it’s considerably lighter too, and therefore more portable. The weight savings may not sound much on paper, but you will notice it when you are carrying it around.

Folks who already own a fairly new MacBook Pro should cool their jets. Those laptops still have great displays and performance. It’s probably more sensible to wait until the PROLED MacBook Pros are updated with even faster M6- or M7-class chips, and also to see if Apple would do anything to simplify the MacBook lineup. I can’t imagine it’s in Apple’s long-term plans to continue offering two versions of the MacBook Pro with different display technologies.

At any rate, the new PROLED MacBook Pro is a great laptop. And while it may be really pricey, it mostly justifies its price tag. It isn’t just the best laptop Apple makes; it may very well be the best laptop you can buy right now, period.

Note: You can find the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display on Lazada, Shopee, and the Apple Online Store.