First testers of the touchscreen MacBook Pro are mostly charmed by its OLED panel

The new MacBook Pro models with a PROLED XDR display, the first Macs with an OLED screen and touch input, go on sale today. In Australia and New Zealand customers who preordered have already received their machines, MacRumors reports. The laptops run on the M5 Pro or M5 Max, bring back a glowing Apple logo, replace the notch with a Dynamic Island, and cost from 2,899 dollars for the 14-inch version and 3,399 dollars for the 16-inch version in the US. The models with a mini-LED screen remain on sale.

MacRumors gathered the first reviews. According to that summary, David Pierce of The Verge finds that touch does not fundamentally change the experience, although it turns out to be useful more often than expected, for example to zoom into photos or show something to someone. No on-screen keyboard appears and the Apple Pencil does not work. Luke Larsen of Wired often forgot about the feature while working, while Gizmodo finds it handy when mirroring an iPhone. The verdict on the screen itself, which reaches up to 2,000 nits for HDR content, is more glowing.

In its own test, 9to5Mac puts the emphasis on weight. Because an OLED screen needs no separate backlight, Apple was able to make the display assembly thinner and lighter. The 14-inch model drops from about 1.6 to 1.4 kilograms and the 16-inch model from about 2.1 to 1.8 kilograms, and both are also slightly thinner than their predecessors.