Get hands-on with Apple’s first touchscreen laptop

apple The company unveiled its first touchscreen laptop model Wednesday at an event in Los Angeles.

These new MacBooks, called MacBook Pros with ProLED XDR displays, are still Apple MacBooks. It runs MacOS rather than iPadOS or iOS, the iPhone operating system.

Good news for those worried about the new user interface. There’s no need to use it. Touch is completely optional.

CNBC briefly tested both the 14-inch and 16-inch touchscreen MacBooks at the event.

Users can still primarily or completely use the device’s trackpad and keyboard, with few visual updates. MacOS looks much the same as before.

Several user interface updates have been made. For example, the red button at the top left of the window expands when you touch it, making it easier to click. Apple says third-party developers like Microsoft and Adobe can and will update their apps to expand buttons and other touch targets. I find Touch especially useful when scrolling through websites and documents while sleeping.

However, touch is also supported in software that has not been explicitly updated for new computers. Apple says that behind the scenes, its software converts every touch tap into a traditional click. Therefore, any button that can be clicked can also be touched.

Using a laptop with your fingers is comfortable, but it doesn’t change the way most people use their laptops. This could be useful for iPhone app developers, as it allows them to test how their apps work on the Mac. Accessibility features allow users to pinch to zoom on any part of the user interface.

Apple announced Wednesday that it used an oleophobic coating on its screens to prevent fingerprints. It seems to work fine. There were no marks left on the screen when using the touch features.

Apple is touting the laptop with a superior display thanks to new tandem OLED technology that offers deeper blacks and higher contrast in addition to touch capabilities.

Photos and other art look great on screen, but it’s not night and day different from Apple laptops of the past. Many of the improvements are aimed at creators who need accurate color when editing photos and videos.

Instead of the notch on the top of previous MacBooks where Apple hid the camera, the new MacBooks have a punch-hole in the display, similar to recent iPhones. Apple’s Dynamic Island feature (new to MacBooks) has been expanded to include Live Activities and Siri.

Apple has made a big deal of its new hinge on laptops that prevents the screen from shaking when you touch it. For example, the camera doesn’t shake much when you tap the screen during a video call. However, the hinge feels almost identical to Apple’s previous MacBook Pros.

There’s one new feature that stands out right away and tells people you’ve bought the latest, greatest, most expensive Apple laptop. (The smaller 14-inch model starts at $2,899, and the larger model costs at least $3,399.) The Apple logo on the lid now lights up when the computer is turned on. It’s the first Apple laptop to support this since the 2017 MacBook Air.

The illuminated logo was unveiled Wednesday to cheers from analysts and influencers in attendance.