The HP OmniBook 5 is the latest MacBook Neo rival on the market, and it makes a strong impression. Like Apple’s notebook, this budget laptop isn’t “cheap,” thanks to its striking color options and aluminum design. Along with its strong productivity performance and nearly 20-hour battery life, this also gives the equally wallet-friendly Dell XPS 13 reasons to sweat.

The compact, lightweight design is built for all-day travel, while the 14-inch display delivers strong colors and sharp 2K resolution. After class or work, you can unwind by watching your favorite videos.

Even though the display is more vivid than those on other budget Windows laptops, it doesn’t support HDR — which is odd for an OLED panel. Speaker quality is decent but rather thin, and the 1080p webcam can be a bit grainy even in well-lit rooms.

Despite some flaws, you’re getting your money’s worth with the HP OmniBook 5. Right now, it’s one of the best budget laptops and a worthy alternative to the MacBook Neo. Find out why in my full review!

HP OmniBook 5 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The HP OmniBook 5 is a colorful, budget-friendly Windows laptop that directly competes with the MacBook Neo.
• Who is it for? It’s for budget-conscious folks who want a reliable laptop for the basics without it looking or feeling cheap.
• What does it cost? The HP OmniBook 5 starts at $649 on HP’s website and is currently on sale for $599.
• What do we like? We like the fun color options, vibrant display, strong performance for everyday tasks, and epic battery life.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that this OLED laptop lacks HDR support.

HP OmniBook 5 review: Specs

HP OmniBook 5 review: The ups

Don't let the relatively low asking price fool you, as the HP OmniBook 5 is anything but cheap thanks to its eye-catching design, long-lasting battery life, and other excellent features.

Premium design

Like the MacBook Neo and Dell XPS 13, the HP OmniBook 5 doesn’t look like a typical budget laptop. That's thanks to its thin, elegant all-aluminum design, which looks great and feels good to hold.

The lid flexes a bit when you press in on its center, but the laptop is otherwise very sturdy. At 12.3 x 8.62 x 0.46 inches and 2.5 pounds, this is a perfect laptop for all-day travel, since you’ll barely feel it in your backpack.

I’m a big fan of the keyboard deck, thanks to its relatively spacious size and thick keycaps that make typing a breeze. The backlit keys are nicely spaced and have excellent travel distance. The touchpad isn’t as large as I’ve seen on other laptops, but it's plenty responsive and never fails to register your gestures.

You can technically open the laptop with one hand, though the lid is a bit too sturdy to make that easy. Even though it’s easier to open the laptop with two hands, I appreciate that the lid doesn’t wobble when you’re walking around with the laptop open.

Port selection is fairly generous for a laptop this thin. The left side has an HDMI port and two USB-C ports, while the right side has a single 3.5mm headphone jack. The USB-C ports are USB3, whereas the MacBook Neo has one USB3 port and a slower USB2 port. That means you can charge the OmniBook 5 via either USB-C port.

Lastly, the OmniBook 5 comes in one of four colors: Peony Pink, Smoke Silver, Soft Honeydew, and Starlit Blue. Our review unit’s Soft Honeydew (green) color is quite nice and certainly more striking than the silver or black laptops I typically review.

Sharp OLED display

The 14-inch 1920 x 1200 OLED panel on the HP OmniBook is pretty solid for a laptop in this price range. It delivers decent brightness and oversaturated colors, which helps colors pop. You can see this in the image above, where a video clip of a rabbit basking in the sun appears bright, colorful, and sharp.

Our display benchmark results corroborate my eyes-on experience. The display’s brightness averages 272 nits, which is just shy of the marketed 300 nits. This is as bright as it gets, since the display doesn’t support HDR. Color reproduction numbers for the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts are well above 100%, which accounts for the oversaturated hues.

As you can see above, the displays on the Dell XPS 13 (2026) and MacBook Neo can get much brighter with SDR content, not to mention HDR. Color reproduction is also closer to 100%, so colors look more natural. Color accuracy (Delta-E) is also slightly lower (0 is best) on the HP laptop compared to its rivals.

The touchscreen is as responsive as you’d expect from a Windows 11 machine. It always registered all my taps and swipes accurately. Since the hinge can drop flat, you could theoretically draw on this display more easily. However, since it lacks stylus support, you’d have to draw with your finger, which likely won’t be comfortable or as precise.

Strong performance

The HP OmniBook 5 has modest specs fitting its price. The $649 starting configuration has an Intel Core 5 315 “Wildcat Lake” chip, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and lacks a touchscreen. Our $749 review unit is a step up, packing an Intel Core 5 320 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and a touch display.

This laptop is designed to handle the basics, such as web browsing, working in word processors, and streaming videos. I had no problem using HP’s notebook for my everyday work, which usually involves a dozen open Chrome tabs, light photo editing in GIMP, and the occasional YouTube video running in the background.

As you can see above, the HP OmniBook 5 fares well against similarly-priced budget laptops. In the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmark, its single- and multi-core scores are fairly close to the Dell XPS 13, which has the same Wildcat Lake processor and amount of memory. However, its SSD speeds (Blackmagic) and Handbrake (video transcoding) scores are noticeably lower.

Even though the MacBook Neo we reviewed has only 8GB of RAM, it still outperforms both of its Wildcat Lake-powered rivals by a large margin. The only area where Apple’s affordable MacBook lags is SSD speed. That says a lot about the rock-solid performance the Neo delivers.

Wildcat Lake is perfect for basic tasks, but it’s decidedly not built for graphically demanding gaming. In the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme test, which measures a machine’s graphical performance, the HP OmniBook 5 scored 2922 and averaged 18 frames per second.

That’s similar to the Dell XPS 13, though the MacBook Neo has an edge over both. Using its built-in benchmark tool, Borderlands 3 is unplayable at 10.5 fps at 1080p. The same is true for the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Neo.

Exceptional battery life

Even if the Dell XPS 13 and MacBook Neo have better displays and faster performance, HP’s OmniBook 5 smokes both in battery life.

In our battery life test, which involves continuous Wi-Fi web surfing with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the OmniBook 5 ran for an astounding 19 hours and 52 minutes! As you can see below, its competitors don’t even come close. It's impressive that this humble laptop can last as long as a MacBook Pro.

HP OmniBook 5 review: The downs

There's a lot to like about the HP OmniBook 5, but its budget nature comes with some compromises.

No HDR

If the HP OmniBook 5 were the only budget laptop like it, I’d likely overlook its lack of HDR support. However, given that the MacBook Neo and Dell XPS 13 do have HDR support, it’s something I can’t entirely ignore. That's why the display doesn’t get nearly as bright as those of its competitors.

In fairness to HP’s laptop, it does sport an OLED panel — something the MacBook Neo and Dell XPS 13 do not. As a result, this panel offers stronger contrast between dark and light elements than the Neo and XPS’ respective IPS panels. It also delivers bolder colors, which could be a plus for some folks.

Grainy webcam

The HP OmniBook 5 has a 1080p FHD IR camera. That’s certainly better than the 720p webcams that budget Windows laptops tend to pack. However, don’t expect the best picture or video quality here.

Even in my building’s well-lit lobby lounge, the picture I snapped is pretty grainy. Yes, you can still see me and the background clearly enough, but don’t expect to look your best.

HP OmniBook 5 review: Verdict

The HP OmniBook 5 is yet another fantastic MacBook Neo rival for folks looking for a comparable budget Windows laptop. The sturdy design and long battery life are highlights, while the impressive OLED panel and strong everyday performance make for an all-around solid laptop that won’t break the bank.

The MacBook Neo still arguably has an edge thanks to its strong performance, brighter display, and seamless interoperability with Apple’s devices. But if you prefer Windows or want astounding battery life, the HP OmniBook 5 is a solid choice.

You've probably heard the term "MacBook killer," especially following the launch of Nvidia's first RTX Spark laptops. Now, Apple has raised the stakes with its latest MacBook Pro models featuring the PROLED XDR Displays, and I wanted to see how these new machines actually stack up.

So, I put my 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max away for two weeks and used the Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1 as my only laptop. I wanted to find out whether Nvidia's new platform could replace an older MacBook Pro, how it compares with Apple's latest flagships, and what makes RTX Spark laptops worth considering.

The Yoga makes a strong impression. Its versatile design, vibrant OLED touchscreen, and support for local AI workloads give me plenty to like. But after two weeks, I found that while it's a capable everyday laptop, its high price and performance trade-offs make it a more specialized alternative to a MacBook rather than a true replacement.

Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1 review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A 2-in-1 ARM and Nvidia-powered Windows convertible for on-device AI workloads.
• Who is it for? Developers, AI enthusiasts and creative professionals who want to run local AI models.
• What does it cost? The Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1 starts at $2,999 on Lenovo’s website. As configured, our review unit is valued at $3,999. Best Buy has it listed at $3,749.
• What do we like? We like the design, the OLED screen, the performance for everyday tasks, and AI workloads.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like the raw performance, the gaming performance, battery life, and the high asking price.

Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1 review: Specs

Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1: The ups

Unique and versatile design

This Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1 is a versatile machine. It features a 360-degree hinge for tablet use, pen support, and a striking design with speaker grilles flanking the screen and keyboard.

Tent mode is perfect for sitting on my sofa and streaming episodes of “King of the Hill.” Folding the screen flat lets me use the giant 16-inch display as a primary monitor in the lab at work with an external keyboard and mouse.

Of course, holding a 16-inch screen like a tablet can feel a bit unwieldy. However, the ability to use the included pen in photo-editing apps like Photoshop is a nice feature. I also give Lenovo credit for including a pen in the box. There's even a small cradle that magnetically attaches to the top of the laptop, so you don't have to worry about losing the stylus.

The Yoga’s “Ice Blue" finish and polished accents also give this laptop a glamorous look, making it feel like a jewel on my desk. My Space Black MacBook just looks plain and boring compared to this Yoga 9n.

The keyboard and touchpad are also excellent. The dedicated number pad makes spreadsheet work far easier than on my MacBook, while the haptic touchpad matches Apple's gold standard. Clicks feel crisp, and special Windows-specific feedback for actions like closing windows and completing file transfers adds a nice tactile touch that my Mac lacks.

You can even use the pen on the haptic touchpad instead of writing directly on the screen. It can feel a bit strange, but it's another example of the flexibility this design offers. I could never imagine Apple doing that on a Mac.

Connectivity is another area where the Yoga has an advantage over my MacBook. In addition to HDMI and a full-size SD card reader, Lenovo includes two USB-A ports, which you won't find on a modern MacBook Pro.

Given the laptop's relatively thick 0.69-inch chassis and 4.28-pound weight, there's plenty of room for extra connections. During my two weeks with the Yoga, I left my dongles at home, which was a surprisingly refreshing change.

Big and beautiful OLED touchscreen

One of the biggest reasons I enjoy using the Yoga 9n 2-in-1 is the 16-inch OLED touchscreen. It's large, colorful, and bright enough to make everything from productivity work to streaming video enjoyable.

However, there's a new challenger in town. Apple's latest MacBook Pro, with its PROLED XDR display, has raised the bar for what we expect from a laptop screen. Although the numbers show that the Yoga 9n 2-in-1 doesn't quite match Apple's latest MacBook, that doesn't make it any less good.

Its 16-inch size gives me plenty of room to multitask with Google Chrome tabs and Slack while working in the lab. Brightness also reaches just over 1,000 nits in HDR, and one of my favorite shows, "King of the Hill," looks incredibly vibrant.

The episode where Bobby dresses up as the local college's mascot to help out Connie was a particularly good showcase. The oranges and other rich colors in the mascot suit practically jumped off the screen, making the animation look wonderfully alive.

In our lab tests, the Yoga's panel delivered a particularly high and oversaturated color volume, measuring 193.1% sRGB and 136.6% DCI-P3. It also ranked third in SDR brightness among the MacBook Pro 16-inch with M5 Max, Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, and HP Omnibook Ultra 16, reaching 449.8 nits and delivering an impressive 1,002 nits in HDR. Its 0.30 Delta-E result also placed it fourth in color accuracy among the laptops we compared.

However, the MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Max PROLED XDR still comes out ahead in several important areas. It ranks first in brightness, reaching 549 nits in SDR and an impressive 1,949 nits in HDR. It also delivers the best color accuracy with a near-perfect 0.19 Delta-E.

However, Yoga is a more compelling matchup against my MacBook Pro M3 Max. As shown in the photo above, Lenovo's display produced particularly striking colors in the individual feathers of a parrot. Still, Apple's OLED display delivered more natural-looking detail and contrast, which I ultimately preferred.

Apple has also introduced touchscreen support on its new MacBook Pro and macOS, giving the Yoga serious competition in this category. If you're simply looking for the best touchscreen OLED laptop, Apple's latest MacBook Pro is hard to beat. However, choosing the MacBook means giving up the Yoga's 2-in-1 versatility and included pen.

Considering that the two laptops cost roughly the same in the configurations I tested, your choice will largely come down to pen support and whether you prefer Apple's ecosystem or Lenovo's more flexible design.

Useful for AI workloads

RTX Spark-powered laptops like this one aren’t really mainstream. They are more specialized notebooks focused on running local AI and taking advantage of native CUDA cores and the unified memory setup in this new chip from Nvidia. This makes them more of a laptop for developers and those who might want to run local agent platforms.

I tested this myself by downloading LM Studio and loading the Qwen 3.8-27b model. I took the Yoga 9n 2-in-1 offline and asked the model to write a 30-chapter novel about an earthquake in NYC and to describe the government falling apart and the city descending into chaos. The model produced an answer in 6 minutes and 20 seconds.

My final project for a college creative writing class was similar, so I was especially interested in seeing what the local model could produce. The chapters were relatively short and didn't include nearly as much detail as my own writing, yet the model still produced a coherent story. I was impressed by how much it could accomplish entirely on the laptop without an internet connection.

Out of curiosity, I also ran UL Procyon’s Text Gen benchmark. Across all the workloads, it scored 2,635, 2,346, 2,274, and 2,148. This was with the Phi-3.5-mini, Mistral 7B, Llama-3.1-8B, and Llama-2-13B LLM instruct models using CUDA acceleration.

We don’t run these tests on every Windows laptop and Mac, so I have no reference to compare them to, but those numbers look great. According to UL’s own scoring page, scores are in the lower 200s for Intel Core Ultra chips and in the 1,000s for Snapdragon X2 Elite chips. This shows that this first-gen ARM chip from Nvidia is in a great place for AI performance.

For now, the most compelling reason to buy an RTX Spark laptop is its ability to run local AI workloads. That's a much more specialized use case than everyday productivity or gaming, and it's something worth considering before spending this much on a laptop.

Good for productivity

The Yoga 9n 2-in-1 isn't designed to be a conventional productivity laptop. Nvidia's RTX Spark platform places a strong emphasis on AI, but that doesn't mean you can't use it for everyday work, creative applications, or even gaming.

For my typical laptop workload, the Yoga is more than capable. I regularly juggle Chrome tabs, Slack, and other applications while working in the lab, and I have no major issues keeping everything running smoothly. Photoshop works well for photo editing, and I have no trouble using Wondershare Filmora on Windows 11.

In other words, for everyday tasks, the Yoga 9n 2-in-1 was a perfectly capable replacement for my MacBook. The raw performance benchmark results, however, tell a different story and are a downside of this laptop.

Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1: The downs

Lacking in raw performance

For raw processing power, the Yoga 9n 2-in-1 struggles to justify its premium price. I give Nvidia credit for delivering competitive performance from its first-generation Arm chip. However, there's still a noticeable gap in demanding creative applications.

The MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Max PROLED XDR outperformed Lenovo’s laptop across our major productivity and creative benchmarks, with particularly large leads in Geekbench 6 and Premiere Pro.

The Yoga scored 13,437 in Photoshop and 85,779 in Premiere Pro. Apple's MacBook Pro was also considerably faster in both, completing the test in 7,75 minutes in Photoshop and 4,47 minutes in Premiere Pro.

In Geekbench 6, the Yoga scored 3,076 single-core and 20,084 multi-core. That's ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra (2,852 and 16,655) and puts it almost neck and neck with the HP OmniBook Ultra 16, which has RTX Spark (3,165 / 20,056). However, the MacBook Pro M5 Max remains considerably ahead at 4,359 single-core and 30,327 multi-core.

The results are particularly interesting when comparing the Yoga against my older 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max. Apple's previous-generation high-end chip scored 3,162 in Geekbench 6 single-core and 21,250 in multi-core. While the Yoga comes surprisingly close, it still falls behind. Its HandBrake result of 2:00, however, comfortably beats my older MacBook's 2:37.

The takeaway is that Nvidia's first-generation RTX Spark platform delivers solid everyday performance and competitive results in certain creative workloads. However, the Yoga doesn't consistently outperform newer high-end, near-fully specced-out MacBooks, making it harder to justify spending $3,999 if raw processing power is your priority.

Not for serious gaming

Gaming and Nvidia go hand in hand, and this Yoga can certainly run demanding games. However, RTX Spark isn't a ticket to high-end gaming performance. Developers need to optimize their games for the new Arm-based architecture, or the games won't run at all. That's why I found out that some games from our lab's catalog (like Red Dead Redemption 2) won’t run at all. Others, like Far Cry 6, also misbehaved and didn’t run properly.

I technically can't play Forza Horizon 6 on my MacBook, so the Yoga still has the edge for my gaming needs. I enjoyed playing it with extreme settings and ray tracing enabled, and it averaged 38 frames per second at 1080p. Increasing the resolution dropped it to 23 fps, though. That's playable, but hardly the kind of performance you’d expect from a $3,999 laptop.

The results are more mixed in other games. In Cyberpunk 2077, the Yoga managed 34.55 fps at 1080p with Ray Tracing Ultra enabled, putting it in the same general range as the other laptops we tested. At higher resolution, it actually outperforms the MacBook and Samsung, although the HP was slightly ahead. Assassin's Creed Shadows is less impressive, with the Yoga reaching just 25 fps at 1080p.

Our synthetic benchmarks tell a similar story. In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme, the Yoga scored 21,830, averaging 130.21 fps. That's slightly behind the HP OmniBook Ultra 16, which scored 22,978 and averaged 137 fps.

Compared to a MacBook, the Yoga can game, but these results put it closer to an RTX 5070 gaming laptop. It won’t be a compelling choice if gaming is your main priority. You can get a more capable gaming laptop for this kind of money.

Battery life isn’t great

The top reason I love my MacBook Pro is its battery life, since I only have to charge it at most three times a week. When I tried to replace my Mac with the Yoga 9n 2-in-1, I quickly learned that this system can’t match what my MacBook Pro delivers. Even lab results show that this Yoga is behind the competition.

I put the Yoga 9n 2-in-1 through my daily workflow and started the day fully charged. With the screen at a comfortable 33% brightness, I worked through spreadsheets in Google Sheets, talking to my coworkers on Slack, and taking the occasional Google Meet meeting. By the time 3:30 got around, the battery was down to 62%. That was more than enough for when I got home, but after two hours of watching YouTube videos and cartoons on Hulu, I got the recharge warning and had to plug the laptop into power.

In our lab tests, MacBook Pro 16-inch (M5 Max PROLED XDR) claims first place with a marathon runtime of 21:24, followed in second by the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra at a solid 15:11. The Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 takes third place with 12:20, leaving the HP OmniBook Ultra 16 (RTX Spark) in fourth at 10:52.

Lenovo’s RTX Spark 2-in-1 is ahead of HP’s, but the numbers don’t lie: the Yoga 9n isn’t the best for battery life.

Expensive

Lenovo’s Yoga 9n 2-in-1 is an expensive proposition. As configured, our unit costs $3,999 directly from Lenovo. The same configuration is slightly cheaper at Best Buy for $3,749.99. If you want to save money, you can also pick up the entry-level model with the N1X 18-Core Processor, 32GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD for $3,199.99 from Lenovo or $3,099 from Best Buy.

Those prices are pretty wild, but the ongoing RAM crisis and the tough economy are what contribute to them. Apple’s MacBooks are around the same price and, frankly, arguably deliver better performance.

You can get a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the NanoTexture PROLED XDR display, M5 Pro chip, 24GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD for $3,549.99. That’s still cheaper than the Yoga 9n 2-in-1. If you remove the nano-texture display, you can also upgrade to an M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU, a 32-core GPU, 36GB RAM, and 2TB of storage for $4,799.99. That’s about $800 more than the Yoga, but you’d get more storage and a better screen.

The point is that these RTX Spark machines are not cheap. Most people shouldn’t consider buying them, since their use case is more specialized for AI than anything else. You can take that money and put it toward a brand-new MacBook Pro instead. Or, if you’re really on a budget, invest that $3,999 in a better Windows laptop like the Samsung Galaxy Book 6 Ultra, known for its OLED screen and battery life.

Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1: Verdict

The Lenovo Yoga 9n 2-in-1 is an intriguing, beautifully built hybrid that serves as an impressive canvas for Nvidia’s RTX Spark platform. Thanks to a stunning 16-inch OLED touchscreen, included stylus, versatile 360-degree hinge, and local AI power, there is plenty to like. During my two weeks with it, the Yoga easily replaced my MacBook Pro for everyday productivity tasks like web browsing, Slack, and multimedia consumption.

However, at $3,999 as tested, it doesn't quite earn the title of "MacBook Killer." For heavy creative professionals, it might not be a strong enough MacBook replacement, given its weaker raw processing power in demanding benchmarks and rendering tasks. Likewise, due to its poor battery life, it simply didn't fit into my lifestyle the way my long-lasting Mac does.

If your daily workflow hinges on running local AI models on a flexible 2-in-1 canvas, the Yoga 9n will be for you. But for most power users seeking maximum performance and all-day endurance, a high-end MacBook Pro remains the smarter investment.

Apple has finally released its very first touchscreen laptop—the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display. I reviewed both the 14- and 16-inch models, and I can tell you that the tandem OLED is easily the best we’ve ever tested. That, along with a thinner and lighter design, blazing-fast M5 Pro/M5 Max performance, and epic battery life, makes it one of the best MacBooks available.

While the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is undoubtedly great, it’s proving to be one of Apple’s most divisive laptops. That’s not only based on what I’ve seen on social media, but also on what Tom’s Guide readers and followers have told us through polls and in the comments section of our TikTok videos.

To that end, I’ve scoured reactions to our MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and selected highlights to give you a sense of what folks think.

From price and performance to features, here’s what Tom’s Guide readers and followers have to say about Apple’s new OLED MacBook Pro.

Poll results

After the MacBook Pro with PROLED was announced and our initial hands-on with the laptop, we created a poll asking: Are you sold on the touchscreen MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR? with the four options you see above:

Based on a total 453 votes on our website, 144 votes went with “incredible tech, but $2,899 is way out of my budget,” followed up by 135 votes for “MacBooks don’t need a touchscreen — give me a standard M5/M6 laptop instead.”

“Touch, tandem OLED, and 2,000 nits make it worth the premium" received 131 votes, while “I want to see how third-party apps handle touch first” got 43 votes.

I can’t say I’m surprised by these results, as the MacBook Pro OLED is now the most expensive Apple laptop, with the 14-inch model with M5 Pro starting at $2,899 and the 16-inch model with M5 Max starting at $3,399. And naturally, adding additional RAM, storage, and upgrading to a nano-texture display all significantly boost the price.

The usefulness of a laptop touchscreen is something I discussed in my review. While the touchscreen itself is extremely responsive and intuitive, it’s a feature that some laptop users (such as myself) don’t always need. You can save $900 by purchasing the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M6, which starts at $1,999. Yes, that’s expensive too, but it’s still nearly $1,000 less than the starting price of the M5 Pro 14-inch PROLED.

That said, the tandem OLED touchscreen is worth it for some readers. Right now, it’s the brightest laptop display we’ve tested. It can even be much brighter than an OLED TV’s display. The screen is so vivid that others pale in comparison. If you can afford this laptop, I promise you won’t be disappointed by its mesmerizing display.

Many of the third-party apps I use daily, such as those from Google (Docs, Drive, Sheets), work perfectly, but there is still concern about how third-party apps handle touch. This is a fair concern, as developers have to optimize their apps for the touchscreen.

Given that it's still early days for the PROLED, issues could arise. This is something I plan to cover in greater detail if enough folks complain about their favorite apps not working as intended on Apple’s touchscreen laptops.

What the comments say

Commenters on our TikTok videos featuring the reveal of the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display and our hands-on impressions are just as critical and skeptical about the MacBook Pro’s touchscreen.

User N7 Drones flatly says: “I see zero reason to have a touchscreen on my MacBook Pro!” While tk42121 says that “OLED is fine, but a touchscreen is worthless.” Another user under the handle of Reirei gives scorn and praise, saying that “Apple always late on tech but when they do it 10x better than others.”

I found the comment from Smooth Operator particularly interesting. “Why wouldn’t they do the screen flip to make it easier to touch the screen?” This is something I brought up regarding how comfortable it is to use a touchscreen laptop. A 2-in-1 convertible design would certainly make it easier for taking notes or drawing, though you’d also need Apple Pencil support—a feature the PROLED currently lacks.

While many comments on our TikTok videos weren’t the most positive, they weren’t all negative. For instance, krisnahafara said, “finally the logo [is] back.” Some other posts shared the same sentiment, though user Fernando Callo said: “Please, don't bring back the light-up logo to the rest of the lineup.” Guess they’re not a fan!

Bottom line

It shouldn’t be surprising that Apple’s first touchscreen laptop isn’t being universally praised.

While I think the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is the best laptop I’ve ever tested, its steep price point is hard to stomach for all but the most hardcore tech enthusiasts with deep pockets. I also think it’s fair to say that Apple is late to the touchscreen laptop party, even with the seamless integration of that technology.

This is an ongoing discussion, so let us know what you think about the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display. Are you interested, or is the price keeping you away? Sound off below!

More from Tom's Guide

• We tested the MacBook Pro PROLED'S battery life — it's a Windows laptop massacre and Apple Silicon remains untouchable
• I waited years for the iPad mini 8, so why do I feel like Apple is ripping me off?
• I just tried Apple’s new iMac with M6 and this sleek all-in-one is so seamless I’m ready to ditch my Mac mini

If you read any review for Apple’s new MacBook Pro, you will see a lot of folks drooling over the new PROLED XDR display. And they’re not wrong — flawless color calibration, a new touchscreen interface and up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness.

But if you look past the shiny new Dynamic Island, you’ll see a darker reality. One where what I like to call “OLED washing” is happening.

Apple didn’t build a machine for the next generation of computing (local AI). They built a $2,899 luxury item. If you want to see what a real, weaponized local AI computer looks like in 2026, you need to look away from Cupertino and start looking more closely at the better value-for-money monsters being built with Nvidia’s RTX Spark and AMD’s Strix Halo inside.

The elephant in the room: memory

Yes, we are currently living through RAMageddon, a brutal memory shortage driven by enterprise data centers hoarding silicon. While I do see cracks in this cloud AI bubble, it’s going to be here for a while.

Apple’s response to this was to slap a near-three racks starting price on the 14-inch PROLED MacBook Pro and give you a paltry 24GB of unified memory.

It’s both overkill in some ways — that tandem OLED screen might be worth it if you are a Hollywood color grader editing 8K ProRes video for example.

But in others, for those moving into the era of ditching the data center and running local agentic AI directly on our hardware — 24GB is a tough pill to swallow.

It’s effectively a multi-million dollar mansion with only one bathroom. It looks gorgeous from the street, but the moment you invite guests over (or spin up a local 70B parameter LLM), the plumbing completely collapses.

The portable data centers taking its place

While Apple is obsessing over making their chassis lighter and adding a touchscreen nobody asked for, the Windows ecosystem has been quietly preparing for a value war.

Just a few weeks ago, I balked at the high $5,899 price tag for the 128GB version of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra that I tested. And then, I saw the equivalently-specced 14-inch MacBook PROLED come in at $7,099 ($7,399 for the 16-inch).

And yes, the PROLED does have a much better display, better CPU performance and a longer battery life. But, are those uplifts worth an additional $1,200? I’m not sure.

Plus if you are leaning more towards local AI, the tokenomics of an RTX Spark are a little better than M5 Pro too. M5 Max is faster, but you'll have to pay much more for that (as you can see).

If the tandem OLED is important, then the MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI+ may have a terrible name, but at $6,799, it’s still $300 less.

More bang for your buck with team red

And I haven’t even gotten to the AMD side of things yet. The Strix Halo chip has grown into quite the AI-capable silicon over its life. And that longevity means you can find some good options with more money for much less money than taking a bite of the Apple.

So as you can see, whether you want a better balance of memory, want to keep that OLED display, or want to go all out (that Z13 with 128GB for $3,800 less is looking mighty tempting), you can get much more local AI headroom with these machines too.

Form over function

So let me be clear, because I don’t want this to be me dunking on Apple here. The MacBook PROLED has easily won the display and battery life war this year — that screen is a masterclass. But the “why not” era can easily blind you from picks that offer better bang for your buck.

Apple’s charging you $3,000 for a reference monitor so you can have a prettier interface when you ask Siri to summarize your emails. Meanwhile, the RTX Spark and Strix Halo laptops give you the raw compute and massive memory pools to actually build this local agentic future on your desk.

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• I waited years for the iPad mini 8, so why do I feel like Apple is ripping me off?
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Apple has long opposed releasing a touchscreen MacBook, with Steve Jobs himself calling touchscreen laptops “ergonomically terrible” and saying that “touch surfaces don’t want to be vertical.” As recently as 2021, current Apple CEO John Ternus stated that “the Mac is totally optimized for indirect input” and that Apple hadn’t “felt a reason to change that."

Now, in late 2026, Apple has reversed course by releasing the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display — its very first touchscreen MacBook.

Touchscreen laptops have been around for almost two decades, so Apple is decidedly late to the party here. That said, the wait has arguably been worth it for touchscreen lovers, as the feature works as well as Apple has advertised. As someone who has tested dozens of touchscreen laptops, I can tell you that the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is easily among the best.

In my MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review, I discussed the laptop’s touch functionality. However, I want to go into more detail here, as the touchscreen experience has been more useful than I expected. I won’t say it’s converted me into a touchscreen laptop enthusiast, but it has certainly made a strong case for a feature I’ve typically dismissed in the laptops I’ve reviewed.

Below, I’ll detail how the MacBook Pro OLED’s touchscreen works and what it’s like to use for everyday tasks. I’ll also cover some of the drawbacks, as this touch display isn’t without faults. With that said, let’s dive in.

How touch on the MacBook Pro works

Most laptops like the Dell XPS 16 (2026) use a separate digitizer to support touch input. But with the PROLED, Apple built the touch sensor directly into the display panel rather than layering it on top. This reduces latency and delivers higher-precision touch controls. The display supports the common gestures you’re used to, such as swiping, pinch-to-zoom, drag-and-drop, and double-tapping.

In practice, the touchscreen feels snappy and intuitive. Again, I test a lot of touchscreen laptops, and I immediately noticed how much faster the MacBook Pro responds to touch than its competitors. Using the touchscreen feels more like interacting with an iPad. I didn't notice any input lag.

Though I initially had to consciously use touch controls because I’m so used to doing everything on the keyboard and touchpad, I eventually switched between both. For example, I’d open apps by clicking the touchpad and then use my fingers to rearrange them on the touchscreen. I especially like how the red, yellow, and green window dots get bigger when you hold your finger over them, which also brings up the window-tiling options.

I mostly use Google apps like Docs and Drive for work, and so far I haven’t run into any issues with touch controls. Apple says many third-party applications already take advantage of touch controls, but some might not work as well. So far, I haven’t encountered any.

Even though I test touchscreen laptops, I don’t often use touch controls. I always assumed it was because I could do anything I needed with keyboard shortcuts and the touchpad. But given how much I use touch controls on the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, I wonder if I just didn’t like how (relatively) unintuitive the experience was on those Windows machines. Whatever the reason, I think it’s a small miracle that this laptop has made me use a feature I previously all but dismissed or ignored.

The trade-offs

Touch controls work well on the OLED MacBook Pro, but they have some drawbacks.

First, the touchscreen doesn’t support the Apple Pencil Pro. This is especially baffling since Apple itself says you can draw on the screen. While you can technically draw with your finger, I don’t think most artists would want to. Not only would it be uncomfortable, but a stylus offers more versatility than your natural digits.

Speaking of comfort, I also can’t imagine musicians opting to play a virtual piano/keyboard on the touchscreen. Again, this is technically possible, but I imagine it would be murder on your back and shoulders if you do that for extended periods.

On a related note, I found it interesting that many folks on YouTube asked us whether the PROLED MacBook Pros are iPad replacements. I’m not sure where that idea came from, especially since the display doesn’t flip like a 2-in-1 convertible laptop. Sure, the touchscreen is as responsive as on an iPad, but the laptop’s form factor alone prevents it from being an iPad replacement. And again, without Apple Pencil support, you wouldn’t get a 1:1 iPad experience anyway.

Outlook

Even if Apple was hesitant to introduce touch to MacBooks, I think it’s ultimately good that the company now gives customers the option. Yes, that option also comes with a steep price tag of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, but it’s there for folks who can genuinely use it—even with some of the inherent flaws I detailed above.

Now that touchscreen MacBooks are real, I wonder how much further Apple will push things. For instance, will the company eventually release 2-in-1 MacBooks that are better suited for iPad-like use? We can’t know for sure, but the door seems open now that Apple has reversed its stance on touchscreen laptops. Who knows what to expect?

While the touchscreen on the MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR Display lacks Apple Pencil support and can be awkward at times, it mostly works as advertised. That might change with more testing, and I’ll report on it if and when it happens. Right now, though, I’m going to consider the MacBook Pro touchscreen a success.

More from Tom's Guide

• MacBook Pro OLED vs. MacBook Pro M6: Which laptop should you buy?
• MacBook Pro M6 vs MacBook Pro M5: Biggest upgrades you need to know
• I put Apple's new MacBook Pro with M6 through its paces — and it's a portable powerhouse

The screen on the new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display is downright impressive. We measured close to 2,000 nits of brightness using a 10% HDR pattern. As someone who lab-tests every laptop that comes through Tom's Guide for review, I immediately wondered how Apple's latest display would stack up against the competition.

The numbers don't lie. After digging through our benchmark spreadsheets and comparing the results against 80 laptops tested in our lab this year, I can confidently say that Apple's latest MacBook Pro is the brightest laptop we've tested in 2026.

The setup: How we test for brightness

Everyone conducts display testing differently and uses different equipment, so results can vary by equipment and a publication’s testing standards. This is why it is important to understand how we test.

At Tom’s Guide, we test both a display's SDR and HDR performance. For SDR brightness testing, we display a white image on the screen, set the brightness to 100%, and measure it using our Klein K10-A and DisplayCal software.

For HDR testing, which is where we test a laptop’s maximum brightness, we use the same software and colorimeter, paired with copies of HDR test patterns. With the screen at 100% brightness, these patterns play as a movie in the laptop’s native movie player. We use 10%, 40%, and 100% HDR patterns. These patterns fill the screen with the corresponding percentages on a black background while playing.

And a lab tester’s note. The 10% window is a commonly used benchmark for evaluating peak HDR brightness, particularly in television testing. Smaller windows, such as 2% or 5%, can sometimes produce higher peak brightness readings, while larger windows help illustrate how a display handles brighter content across more of the screen.

In two of those HDR patterns (10% and 40%), the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR display beat the list of 79 laptops that went through our lab this year. I am talking about both Mini LED and OLED displays. Now that’s impressive!

The results

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR display is Apple’s current flagship, so it is our primary comparison point. On that unit, we measured 1,949 nits with a 10% pattern and 1,965 nits with a 40% pattern. This sets a new record for us in the lab.

Coming in second is the new Surface Laptop Ultra with RTX Spark. Equipped with a mini-LED display, it reaches 1,444 nits at 10% and 1,311 nits at 40%. In third place is the LG Gram 16, which is also an OLED laptop. It measured 1,067 nits at 10% and 1,033 nits at 40%.

As you can see, Apple's HDR results are nowhere close to what we measured on the Windows-powered OLED laptop. In fact, the new MacBook Pro is nearly twice as bright as LG's laptop.

Even more remarkable, Apple is outdoing itself. In our testing, the miniLED display on the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Pro reached 1,427 nits on a 10% pattern and 1,444 nits on a 40% pattern. The new PROLED panel takes Apple's performance to an entirely new level.

What's also impressive is how consistently the new MacBook maintains its brightness. At 10%, we measured 1,949 nits, and increasing the illuminated area to 40% pushed that figure to 1,965 nits. That's a difference of just 16 nits. This shows Apple's new display isn't just producing impressive peak brightness in smaller HDR highlights; it's maintaining it across a much larger portion of the screen for a better HDR picture overall.

As bright as OLED TVs

As someone who occasionally reviews TVs for Tom's Guide, I couldn't resist putting these numbers into another perspective. How does Apple's latest laptop compare with some of the brightest OLED TVs we've tested?

To be clear, this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison (pun intended). We test televisions in one of their most color-accurate picture modes, Filmmaker Mode, which can limit peak brightness. Meanwhile, our laptop brightness testing prioritizes maximum output. Nevertheless, it's an interesting comparison.

Currently, the brightest OLED TV we tested in Filmmaker Mode with a 10% pattern in HDR is the LG G6, which reaches 2,932 nits. Second among OLED TVs is the Samsung 65-inch S95H OLED TV, which reaches 2,721 nits. A budget OLED TV like the Samsung S90H, meanwhile, reaches 1,496 nits.

Of course, other TV technologies are on the market. The Hisense UR9 currently holds the brightness record. Using Mini LED technology, it reached 4,370 nits — the brightest TV we tested to date.

Considering flagship OLED TVs cost nearly as much as a fully specced MacBook Pro, seeing Apple push nearly 2,000 nits on a portable laptop display says a lot about what you’re getting. It’s nearly TV-level quality.

I am seriously impressed even beyond the nits

Raw brightness is only half the story because image presentation and human perception matter just as much. Apple claims a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio on these new OLED panels, and in person, it truly shows.

When lab testing at home, I had the Lenovo Yoga 9n with an OLED panel on the right, my personal mini LED MacBook Pro M3 Max on the left, and the new MacBook Pro with a PROLED XDR display in the middle. A 4K HDR nature video was playing as I peeked at the screens, and it was obvious which was the best.

On one screen showing a parrot, the difference was immediately noticeable. The new MacBook delivered particularly striking detail in the parrot’s individual feathers, and the greens looked more vibrant. Compared with the Mini-LED MacBook Pro and the Lenovo Yoga 9i, the image on Apple's new display looked considerably more lifelike.

As a final note, my colleague watched the “Dune: Part Three" trailer on the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR display. While standing behind him as he took pictures, I paid close attention to skin tones and color rendition on the MacBook’s screen, as I do when reviewing a TV.

Having personally tested more than two dozen TVs this year, I can say the color reproduction was particularly impressive. In our lab tests, it covered 99.9% of the sRGB color gamut, which is why I came away with the impression of natural-looking skin tones and that exceptionally wide range of colors in the parrot video.

I was impressed by how closely the overall presentation reminded me of some of the best displays I've evaluated. Apple wasn’t playing around this year, and they have set the bar sky-high for the rest of the industry.

More from Tom's Guide

• We tested the MacBook Pro PROLED'S battery life — it's a Windows laptop massacre and Apple Silicon remains untouchable
• I waited years for the iPad mini 8, so why do I feel like Apple is ripping me off?
• I just tried Apple’s new iMac with M6 and this sleek all-in-one is so seamless I’m ready to ditch my Mac mini

The next stop on Apple's "Why Not?" era takes us to the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display, and I've just reviewed it! Spoiler alert: it's an expensive, beautiful breakthrough for the Mac.

But we've heard you. You have a lot of questions about this new notebook — from how macOS behaves on a touchscreen to how specific workflows perform. And we're here to answer every single one of them in this Live Q&A.

...did I say "we're" here? Well, we didn't just test the PROLED. With the MacBook Pro M6 and iMac M6 reviews in the books too, we're taking questions across all of the Cupertino crew's computing glow-up.

So before you buy anything, drop your burning questions in the Live Q&A box below, and we'll give you all the advice we possibly can.

Same chat rules apply! Please keep all questions on-topic and keep it a space where everyone feels safe and respected.

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• I waited years for the iPad mini 8, so why do I feel like Apple is ripping me off?
• Sam Altman just renamed himself ‘Ram Altman’ in U.S. Midterms aftermath — the panic is setting in, but is the AI bubble starting to crack?

The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display ($2,899 to start) is the finest laptop I’ve had the pleasure of testing. There’s a lot of hype around Apple’s first touchscreen OLED MacBook, and I can tell you it far surpasses it. Though it commands a steep asking price, I’d argue that this laptop is worth every penny for the pros thanks to the excellent experience you get.

The tandem OLED panel is a stunner, delivering inky blacks and scorching bright whites. You instantly notice the 10 million-to-1 contrast ratio, which also makes colors pop. Then there’s the touch functionality, which is the most responsive I’ve used on any touchscreen laptop. Combine these features with the Dynamic Island (finally) replacing the notch, and you have the best display ever on a MacBook. This is especially true for models with the optional anti-glare nano-texture display.

Apple didn’t stop with the upgraded display, as this MacBook Pro also has a thinner, slimmer design than its siblings. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display weighs just a little more than a MacBook Air! You also get nearly 17 hours of battery life, blowing away the Windows competition. The cherry on top with the new design is the return of the iconic glowing Apple logo on the lid. In short, Apple somehow perfected its already stellar MacBook design.

While the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is decidedly expensive with the same performance as the MacBook Pro laptops released in March 2026, it’s easily one of the best MacBooks and best laptops you can buy. If you can afford it, you won’t be disappointed. Find out more in my full review of the 14- and 16-inch OLED MacBook Pros.

MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is the first MacBook with an OLED touchscreen panel.
• Who is it for? It’s for folks who want a laptop with the very best touchscreen OLED, an ultra-portable design, fast performance, and long-lasting battery life.
• What does it cost? The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model with the M5 Pro chip. The 16-inch model with a more powerful M5 Pro chip starts at $3,399. Both models come with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. For the M5 Max configuration, the 14-inch version starts at $4,499, while the 16-inch model is $4,799. Upgrading to more memory, more storage, faster M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and choosing the nano-texture display will cost more.
• What do we like? We like the super-bright and colorful display, fluid touchscreen, svelte design, strong performance, and epic battery life.
• What don’t we like? The high asking price and the fact that its performance is virtually identical to the MacBook Pros released in March 2026.

MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: Specs

MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: The ups

The MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display offers a premium laptop experience, with a magnificent tandem OLED panel, elegant yet utilitarian design, and intuitive touchscreen controls. There’s a lot to love here.

Slimmer, lighter design

MacBook Pros have used the same design since late 2021. Apple hasn’t radically redesigned the MacBook Pro OLED, retaining the sturdy, squared-off aluminum chassis with rounded edges. However, the new laptops are thinner and lighter than previous models—the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros weigh 0.5 and 0.7 pounds less, respectively, than their predecessors. If you use MacBook Pros as often as I do, you’ll feel the weight difference the instant you pick up either new laptop.

As before, you can open the lid with one hand. This is especially noteworthy because Apple redesigned the lids to better withstand constant tapping and swiping. The lid is also noticeably thinner yet remains very sturdy and doesn’t wobble. Apple has reduced the border size by 15%, resulting in thinner bezels. Lastly, the lid features the glowing Apple logo with a dedicated backlight, signaling to everyone that you’re using a PROLED MacBook Pro.

The keyboard looks and feels the same as on other MacBook Pros I’ve tested, which is great since they’re among the best laptop keyboards. Whether it’s the 14- or 16-inch model, the keyboard deck is spacious, and the keys are highly responsive, with excellent travel and just the right amount of resistance when pressed. The huge touchpad is also as great as ever, never failing to respond to my gestures. Speaking of touch, the Touch ID button is still here for easier logins. Unfortunately, Face ID is still not supported.

You get the same array of ports here, including three Thunderbolt 5/USB-C ports, an HDMI port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an SD card slot, and a MagSafe charging port.

Stunning display

Pardon the cliché, but the panel on the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display is a feast for the eyes. Even our lab tester, who tests the best TVs for a living, said he has never seen a lovelier display! I wholeheartedly agree.

The latest trailer for Dune: Messiah showcases what makes the PROLED’s panel such a marvel. The superb contrast renders nighttime scenes appropriately dark, while Arakis’ scorching sun makes you squint during daytime sequences. I’m also impressed by the level of detail on the characters’ dusty faces, thanks to the sharp resolution of both models.

Our lab tests confirmed what my eyes saw. Apple claims the PROLED MacBook Pros can reach 2000 nits of brightness, and our display benchmarks were just a hair under that mark. The brightest laptop displays we’ve tested topped out at 1600 nits, but Apple’s notebooks go well beyond that. It’s even more impressive when you consider that images remain clearly defined even when portions of the display are set to maximum brightness.

Color reproduction (sRGB and DCI-P3) is identical on the two PROLED laptops. Color accuracy (Delta-E) is slightly better than on most of the laptops I’ve tested. Combined with the 10 million-to-1 contrast ratio, you get truly exceptional display quality.

Moving away from benchmarks, let’s discuss the other major display upgrade—the removal of the notch at the top center. While I’ve never been too bothered by the notch, I’m not sad to see it replaced with the Dynamic Island, which makes it easy to access Live Activities. I like how the Dynamic Island expands when you’re playing videos and music, and how you can use the touchscreen to stop playback, fast-forward, and rewind.

The PROLED MacBook Pro with M5 Pro supports up to three external displays (up to 6K/60Hz or 4K/165Hz), or one display up to 8K/60Hz, 5K/120Hz, or 4K/240Hz paired with a second up to 5K/120Hz or 4K/200Hz. The M5 Max model steps this up to four external displays (up to 6K/60Hz or 4K/165Hz), or two displays up to 8K/60Hz, 5K/120Hz, or 4K/240Hz.

Both chips can power the laptop's built-in PROLED XDR screen at full resolution at the same time. Thanks to Thunderbolt 5’s native DisplayPort 2.1 bandwidth, you can connect three or four external monitors through a single port using compatible docks or daisy-chaining.

Intuitive touch controls

As we detailed in our 10 things you need to know about the MacBook Pro OLED, most laptops use a separate, distinct digitizer to support touch input. Apple found a way to integrate the touch silicon directly into these laptops’ tandem OLED displays. The result? A super precise touchscreen experience.

I’ve tested dozens of Windows touchscreen laptops, but none have felt as responsive or intuitive as on the MacBook Pro OLED. Because of that, tapping, swiping, and even pinch-to-zoom are as smooth and snappy as on an iPad Pro. I didn't notice any input lag. Menu bar items expand under your fingertip, and window controls get bigger, making things easier to see and interact with.

So far, I haven’t encountered any compatibility issues with third-party apps. Google apps, such as Docs and Drive, work well with touch based on my testing. And naturally, Apple’s own apps work seamlessly. I’ll keep testing to see if I run into any issues, but so far macOS seems like a natural fit for touch.

I don’t often use touch controls on laptops with touchscreens because they can feel clunky, but I found myself using the MacBook Pro’s touch controls more than I expected. That’s a testament to how well touch is implemented on these laptops.

Amazing sound

MacBook Pros have always featured excellent speakers that deliver incredible sound, but even that experience didn’t prepare me for how amazing the speakers are on the new MacBook Pro OLED laptops.

Apple says the enhanced six-speaker sound system now delivers 50 percent deeper bass. And that’s not just marketing bluster. It was the first thing I heard, or rather, felt, when I fired up Tommy Johansson’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “Headless Cross.” The rumbling bass notes beneath the ripping solos and soaring vocals made it feel like a live performance—and no doubt annoyed my neighbors when I had the volume cranked up.

The movie trailer for the latest Godzilla Minus Zero also sounds spectacular on the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display. Explosions, screams, and Godzilla’s iconic roar all came through loud and punchy. And naturally, voices in dialogue-heavy content like the Triple K.O. podcast also sound impressive.

Speakers can almost feel like an afterthought on some laptops, but that’s certainly not the case here. Whether it’s the 14- or 16-inch MacBook Pro, your ears won’t be disappointed. The sound system on these laptops is every bit as impressive as the display.

Strong performance

Even if the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips in the new OLED MacBook Pros aren’t technically new like the Apple M6 chip, they’re still the most powerful M-series chips available for MacBooks. Since these are the same chips we’ve already tested on the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros from March, these laptops deliver comparable performance.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display Apple sent us (valued at $3,699 as configured) has an M5 Pro chip with an 18-core CPU / 20-core GPU, 48GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a glossy display.

Meanwhile, the 16-inch model I reviewed (valued at $8,549) packs an M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU / 40-core GPU, 128GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD, and a nano-texture display. Thanks to those specs, both laptops pack a serious performance punch.

On the Geekbench CPU benchmark, both the 14- and 16-inch PROLEDs delivered strong single- and multi-core scores. They also scored well in Geekbench’s AI benchmarks.

As you can see above, OLED touchscreen competitors like the Dell XPS 16 (currently $2,469) and Lenovo Yoga 9n (currently $2,999) don’t come close in performance. For your reference, the XPS 16 packs an Intel Core Ultra X7 358H CPU, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD, while the Yoga 9n has an Nvidia RTX Spark N1X chip, 32GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

Surprise, surprise, the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display also crushed it in our other benchmarks. Disk speeds are extremely zippy, and the same is true for video transcoding. In fact, the new MacBook was more than 2x as fast as the Dell XPS 16.

Apple’s MacBook PROLED laptops are also more than capable of handling tasks in Adobe creative apps like Photoshop and Premiere Pro. Again, the competition can’t keep pace with Apple’s notebooks.

The PROLEDs aren’t slouches at gaming. On the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited GPU benchmark, the laptops scored well, with the M5 Max model performing significantly better thanks to its beefy 40-core GPU. The RTX Spark-powered Yoga 9n didn’t do badly, but Apple’s Pro laptops still outclassed it in this benchmark.

For real-world gaming, I tested Cyberpunk 2077 on both PROLED models. With the “For This Mac” graphics setting, the game ran at 85 fps and 95 fps, respectively. Cyberpunk 2077 is a graphically demanding game that pushes even powerful PCs to their limits, so these results are very impressive.

Long-lasting battery life

MacBooks with M-series chips are among the longest-lasting laptops we’ve ever tested. But I wasn’t expecting this kind of endurance, since there appears to be no “power penalty” for Apple adding an OLED touchscreen.

In Tom’s Guide’s battery life test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi with the display set to 150 nits of brightness, the 14-inch MacBook Pro PROLED lasted 16 hours and 56 minutes, while its 16-inch counterpart endured 21 hours and 24 minutes. The previous non-touch 16-inch MacBook Pro M5 Pro lasted 21:10. This is yet another test in which Windows laptops are handily outclassed.

We always run three battery tests to calculate an average time, but we could only run one test in time for this review. I’ll update once we’ve completed the full testing, but based on my experience, the final results will be just as epic.

Sharp 12MP webcam

The webcam on the new PROLED MacBooks is mostly the same as before, only with a new stabilization feature to prevent screen wobble if you’re actively using the touchscreen display. As before, the camera can record 1080p video and also has Desk View.

The 12-megapixel Center Stage camera is as great as ever. This photo I took in my apartment late at night captures all the details on my face, clothing, and even in my background. During a Google Meet session, colleagues on the call also said my video looked sharp.

macOS Golden Gate

The new MacBook Pros come with macOS Golden Gate installed. Like I said in my macOS Golden Gate review, this update isn’t a complete overhaul like macOS Sequoia, but it brings a slew of new and enhanced AI features and smoother overall performance that make using MacBooks feel more personal and streamlined.

macOS Golden Gate now includes a dedicated Siri AI app that works like a typical chatbot. In a dedicated chat window, you can ask Siri AI questions or talk to it about whatever’s on your mind. Siri is baked into the OS, so it can recognize what’s on your screen and do things like add items to your calendar or create shortcuts by speaking what you want instead of building them manually.

A new Liquid Glass UI slider lets you adjust the effect’s opacity more precisely. You’ll also notice that complex background visuals appear more diffused, improving text readability. Icon edges are more pronounced so they stand out more. This feature should have been in Sequoia, but at least it’s here now in Golden Gate.

Another highlight of macOS Golden Gate is Spatial Reframing, which is also available on iOS and iPadOS. Reframe lets you reframe existing photos and adjust the perspective to your liking. If you’ve taken a lot of photos with your iPhone or iPad, this feature is a great way to make them look exactly how you want.

macOS Golden Gate goes big on AI, especially with the new and improved Siri. If that doesn’t matter to you, you’ll still enjoy a smooth, stable macOS experience overall.

MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: The downs

The new OLED MacBook Pros are easily the most impressive laptops I’ve ever tested, but all those amazing features come at a steep cost.

Expensive

I wasn’t expecting the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display to be cheap, given all the high-end components it uses. That said, I can’t help but wonder how much these laptops would have cost without RAMageddon inflating electronics prices. I suppose that doesn’t matter, because in this reality, you’ll have to pay a premium for Apple’s high-end touchscreen laptop.

Tech enthusiasts or anyone who can be more productive with a touchscreen laptop will get their money’s worth with the PROLED MacBook Pros. If you want to save money on a MacBook Pro and don’t need the performance of the M5 Pro/M5 Max chips, or if an OLED touchscreen isn’t important to you, the new M6-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999. That’s also expensive, but still $900 less than the entry-level MacBook Pro PROLED.

Minimal performance bump from M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros

Since the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display uses the same M5 Pro and M5 Max chips as the regular MacBook Pros we’ve tested, performance gains are negligible at best. This matters if you're considering upgrading from those MacBook Pros to the new touchscreen laptops.

I selected some benchmarks I discussed earlier to show you how these MacBook Pros compare in performance. As you can see, the gains are minor at best. So unless you are set on owning a touchscreen OLED MacBook, it might be wiser to save your money for future iterations that deliver a substantial performance boost over what you currently own.

MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display review: Verdict

I thought the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display could be amazing, but it shattered and exceeded my expectations. The new tandem OLED display raises the bar for laptops in brightness and color reproduction. Smooth touchscreen controls, a lighter design, and booming audio take Apple’s new machine to the next level. Yes, it’s very expensive, but it’s a brilliant laptop that makes competitors pale in comparison.

Apple’s first attempt at a touchscreen MacBook is mostly a success, but I’m already curious to see what future iterations bring to the table. If this initial laptop is anything to go by, we’re in for some truly fantastic devices. For now, Apple has made good with these laptops. They truly are the best of the best.

When Apple announced the new MacBook Pro with the PROLED XDR display, I started feeling nervous about the battery life.

In this new era of notebooks, the Cupertino crew has crammed a massive power-hungry OLED touchscreen into an even thinner chassis, and built a backlight for that Apple logo on the lid for good measure. Historically, you can’t do these and keep the battery life worry-free.

Well, after walking out of the testing lab, I have to admit I was wrong. The PROLED MacBook Pro doesn’t just match the endurance of its bulkier mini-LED predecessors — it rolls and smokes the entire Windows AI PC ecosystem in the process.

No OLED tax

Let’s look at the raw data. The 16-inch MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR display (M5 Max) clocked in at an absurd 21 hours and 24 minutes on our continuous web-surfing battery test.

That isn’t just good; it effectively ties to the thicker, non-touch 16-inch mini-LED M5 Pro model. Meanwhile, the 14-inch PROLED with M5 Pro pushed out an incredibly respectable time at just shy of 17 hours. It’s within striking distance of the 14-inch mini-LED with M5 Max, but there’s definitely a gap (17:58).

Apple managed to integrate a drastically superior, brighter, touch-sensitive OLED panel, a glowing logo and thin out the chassis without triggering a battery life collapse.

The Windows massacre

But the real story here is the absolute bloodbath happening on the Windows side of the aisle.

Over the past few months, I’ve been following Nvidia’s RTX Spark laptops closely — testing one myself over the past month. Alongside that, I’ve been close to the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme too, with both of these heavily touted as definitive “MacBook killers.”

And while I can point to some stats that do show these as worthy competitors, if endurance is the battleground that matters to you, they never even showed up to the fight.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra running RTX Spark dies at 10 hours and 35 minutes. The Lenovo Yoga 9n (also Spark) tapped out three minutes earlier. Even the Asus Zenbook A16 with Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme collapsed at 10 hours and 26 minutes.

You could literally charge your 16-inch PROLED to 100%, browse the web for an entire day, let these laptops start fully charged right next to it, and the MacBook will still outlast it.

Apple is lapping the field

I criticize Apple for its exorbitant pricing — especially when it comes to the PROLED. But when it comes to performance and power efficiency gains, the conversation is over.

The Windows ecosystem is feeling the weight of local AI power demands, while Apple just casually dropped an impossibly thin, touchscreen OLED flagship that runs for nearly a full 24 hours.

This AI PC revolution might be taking off, but when it comes to keeping the lights on, the rest of the industry isn’t just losing to Apple — they aren’t even playing the same sport.

More from Tom's Guide

• I put Apple's new MacBook Pro with M6 through its paces — and it's a portable powerhouse
• I just tried Apple’s new iMac with M6 and this sleek all-in-one is so seamless I’m ready to ditch my Mac mini
• I waited years for the iPad mini 8, so why do I feel like Apple is ripping me off?

The MacBook Pro 14-inch M6 ($1,999 to start) won’t grab headlines like the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR, but it’s still a great laptop for power users who don’t want to pay the latter’s steep asking price.

This year’s MacBook Pro retains the same sleek design and 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display as the MacBook Pro M5, but it now packs the new Apple M6 chip, which delivers about 10-15% faster performance and better efficiency than the M5. There’s also the Apple N1 chip, which adds Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support for faster wireless connectivity.

While the 14-inch MacBook Pro M6 is a modest spec bump over last year’s model, it’s still one of the best MacBooks thanks to its elegant design, gorgeous display, fast performance, and epic battery life. It costs $400 more than before thanks to Apple’s price hikes, but you’re still getting your money’s worth if you just want a powerful MacBook. Find out more in my full review.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M6: Cheat sheet

• What is it? The MacBook Pro 14-inch M6 is the latest entry-level MacBook Pro, packing the new M6 chip.
• Who is it for? It’s for pro users who want a MacBook Pro but don’t want to buy the more expensive PROLED models.
• What does it cost? The MacBook Pro 14-inch M6 starts at $1,999 on Apple’s website. It has the base Apple M6 chip, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. This is the same model we reviewed.
• What do we like? We like the still-classy design, strong M6 performance, long-lasting battery life, and gorgeous Liquid Retina XDR Display.
• What don’t we like? We don’t like that it’s a relatively modest spec bump and that it costs $400 more than last year’s model.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M6: Specs

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M6: The ups

The MacBook Pro 14-inch M6 is a fantastic laptop, delivering strong performance and long-lasting battery life in a sleek aluminum chassis.

Fast M6 performance

Our review unit has the same specs as the $1,999 starting model. This includes an Apple M6 chip with 12 CPU cores and 12 GPU cores, 16GB of unified memory (RAM), and a 1TB SSD.

The M6 chip is built on TSMC’s 2nm process. It features hardware-accelerated mesh shading, ray tracing, and Dynamic Caching. These are also M5 features, but M6 handles everything faster and more efficiently.

This MacBook Pro handles my typical workload with ease, including dozens of open Chrome tabs, Slack, and the occasional YouTube video. I also had no issues cropping and resizing photos in GIMP.

As expected, the M6-powered MacBook Pro performed well across our lab tests. On the Geekbench 6 CPU test, it scored well in both single- and multi-core performance. As you can see above, it is 18.17% faster in multi-core performance than its predecessor. It also crushes the Dell XPS 14 (currently $1,699), which features an Intel Core Ultra x7 358H CPU and 32GB of RAM.

In our Handbrake video transcoding test, the M6 MacBook Pro converted a 4K video to 1080p in a zippy 2 minutes and 50 seconds. The laptop also delivered strong results in the PugetBench Photoshop test. SSD speeds on the M6 MacBook Pro aren’t much different from those of the previous model, but both notebooks far outperform the XPS 14.

The M6 MacBook Pro is also pretty adept at gaming. In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited GPU test, it scored much higher than the M5 model and the XPS 14 and also saw higher frame rates. When I tested Cyberpunk 2077 on the “For this Mac” graphical setting, performance was generally smooth at around 53 frames per second. Games optimized for Apple silicon will run marvelously on this machine.

Utilitarian design

The M6 MacBook Pro keeps the same design Apple introduced for the line back in 2021. Though I’m now kind of spoiled by the thinner and lighter PROLED MacBook Pros, I can’t knock Apple for keeping a winning design. This is still the same sturdy, functional, and elegant slab of machined aluminum I’ve come to love.

Opening the lid with one hand is easy, and it glides smoothly on its hinge. I also like how smooth the chassis feels when I’m holding the MacBook Pro. On that note, this laptop measures 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.4 pounds. Since it’s not that large or heavy, it’s easy to carry around in your backpack — as I experienced firsthand when I commuted to and from work.

You get the same number of ports as before, including three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SD card slot, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack. There’s also a MagSafe port on the left-hand side, though you can charge the laptop using any of the available USB-C ports.

The keyboard deck is another highlight for me because it fits my large hands perfectly. The keys have excellent travel and just the right amount of resistance when pressed. I’m also a fan of the large touchpad, which consistently and accurately registers my gestures. The haptic feedback is great, too. The Touch ID button makes it easy to log in to the MacBook Pro or bypass passwords, though I wish this laptop also included Face ID.

Even if the speakers on this MacBook Pro aren’t as punchy as those on the PROLED laptops, they still deliver clear and loud audio. Whether it’s audio-focused podcasts, movies, or music, your ears won’t be disappointed.

Vivid display

While the MacBook Pro M6’s 14-inch 3024x1964 display isn’t as awe-inspiring as the OLED panel on the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, the Liquid Retina XDR Display is as gorgeous as ever.

When playing Cyberpunk 2077, I was amazed by the contrast between shadows and light. The game’s bold colors also stood out, and the sharp resolution makes it easy to see even the smallest details in the environment and on characters.

Since this is still the same display as last year’s M5 MacBook Pro, its test results are identical. Color reproduction (sRGB and DCI-P3) is slightly oversaturated but not overly so, resulting in more realistic hues. The excellent color accuracy (Delta-E) also helps. Brightness levels are fantastic with both SDR and HDR content.

I now have mixed feelings about the notch at the top center of the display. It didn’t bother me before, but it now stands out more, especially after testing the OLED MacBook Pros that ditched the notch for the Dynamic Island. While I understand the notch houses the FaceTime camera and ambient light sensor, it has become an eyesore.

The MacBook Pro M6 supports up to two 6K external displays at 60Hz, or one display at up to 6K resolution at 60Hz and another at up to 4K resolution at 165Hz, using any combination of Thunderbolt and HDMI ports. You can also connect to a single 8K 60Hz display, a 5K 120Hz display, or a 4K 240Hz display via HDMI or Thunderbolt.

Astonishing battery life

Apple says the MacBook Pro M6 has up to 16 hours of battery life when web surfing. If this laptop met that claim, we’d be impressed. However, our lab testing shows Apple’s notebook can last much longer.

On the Tom’s Guide’s battery test, which involves continuous Wi-Fi web surfing with the display set to 150 nits, the M6 MacBook Pro lasted a mind-boggling 19 hours! That’s an hour longer than last year’s model, which also had epic battery life. While the Dell XPS 14 has admirable endurance for a Windows laptop, it can come close to matching Apple’s.

Sharp webcam

The MacBook Pro has the same 12MP Center Stage camera as last year’s model, so you’ll look your best during video calls. Thanks to the “Center Stage” feature, you’ll always be perfectly framed.

As you can see in the photo above, the webcam captures all the details on my face, clothing, and background. If you’re in a well-lit area, you’ll almost always have great image quality.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M6: The downs

Though the MacBook Pro M6 has many strengths, it’s not a perfect laptop.

Pricier than ever

Last year’s MacBook Pro started at $1,599, a reasonable price for an entry-level premium laptop. However, thanks to RAMageddon, this year’s M6 MacBook Pro now costs $400 more. And that’s before accounting for component upgrades that could drive the price even higher.

If you don’t need the strong processing power but still want a high-performing machine, you can get the MacBook Air M5 for $1,299. But if this MacBook Pro sounds right for you, prepare to pay a pretty penny.

A spec bump

Like the MacBook Pro M5 before it, the new M6 MacBook Pro is a modest update. That’s not entirely bad, as it delivers fast performance for everyday work, video editing, and gaming. However, given the modest performance gains and higher asking price, it might make folks think twice about getting this laptop.

As I always say about refreshes like this, if you’re happy with your current MacBook Pro, you don’t need to upgrade. However, if you have a machine with anything older than an M3 chip, you should take a serious look at this one. And if your wallet can handle it, the MacBook Pro OLEDs offer stronger performance and OLED touchscreens.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch M6: Verdict

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M6 chip is the odd duck of the current MacBook lineup. Those who prioritize affordability will likely look to the MacBook Air or even the MacBook Neo for work or watching videos. Conversely, folks who want the most powerful MacBooks available have the new PROLED laptops to consider.

So where does that leave the M6 MacBook Pro? After all, it’s still a stellar laptop that is as elegant as it is fast and efficient. It can still outpace even the most powerful Windows laptops. Yes, the PROLED MacBooks have newer features and are more powerful, but the M6 MacBook Pro is still a valid machine.

Ultimately, the MacBook Pro M6 is for those who want a pro-grade MacBook that’s $900 less than the entry-level MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display. Sure, it lacks a touchscreen and an OLED display, but for demanding tasks like video editing and gaming, this MacBook Pro won’t let you down. Taken on its own merits, the MacBook Pro 14-inch M6 is still a phenomenal laptop.

We all know that plugging in your laptop is supposed to make it faster, but new testing of an Nvidia-powered laptop found the exact opposite, with AI performance dropping by nearly 80% when running Linux.

The surprising discovery comes from MindStudio, which tested an MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI+ powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark platform. The team wanted to see whether Linux could run on the machine without sacrificing the performance available through Windows.

It could, but there was a major catch. When running OpenAI's GPT-OSS-120B model, the laptop generated 65.4 tokens per second on Windows. Running Linux directly on the same hardware while plugged into a charger brought that figure down to just 13.9 tokens per second.

That's a nearly 79% reduction in AI performance simply from changing the operating system. But even stranger, unplugging the laptop brought much of that performance back.

The surprising problem with Nvidia's AI laptop

Nvidia's RTX Spark platform is designed to bring powerful AI capabilities to laptops. The MSI laptop tested by MindStudio supports up to 128GB of unified memory, allowing users to run large AI models directly on their devices instead of relying on cloud services.

However, MindStudio found that the laptop's AI performance varied dramatically depending on whether it was running Windows or Linux.

Here's how the same AI model performed across the tested configurations:

The performance gap showed up in other tests, too. Windows completed one AI workload in roughly eight minutes, while Linux took 37 minutes to finish the same task.

MindStudio initially considered whether overheating might be responsible, but temperatures stayed between 40 and 47 degrees Celsius. Instead, the team found that the GPU was running at much lower clock speeds under Linux.

On Windows, the GPU reached approximately 2.2 GHz. But when running Linux while plugged in, that speed dropped to around 780 MHz, helping explain the dramatic difference in performance.

Why plugging in makes things worse

The researchers traced the problem to an Nvidia component called Platform Controllers and Framework.

On Windows, this component manages how the laptop distributes power between its CPU and GPU. Linux doesn't currently have equivalent support for the system tested, leaving the GPU unable to reach its expected speeds when plugged in.

MindStudio tested that explanation by disabling the controller in Windows. Performance immediately dropped, and GPU clock speeds fell to approximately the same levels seen under Linux. Restoring the controller brought performance back.

The team also reported that the firmware's power-management information is encrypted, preventing Linux from accessing the settings needed to control the GPU properly. That helps explain the strangest discovery of all: when running Linux on battery power, the laptop produced roughly 61 to 67 tokens per second in separate testing. Plugging it in dropped performance to around 15 tokens per second. So, yea, the laptop actually performed substantially better when disconnected from its charger.

There's a workaround, but it involves Windows

The good news is that users who want Linux-based AI tools don't necessarily have to sacrifice performance. MindStudio found that Windows Subsystem for Linux, better known as WSL, delivered almost identical performance to running Windows directly.

That's because WSL uses the Windows driver system, including the power-management components that allow Nvidia's GPU to reach its full speed.

There are some limitations. The researchers had to adjust WSL's memory allocation to accommodate larger AI models. Installing Linux directly also required additional workarounds for hardware support and memory configuration.

For now, WSL appears to offer the better experience on the tested hardware.

What this means for Nvidia laptop buyers

Keep in mind that these findings are from one study and do not mean that every Nvidia-powered laptop will slow down when running Linux. The testing focused on a specific RTX Spark system, and the results haven't been independently replicated across other laptop models.

It's also important to distinguish these laptops from Nvidia's DGX Spark desktop, which runs Linux and performed substantially better in the same benchmark.

Still, the results raise questions about software support for a new generation of PCs designed to run powerful AI models locally.

For consumers considering an RTX Spark laptop specifically for Linux-based AI workloads, the operating system could make an enormous difference to the performance they actually get.

Until Nvidia provides equivalent power-management support for Linux, buyers may find that keeping Windows installed is the fastest option.

Tom’s Guide has reached out to Nvidia for comment and will update this story if the company responds.

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AMD finally dropped FSR 4 for integrated silicon — officially bringing next-generation upscaling to the Z Extreme handhelds and Strix Halo laptops. It’s built to be AMD’s silver bullet against Nvidia’s DLSS. A massive, free software upgrade that magically boosts picture quality and hands you more frames per second.

So over the past week, I’ve updated my ROG Xbox Ally X20 and TUF Gaming A14 with the new drivers and fired up the benchmarking tools to see what AMD has cooked.

And what I found completely breaks the current narrative. We’re all trained to think a new version of AI game scaling tech will send your frame rates skyrocketing. If you come in with that assumption, you’ll be left disappointed.

However, if you understand the optical illusion AMD has actually pulled off here (and how Performance mode is now the new Balanced), it completely changes how you will game on Team Red’s silicon.

How to get FSR 4 right now

If you have a compatible AMD handheld or APU, they have thankfully baked this early-access driver directly into their software. Here is how to activate it on the ROG Xbox Ally X20:

You cannot toggle this on the fly mid-game. You must turn the FSR upscaling tile on in the Command Center before you launch your game, and then select the FSR setting inside the game's display menus.

As for with Strix Halo laptops, you just need the latest AMD Adrenalin drivers to get it, so get those updated!

Balanced mode is a trap

So let’s get into the actual numbers. My standard FSR advice has always been to leave it on the Balanced preset. But when I ran one-to-one tests comparing FSR 3 against the new FSR 4 on the exact same settings, the new tech didn’t give me more frames.

In fact, I frequently lost them.

So why is it slower? FSR 4 isn’t just a simple spatial algorithm anymore. It's a heavier, vastly more complex machine-learning model — requiring more overhead and compute power to analyze and reconstruct the image.

A direct preset-to-preset comparison doesn’t math. You have to change the way you use it.

Performance mode is the way to go

Through my testing, one thing became abundantly clear: FSR 4 running in Performance actually delivers a notable picture quality increase over FSR 3 running in Balanced mode.

This is the true breakthrough. With FSR 3, dropping your game down to Performance meant accepting a blurry, pixelated picture — especially in motion. FSR 4 is so much sharper at rebuilding images that it’s not a compromise anymore.

In Dying Light: The Beast, you can see that foliage and stonework come through with much more clarity with FSR 4 vs FSR 3. At that lower internal resolution, AMD’s able to pick up and upscale more detail.

In Spider-Man: Miles Morales, it becomes so clear when you look at the fur detailing on the jacket collar. With FSR 3, it’s softer and clumpier, whereas individual hairs are more sharply defined with the 4th generation.

Moving over to Cyberpunk 2077, that NPC is rendered much more sharply — especially in the hair. Forza Horizon 6 shows a sharpening of the reflections on that wet asphalt, and there’s cleaner edges to details like computer screens and the robotic suit in Pragmata.

All of this on performance, and the numbers take a jump too.

Game on against Intel Panther Lake?

Make no mistake about it. FSR 4 is the biggest free upgrade AMD handhelds and laptops have received in a long time, but only if you rewire how you tweak your settings. It’s not a one-to-one swap for a Balanced preset — a confident drop to Performance mode will get you a better picture quality and frame rate to boost.

But after the past few months of watching Intel really take the gaming fight to AMD with Panther Lake chips and XeSS 3, is this enough to take on Team Blue? Sort of.

This is a catch up effort, but there are places where Intel continues to lead, such as with a stronger GPU silicon on handhelds and multi-frame generation. But that Arc G3 Extreme is definitely pricier.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out! And if you've noticed differences in your own experiences, let me know in the comments box below.

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• Sam Altman says your laptop RAM is a 'terrible’ allocation of scarce resources: Why I think the AI bubble is about to prove him wrong
• I broke up with my MacBook Pro for Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra — RTX Spark surprised me

Apple has just announced the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, and not only have we already gone hands-on with it (spoiler alert: it's jaw-dropping), we've already tested the chip inside.

You see, it packs the M5 Pro and the M5 Max — two chips we've already benchmarked extensively in the mini-LED MacBook Pros. This is good news for buyers: You don't have to go in without knowing what you're getting.

Of course, there are some differences that may change results here. For example, this is a significantly lighter laptop with an OLED display — two variables (battery capacity and screen) that may change a couple things here. But we already get a good insight from these numbers.

Here's what kind of performance we expect to see from the new MacBook Pro and how we expect it to stack up when faced with some of the best laptops.

What's inside the OLED MacBook Pro?

As expected, Apple decided to skip the M6 Pro and M6 Max for this round of MacBooks. Instead, the focus is solely on other upgrades, while the chips remain the same. We did, however, get the MacBook Pro M6 a day before Apple's event, but that one doesn't have the PROLED screen that these new models do.

According to Mark Gurman, Apple isn't developing the M6 Pro and the M6 Max, and while the base M6 is faster in single-core tasks, it can't match the M5 Pro and the M5 Max in multi-core or graphics performance.

Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max: Performance

The M5 Pro and the M5 Max have been around since March 2026, which has given us plenty of time to test them thoroughly. While there might be some subtle differences in performance that are unrelated to the two processors, we expect raw numbers to be similar to what we've already seen in our MacBook Pro M5 benchmarks.

Apple did say that the new MacBook Pros have a completely redesigned thermal system, so that could let the M5 Pro and the M5 Max stretch their legs and still maintain that same performance even in a significantly lighter chassis.

To see how they stack up, we pulled our Geekbench 6 results. These benchmarks measure single-core and multi-core performance. There's also our Handbrake test, which times how long a laptop takes to transcode a 4K video to 1080p.

Let's have a look at the base M5 (which you won't find in the new OLED MacBook Pros, but it's a good starting point to compare to), the M5 Pro, the M5 Max, and even the M4 Pro and the M6 to give a well-rounded overview.

The first thing that jumps out: Single-core scores are nearly identical across the entire M5 family, so this is what we can expect from the new OLED MacBook Pros, too. It's unlikely to feel snappier in such tasks than a base M5 model.

The real gap lies in multi-core, and it's huge. Just look at the numbers: The M5 Pro and M5 Max both land close to 30,000, which is about 25% ahead of the M4 Pro, roughly in line with the up to 30% Apple promised when it launched these chips back in March.

As a reminder, both the M5 Pro and the M5 Max feature the same 18-core CPU. The extra money buys you extra GPU cores and more memory.

The M6 in the Mac mini and the new 14-inch MacBook Pro tops the single-core benchmarks, but it trails both the M5 Pro/Max chips by a wide margin in multi-core.

To summarize: The MacBook Pros released in March were absolute powerhouses. We expect the same of the OLED models.

Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max: Graphics and AI

CPU comparisons are pretty tight between the two chips, but in graphics, we'll find a definite leader. The M5 Max sports up to twice as many GPU cores, and yes, that does lead to huge performance gains.

We also ran a different set of tests to check out Nvidia's RTX Spark, so this is how the M5 Pro stacks up here:

Both chips beat every Windows laptop in our first table on graphics, which bodes well for the new OLED MacBook Pros. However, Nvidia's new RTX Spark is a different story.

In our more recent testing, it outscored the M5 Pro in both 3DMark Steel Nomad and Solar Bay Extreme. Given the scores and the massively ramped-up GPU performance on the M5 Max, chances are that Apple would win in such a match-up, too.

AI is more nuanced. The M5 Pro scored almost exactly the same as the base M5 in Geekbench AI, and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme leads the pack.

Apple M5 Pro and M5 Max: Battery life

MacBooks are known for their outstanding battery life, so it won't surprise you to hear that in our testing, the LCD models from earlier this year did a great job.

Our 16-inch M5 Pro lasted 21 hours and 25 minutes in our web-surfing test at 150 nits of brightness. That's more than double what Nvidia's RTX Spark and Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Elite managed.

The powerful, yet more demanding M5 Max lasted just under 18 hours.

While we can predict the performance of the OLED MacBook Pros with a certain degree of accuracy, the battery life is harder to call. Apple rates the new models at up to 24 hours, which is the same as the mini-LED 16-inch MacBook Pro, and that's despite the lighter chassis. OLED panels use less power on dark content but more on bright, white screens, so we'll need to test it ourselves to see how that 24-hour claim holds up in real life.

Apple OLED MacBook Pro: Outlook

With performance numbers such as these, we fully expect the new PROLED XDR MacBook Pros to be next-level in the best way possible.

As they're equipped with chips we're already familiar with, raw performance numbers should stay roughly the same as before.

With that said, the new OLED models are also pricier. The maxed-out 16-inch model actually goes up to $14,549, but all the new models cost $400 more across the board for the screen upgrade alone.

But you're not paying for more firepower—you're paying for the tandem OLED panel and a couple more goodies, such as a touchscreen and the lack of a display notch. If you're only interested in how capable your laptop is, stick to the LCD versions, as you're getting the exact same chips.

More from Tom's Guide

• The ultimate MacBook hierarchy: M6 vs M5 vs M4 vs M3 vs M2 vs M1 tested and ranked
• MacBook Pro M5 benchmarks are in — here's how it compares to M4, Windows laptops and more based on our testing
• M6 iMac vs M4 iMac: Is Apple’s latest all-in-one actually worth the upgrade?

The new MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display has been a long time coming. And while it’s generating a lot of buzz, there’s also a lot of skepticism around Apple’s first touchscreen laptop. And understandably so.

Apple has famously dissed the very idea of touch laptops on multiple occasions over the years. But now the company believes the time is right. I’ve spent several hours playing with the new MacBook Pro and learning about the technology inside this $2,899 laptop, so I wanted to share 10 things I’ve learned to help go beyond the hype.

1. This tandem OLED display has next-level contrast at 10 million to 1

The best Windows laptops with tandem OLED displays tend to have a contrast ratio of 1 million to 1. The new MacBook Pro ups the ante with a 10 million to 1 ratio. But what does that mean to you?

The result is a panel that offers images with perfect black levels but without losing details in the shadows. Other OLED laptops look cloudy by comparison, especially off angle.

2. The touch silicon is built directly into the display — there’s no digitizer layer

Most touchscreen laptops have a separate and distinct digitizer layer that’s required to support touch input. But Apple found a way to integrate the touch silicon directly into its tandem OLED display.

The result is that the touch experience feels super fluid without any lag based on my hands-on time. And just as important, Apple says that this implementation makes the MacBook Pro’s OLED panel more efficient. So we expect the new MacBook Pro to last longer on a charge without the typical touch screen power penalty we’ve seen.

3. Apple used a TFT oxide layer, which is a first

Apple says that it's the first to use a TFT oxide layer in its tandem OLED display, which has a few benefits.

It's designed to offer greater pixel density versus other displays and to be more efficient, because the transistors virtually don’t leak any current when holding an image. Plus, the screen can drop to low refresh rates without flickering.

4. The new MacBook Pro has a different hinge

Apple redesigned the hinge for the MacBook Pro PROLED XDR because they knew that people were going to reach out and touch the display. They purposely designed the hinge to be more resilient to taps, so that it doesn’t wobble as much as other MacBooks.

Apple also added better video stabilization for the front camera so you can feel comfortable tapping even while you’re on a Zoom call.

5. There are a lot of apps being optimized for touch

While it’s clear Apple is playing catch up to Windows laptops when it comes to touch interaction, I was impressed with the wave of touch-friendly apps I’ve seen so far in various demos.

For example, in Logic Pro you can add piano chords to the track you’re working on with a touch keyboard or add bass hits with just a touch. And in apps like ZBruch, you can read out and manipulate 3D renders with your fingers.

6. The glowing Apple logo doesn’t use the display as a backlight

The last MacBook with a glowing logo on the back was the MacBook Air a decade ago, but Apple is bringing it back with the MacBook Pro PROLED XDR. But because the tandem OLED is a self-emitting display, there’s no traditional backlight.

So Apple had to squeeze a dedicated backlight into the new MacBook Pro to make the logo shine. In a nice touch, the logo itself dims and brightens as you raise and lower the screen brightness.

7. 2,000 nits beats every other OLED laptop

The new MacBook Pro is rated for 2,000 nits of peak brightness, which is 25% brighter than the brightest Windows OLED laptops, which typically max out at 1,600 nits.

Just as impressive, that 2,000 nits applies to both HDR content and SDR video, when typically the peak brightness number is reserved for HDR.

8. There’s no Apple Pencil support (on purpose)

As cool as it is to finally have a touchscreen MacBook Pro, I think it would have been nice for it to support the Apple Pencil too. This would have been great for finer edits, sketching and manipulating content.

However, Apple intentionally did not include Apple Pencil support for the MacBook Pro, and that’s because it doesn’t want to muddy the waters between MacBooks and iPads.

9. The 3-pound weight is nearly MacBook Air light

One of the things that impresses me most about the new 14-inch MacBook Pro is how light it feels. It weighs just 3 pounds, which is not far off from the 13.6-inch MacBook Air (2.7 pounds).

Apple says it redesigned this laptop from the ground up to pull out a significant amount of weight without making compromises in terms of performance, which we’ll put to the test.

10. There’s a Dynamic Island but no Face ID

The new MacBook Pro replaces the notch with a Dynamic Island at the top of the display, which supports Live Activities. For example, if you start playing music and then start doing other things, you can tap the Dynamic Island and bring up the playback controls.

However, this area doesn’t house Face ID tech, which would have been nice. You need to use the Touch ID in the power button to unlock your laptop. It works fine but doesn’t feel as futuristic as the rest of the laptop.

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• Apple is entering its ‘Why Not?’ era — and your wallet is the ultimate beta tester
• The ultimate MacBook hierarchy: M6 vs M5 vs M4 vs M3 vs M2 vs M1 tested and ranked
• MacBook Pro OLED preorders are live: use this trick to save up to $1,400

After a long wait, Apple revealed the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display, the first MacBook to feature a touchscreen. Powered by the M5 Pro or the M5 Max chip, these MacBooks are surely going to rank among the best laptops in no time.

Meanwhile, M1-based MacBooks are slowly slipping into irrelevance. The chip is now six years old. With each passing year, the upgrades get bigger and bigger, and now, Apple finally pulled out the big guns: it's not just raw performance you're getting. You're getting a whole different device.

Should M1 Pro MacBook Pro owners finally pull the trigger and upgrade? And are these OLED MacBooks really the best option? Let's find out.

How does the Apple M1 compare to newer chips?

The spec gap between the generations is now big enough that M1 owners should start thinking about upgrades. While the M5 Pro and the M5 Max are in a league of their own, even the base M6 offers a sizable upgrade over the M1.

Memory size grows exponentially, ranging from 32GB to 128GB compared to the M1's max of 64GB. Throw in a huge speed boost in memory bandwidth and it becomes a buffet of fast tranfers.

That extra memory matters more than ever, since running AI models locally eats RAM for breakfast. Even if you don't dabble in AI, 16GB RAM is pretty restrictive in 2026 (and beyond).

How much faster are the new Macs than the M1?

We've learned the specs, so let's put them into some perspective. Over the years, we've tested every single generation of MacBook, so we've amassed quite the database of benchmarks.

While the M6, found in the latest Mac mini, is technically the newest generation of Apple chips, the M5 Pro and the M5 Max are still the fastest in the more intense multi-tasking workloads, and they're the chips you'll find inside the new PROLEDs.

The scores speak for themselves. The base M6 already more than doubles the performance offered by the M1, and the M5 Pro and the M5 Max take it to another level. While the three chips are similar in single-core, the Pro and the Max pull far ahead in multi-core operations. The M5 Pro and the M5 Max score over 20,000 points more than the base M1.

You'll also see a comparison to the MacBook Neo, which doesn't even run on one of Apple's M chips—it uses the A18 Pro. The MacBook Neo, which we rank as the best budget laptop, actually beats the base M1 in both single-core and multi-core benchmarks.

Apart from the $699 MacBook Neo, every new model on this list doubles the performance of the M1, and that's at minimum, not at most.

Battery life: How long do the new MacBooks last?

M1 MacBooks were once the uncontested battery champions, but that was true when they first hit the market.

Now, years later, Apple has continued to perfect its proprietary chip technology with every generation, and that translates to more than performance gains: you also get better battery life.

In our web surfing test, the newer MacBook Pros last up to seven hours longer than their M1 equivalents, with the 16-inch M5 Pro reaching 21 hours and 25 minutes. We expect similar numbers from the OLED MacBook Pros once they're fully out (Apple claims 24 hours). But even if there's a slight drop in battery life, they should still outlast most of the M1 lineup.

If you're still on an M1 MacBook, remember that there's another catch: Apple's MacBook batteries are designed to keep up to 80% of their original capacity after 1,000 full charge cycles, so a five- or six-year-old M1 is likely lasting less today than it did at the beginning. Food for thought.

What your M1 MacBook still does well

As you can see, the numbers are decidedly not in M1's favor, but don't let it get to you. Many people still use M1 MacBooks with great success, so while the new OLED MacBooks are tempting, don't forget that your M1 laptop still makes sense.

Apple is still fully supporting M1 MacBooks, which have been updated to run macOS 27 Golden Gate. Apple's new Siri AI works on M1 too, so you're not locked out of the latest software by sticking to an older MacBook. These laptops are still good enough to handle browsing, video calls, and streaming, and the M1 Pro is still capable for its age.

The cracks start to show when you look closer. Some of macOS 27's newer AI features, like the custom Siri voice and improved dictation, need an M3 chip or later with at least 12GB of memory, so M1 is out. And if you have a base MacBook Air M1 with 8GB RAM, you've probably already felt it struggle during multitasking.

Is it time to upgrade from your M1? Upgrade options from $699 to $3,000+

When you're still using the M1, most MacBooks are an upgrade. Let's look at some options.

So, what should you choose? Obviously, the new OLED MacBooks are the most impressive option, but they're also really pricey, with pricing starting at $2,899 for the 14-inch model.

Pick based on your needs. If you mostly browse, stream, and do some light office work, the $699 MacBook Neo is the cheapest way out, as it's about 50% faster than the M1 Air in single-core tasks. Even after the price hike, it's fairly affordable.

For most M1 Air owners, the M5 MacBook Air is the safer bet. It starts at $1,299 after Apple's June price hike, but it doubles the M1 Air's multi-core performance and starts with 16GB of RAM.

The new OLED MacBook Pro finally marks a time when even M1 Pro and M1 Max owners should consider upgrading. The price point is steep, but with huge performance gains, a touchscreen, and a new OLED panel, you're getting a lot in return.

For most M1 owners, the time to upgrade has finally come, especially if you’re on a base M1 MacBook Air. If you're not happy with your old MacBook, there are plenty of options available to replace it.

More from Tom's Guide

• I analyzed Apple’s new 2nm M6 chip — here is why M1 holdouts finally need to upgrade
• The ultimate MacBook hierarchy: M6 vs M5 vs M4 vs M3 vs M2 vs M1 tested and ranked
• We benchmarked the MacBook Neo vs budget Windows laptops — here’s the truth

Apple has just announced two new flagship laptops: the MacBook Pro OLED and the MacBook Pro M6. The former is the company’s first touchscreen OLED MacBook, while the latter updates last year’s MacBook Pro M5. Both should be fantastic laptops for pro users, but which one should you buy?

We haven't tested either of these new MacBooks yet, but based on what we know, they shouldn’t have trouble landing on our best MacBooks page.

To that end, here’s everything you need to know about the MacBook Pro OLED and MacBook Pro M6 to help you decide which one is right for you. Also, be sure to read our hands-on with the MacBook Pro OLED from the Apple "Pro and Tell" event!

MacBook Pro OLED vs MacBook Pro M6: Specs

MacBook Pro OLED vs MacBook Pro M6: Price

There’s no denying that both new MacBook models cost a pretty penny. That said, one is definitely more affordable than the other (relatively speaking).

The 14-inch MacBook Pro OLED with the M5 Pro chip, 24GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage starts at $2,899, while the 16-inch model with the same specs starts at $3,399. If you want a laptop with the M5 Max chip, the 14-inch model starts at $4,499, while the 16-inch model is $4,799.

Then we have the 14-inch MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,999 and packs an M6 chip with a 12-core CPU and 12-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. You can add up to 32GB of RAM and 4TB of storage, though that’ll substantially bring up the price.

MacBook Pro OLED vs MacBook Pro M6: Display

The biggest difference between these two MacBooks is their respective displays. The MacBook Pro OLED is the first MacBook with a touchscreen OLED panel, while the MacBook Pro M6 keeps the mini-LED screen of current MacBooks. Depending on what you want or need, this could be the main determining factor in which MacBook you’d buy.

According to Apple, the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display “offers a visual experience unlike any other." That’s no doubt because of the tandem OLED panel, which promises true per-pixel blacks and zero blooming around UI elements.

Apple claims this display can deliver peak SDR and HDR brightness of 2000 nits, which is absolutely eye-scorching. Apple says the tandem OLED technology keeps brightness and grayscale uniform across the entire display. The company also says it precisely calibrates each display for consistency.

On top of that—and I mean that literally—the notch cutout at the top of the panel has been replaced by the Dynamic Island you’ve seen on the best iPhones. This brings Live Activities to the MacBook for the first time.

Lastly, the MacBook Pro OLED has a touchscreen. Apple says it crafted touch input specifically for the Mac, with a touch sensor built directly into the display panel, not layered on top. Our own Mark Spoonauer went hands-on with the MacBook Pro OLED and said that the touchscreen support feels “pretty smooth” as he navigated between apps or used his finger to draw. However, it doesn’t support the Apple Pencil.