Apple’s latest MacBook Pro arrives with a feature that has been absent from its laptops for roughly ten years: a glowing Apple logo on the lid. The company announced the new 14- and 16-inch models on October 28, pairing the nostalgic design cue with a first for the Mac line—a touchscreen.
- Key Point: The illuminated logo returns after Apple phased it out, starting with the 12-inch MacBook in 2015 and completing the switch with the 2016 MacBook Pro redesign.
- Key Point: The new MacBook Pro debuts a PROLED XDR display using tandem OLED technology, with up to 2,000 nits peak brightness and a 10,000,000:1 contrast ratio.
- Key Point: Pricing starts at $2,899 for the 14-inch model and $3,399 for the 16-inch version, with pre-orders open now and availability beginning November 6.
- Key Point: The laptops run on Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, support up to 128GB of unified memory and up to 16TB of storage.
A design signature revived
The glowing logo was once one of the most recognizable markers of an Apple laptop in a crowded room. It first appeared in 1999 on the third-generation PowerBook G3 and persisted through multiple generations before Apple began retiring it. The 12-inch MacBook dropped the feature in 2015, and the 2016 MacBook Pro redesign replaced it with a polished, non-illuminated emblem. The new model restores the effect, though Apple has not made it a headline selling point in its marketing materials.
The technical path back was not straightforward. Earlier illuminated logos drew light from the display’s backlight, but OLED panels light individual pixels without a separate backlight. Apple’s solution comes through the PROLED XDR display, which the company describes as a breakthrough tandem OLED implementation. The glowing logo appears only on configurations equipped with that display and either an M5 Pro or M5 Max chip.
Apple CEO John Ternus teased the return in a video accompanying the launch.
We’re glowing with excitement over the new MacBook Pro. You’ve gotta touch it to believe it.
Touch arrives on the Mac
The bigger strategic shift is the addition of touch input, a capability Apple long resisted on its computers. Ternus framed it as a milestone during live remarks to media and analysts in Los Angeles.
Yes, for the very first time, we are bringing touch to the Mac.
Apple says macOS automatically translates touches into clicks, so many existing apps work immediately. Updated system gesture APIs let developers build touch-specific experiences, and Apple lists support from productivity tools such as Notion, Canva, Zoom and Microsoft Office, creative apps including Adobe Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve, 3D software like Blender and Cinema 4D, and music app Algoriddim djay Pro.
The display itself is a centerpiece. Apple claims up to 2,000 nits peak HDR and SDR brightness, a 120Hz variable refresh rate, and a color gamut spanning both P3 and Adobe RGB. The Dynamic Island also reaches the Mac for the first time, serving as a home for Spotlight, Live Activities and Siri AI. Battery life is rated at up to 24 hours, and the 14- and 16-inch models weigh 3 and 4 pounds respectively.
Performance, pricing and a tough market
Under the hood, the M5 Pro and M5 Max are positioned as Apple’s most powerful laptop chips. Apple says the M5 Max can run large language models with hundreds of billions of parameters entirely on device, a pitch aimed at AI developers and visual effects artists. The laptops also include Thunderbolt 5, a 12MP Center Stage camera, studio-quality microphones and an enhanced six-speaker system with 50 percent deeper bass.
The pricing reflects a broader squeeze in the PC market. Laptop shipments are expected to fall 11 percent this year, and total PC shipments dropped 20 percent year over year in the third quarter, according to IDC. Analysts point to an AI-driven global memory shortage pushing up component costs. Apple has not been immune: nearly all Macs received price increases this year, including a $300 bump for Mac Minis introduced in August. The new MacBook Pro models represent notable increases over their predecessors.
The launch is Apple’s third major product event under Ternus, following new iPhone models in September and an iPad mini earlier this week. It also underscores the Mac’s outsize role for software developers, even as the category generated $10.35 billion in Apple’s most recent quarter, just under 10 percent of total revenue.
The glowing logo’s return may be symbolic, but it signals Apple’s willingness to revisit design decisions it once considered settled. If the feature proves popular, it could spread to other Mac models in future redesigns, though Apple has not committed to that. For now, the illuminated lid is reserved for the most expensive configurations—a nostalgic touch bundled with the company’s most significant change to laptop input in years.