I am not a tech person, though I like tech. My rule for this section is one question: Do I have to call IT? If the answer is yes, I do not care how good the screen is.
My laptop is a 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2021, with an M1 Pro chip and 16 gigabytes of memory. It has been in more courthouses than some lawyers, and it still works. The battery does not. On Oct. 28, Apple announced the first MacBook Pro with an OLED screen and a touchscreen. I ordered the 14-inch that day. It was due to arrive Nov. 6. [Karen: confirm the arrival date and what was in the box.]
The price and the trade-in. The 14-inch model with the M5 Pro chip starts at $2,899, and the 16-inch at $3,399. The M5 Max versions start at $4,499 and $4,799; unless a lawyer edits film, they are not needed. Apple does not publish a trade-in value for a 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro. Its trade-in page says the value depends on condition, year and configuration, and is quoted after the buyer enters a serial number. [Karen: the figure Apple quoted for mine, the date, the configuration I bought and the total with tax.] Buyers who use an Apple Card can pay monthly at zero percent interest.
The switch. [Karen: did Migration Assistant move everything, how long it took, what broke, and whether I called anyone.] Apple offers a guided setup session with a person to customers who buy directly. [Karen: whether I used it, and what it was like.]
What the screen is. Apple says the display is a tandem OLED, which stacks two OLED layers for brightness, and rates it at 2,000 nits. Black on an OLED is black, not dark gray. [Karen: what a deposition video, a PDF of a medical record and a photo exhibit looked like on it.] For a lawyer the relevant question is whether a video exhibit looks like the video or like a laptop playing one.
Sound. The laptop has six speakers, and Apple says the bass is 50 percent deeper than before. [Karen: I played a deposition clip at conference-table distance; could everyone hear the witness.]
Battery. Apple says up to 24 hours, from tests it ran in September, and does not say doing what. Fast charging reaches half in 30 minutes, according to Apple. [Karen: a real day: on at 7 a.m., off at what time, with what running; and whether it was hot on my lap after an hour of work.]
The touchscreen. Apple describes it as the first Mac with one. The sensor is in the screen, and the company rebuilt the hinge so the display does not wobble when touched. I expected to use it for two days and then stop. [Karen: whether I was wrong, and one thing it was good for, if anything.]
Carrying it. The 14-inch model weighs 3 pounds, and the 16-inch is 4 pounds, down from 4.7. Apple says the new model is about half a millimeter thinner than the old one and half a pound lighter. For a lawyer who carries a laptop through security every day, the half pound matters more than any specification. [Karen: which bag, and whether it fit with the trial binder.]
Presenting. The laptop has an HDMI port, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, an SD card slot and a headphone jack, so a courtroom's HDMI cable plugs into the side with no adapter. [Karen: I did this in which courtroom or conference room, and whether it worked.]
Chargers. The charging port is MagSafe, the same shape as on the 2021 model, so existing cables should fit. [Karen: whether my old cable worked.] Apple sells a 70-watt adapter for $59, a 96-watt for $79 and a 140-watt for $99; the 140-watt is the one that fast-charges.
Storage and memory. The 14-inch model I ordered holds a terabyte. Apple sells up to 16 terabytes and up to 128 gigabytes of memory. The base 24 gigabytes should be enough for a lawyer who runs a browser, Word and a video player at once.
Other Apple devices. The features that connect a Mac to an iPhone and iPad are not new to this model, and they still work: a photo of an exhibit appears on the laptop, copy on the phone pastes on the Mac, and an iPad serves as a second screen without a cable. [Karen: the one that mattered in a real week.]
The call to IT. [Karen: the count, after one week. Who I called, why, and how long it took.]
Should you wait? A buyer with a laptop from 2021 or earlier has the clearest case. [Karen: the verdict on waiting, in my words. The earlier draft's claim about Apple's next model is removed because it could not be sourced.]
Apple says the machine was built for people who grade color on film. [Confirm that wording against the Oct. 28 press release.] The brightness, the speakers and the ports serve that user, and lawyers get them as well. The question for a lawyer is whether the trade-in, the price and the switch add up to a laptop that can be carried for five years without calling anyone. [Karen: the verdict, in two sentences.]
Price · Available. From $2,899. In stores and arriving Nov. 6.
Bought at retail; Apple had no part in this review.
Sources
Apple Newsroom, Oct. 28, 2026: MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display · Apple's order page, read Nov. 1, 2026 (prices and availability confirmed) · Apple Trade In, read Nov. 2, 2026 (no fixed value listed for the 2021 16-inch).