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Touchscreen MacBook live blog: On the ground at Apple’s launch event

By · Via The Verge · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Apple is holding an in-person showcase in Los Angeles to introduce a redesigned MacBook Pro equipped with the first touchscreen ever featured on a Mac. The shift moves past the retired Touch Bar concept and directly challenges the company's historical stance that laptops are unsuitable for touch interfaces. The presentation caps a wave of announcements that earlier introduced an OLED iPad Mini alongside M6 chip upgrades for existing iMac and MacBook Pro models. Instead of a traditional broadcast, the private gathering offers attendees quick hands-on access following a condensed opening presentation.

Key points

  • The company is breaking with long-held corporate doctrine to bring tap and swipe gesture…: The company is breaking with long-held corporate doctrine to bring tap and swipe gesture interactions to the Mac lineup.
  • The Los Angeles gathering relies on an in-person, hands-on format without a public livest…: The Los Angeles gathering relies on an in-person, hands-on format without a public livestream.
  • The event structure mirrors a prior New York City hardware debut with an opening keynote…: The event structure mirrors a prior New York City hardware debut with an opening keynote lasting under ten minutes.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

Apple has already had a busy week. On Monday, it announced a new iPad Mini with an upgraded OLED display, and on Tuesday, we got M6 chip upgrades for the MacBook Pro and iMac. The Macs are the definition of iterative updates — they’re quiet refreshes that look just like their direct predecessors. But today should be a whole lot more interesting.

Touchscreen MacBook live blog: On the ground at Apple’s launch event

It’s time to see how Apple rethinks the Mac for touch support, years after criticizing touchscreen laptops.

Touchscreen MacBook live blog: On the ground at Apple’s launch event

It’s time to see how Apple rethinks the Mac for touch support, years after criticizing touchscreen laptops.

At an event in Los Angeles, Apple is expected to debut a revamped MacBook Pro with a touchscreen display. This would be the first touchscreen on a Mac (not counting the beleaguered Touch Bar). Touchscreen laptops are something Apple executives have criticized for about as long as the iPad has existed. But after all this time, Apple is expected to give in to the growing demand to let people tap and swipe at a MacBook screen.

We’re here on the ground, looking forward to touching those MacBooks (and all the other new Apple products) as we go hands-on. This is a very different event than what you might expect at an iPhone launch or WWDC. For one, we’re at an event space in Los Angeles, not Apple Park in Cupertino. There’s no public livestream available. And there are just two of us here from The Verge — yours truly and our video producer Owen Grove. Some of our remote colleagues will be hanging out in the live blog, too.

Today is expected to be a lot like the MacBook Neo launch earlier this year in New York City, which had an in-person-only keynote presentation lasting less than 10 minutes before we were unleashed in the hands-on area. So this might be a short and sweet one. Buckle in, it should be fun.

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Original source: www.theverge.com

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