Apple’s touchscreen MacBook Pro pushes laptop pricing to a new extreme

Apple has officially entered the touchscreen MacBook Pro era, and apparently, it wants to drain your wallet while it’s at it.

The new touchscreen MacBook Pro starts at $2,899, which is already a hefty price tag in this economy. But if you want the absolute top-of-the-line model with every possible upgrade, prepare to cough up around $14,549. 

According to MacRumors, Apple’s configurator prices the fully loaded 14-inch model at $14,249 and the 16-inch version at $14,549. Both come equipped with Apple’s top-tier M5 Max chip, featuring an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU.

You can blame the ongoing memory shortage and AI’s seemingly endless appetite for hardware for some of the pricing pressure. Moving to a 4TB SSD costs an additional $1,000, while upgrading to 8TB adds $3,000. Want the new 16TB option? That’ll set you back another $7,000. 

Another $2,000 gets you 128GB of memory, while nano-texture glass adds $150.

For some perspective, the previous 16-inch MacBook Pro topped out at $10,149. The new model raises that ceiling by a whopping $4,400.

Absurd prices aside, the launch marks a significant shift for Apple, nearly a decade after it first experimented with the Touch Bar. The company eventually abandoned that feature, but now it’s ready to embrace a touchscreen MacBook Pro.

Preorders open October 30, with availability beginning November 6.