Touchscreen MacBook Pro, New iMac and an OLED iPad mini Expected on Wednesday. Should You Wait?

If you've been thinking about buying a new Mac or an iPad mini this autumn, this is the week to pause before you spend anything. Apple is holding a "Pro and Tell" event in Los Angeles this Wednesday, 28 October. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that it should bring the first ever touchscreen MacBook Pro, a new iMac, a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro and an iPad mini with a much better screen. None of that is official until Apple says so. If he's right, though, buying the current models this week could leave you with last season's machine. So here's what's known, what's only rumoured, and what I'd do.

What we know for certain

Not a great deal, because Apple never announces products ahead of time, but a few things are settled:

• Apple's "Pro and Tell" event is in Los Angeles on Wednesday 28 October at 10am Pacific time. That's 5pm here in the UK, because our clocks went back yesterday and America's don't change until next Sunday.
• The current MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips came out in March, and they use a mini-LED screen, which is a bright LCD screen lit from behind by thousands of tiny lights.
• Apple's newer M6 chip is already out, because it arrived in the Mac mini in August.
• The current iPad mini runs on the A17 Pro chip with 8GB of memory.

I don't have UK prices for anything new yet, so I'll update this post once Apple publishes them on its UK website.

What Mark Gurman reports about the touchscreen MacBook Pro

This part is rumour, but it comes from Gurman, who is one of the most accurate reporters on Apple's plans. His launch timings are usually right, although smaller details can change. Writing in his Power On newsletter, and as summed up by MacRumors, he says:

• Apple will unveil 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with touchscreens that use OLED. That's a screen where each tiny dot makes its own light, which gives deeper blacks and richer colours.
• They'll look much like today's models but weigh less, and they'll swap the notch at the top of the screen for a Dynamic Island. The notch is the black cut-out that holds the camera. The Dynamic Island is the pill-shaped area you may know from recent iPhones, which changes shape to show alerts and things like a timer or music playing.
• They'll use the existing M5 Pro and M5 Max chips rather than the newer M6.
• They'll cost noticeably more. In the US the current models start at $2,499 for the 14-inch and $2,999 for the 16-inch, and MacRumors suggests the new ones could start up to $500 higher. Gurman describes the price as "significantly higher".
• The next version of macOS, called Golden Gate, will adapt to how you're working. It shows controls suited to touch if you've been tapping the screen, or to the trackpad if you've been using that. Gurman says tapping a button can "bring up a menu around the user's finger", and that the Dock and Menu Bar have been reworked for touch.
• Apple sees touch as an extra option you use when it suits you, alongside the keyboard and trackpad, not a replacement for them.
• The current mini-LED MacBook Pros will stay on sale for now, but they'll eventually be dropped.

The rest of Wednesday's rumoured line-up

Gurman also reports, again via MacRumors, that a new iMac and a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro will arrive on the same day. Both are expected to get the M6 chip. No design changes have been rumoured, so think of these as the same machines you know with a faster chip inside.

Then there's the iPad mini. 9to5Mac's round-up pulls together the reports so far:

• It's expected to get an OLED screen, with brighter, more vibrant colours and better contrast. It wouldn't be the more advanced kind used in the iPad Pro, though.
• It's not clear whether it will get ProMotion. That's Apple's name for a screen that refreshes up to 120 times a second, so scrolling looks smoother.
• Rumours point to the A20 Pro chip and 12GB of memory, which would let it run more of Apple's newer Siri and dictation features on the device itself.
• 9to5Mac says Apple is working on making it water-resistant, which would be a first for any iPad.
• Gurman says it could start at $799 in the US, up from $599 for the current model, which is a big jump.

Other reports and educated guesses

These are less solid, so treat them as interesting rather than reliable:

• 9to5Mac says the event is likely to be a hands-on session for journalists and reviewers rather than a streamed keynote, so there may be no big show to watch.
• There's talk of the new MacBook Pro offering 5G mobile data, so it could get online without Wi-Fi like an iPad with cellular. 9to5Mac points out that Gurman reported Apple was exploring this back in 2024. Filipe Esposito at Macworld also reported Apple testing it with an M5 Pro MacBook Pro. Testing isn't the same as shipping, though, and there have been no firm leaks since, so this one is a genuine unknown until Wednesday.
• 9to5Mac's writer expects the MacBook Pro range to end up in three tiers: the M6 14-inch at the bottom, today's M5 Pro and M5 Max models in the middle, and the new touchscreen models at the top. He guesses the M6 model will keep the current $1,999 US price. Those prices are his own estimates, not reports.
• Omdia, a research firm that tracks the display industry, says the mini-LED screens used in today's MacBook Pro will stay in production through 2028. That suggests the current models could hang around for a while.

What I think

I still have reservations about a touchscreen MacBook Pro. On a laptop, the keyboard and trackpad are right there in front of you, so reaching past them to touch the screen feels a little counterintuitive to me. That could change if Apple has designed the hardware around touch from the ground up, so let's hope Apple have something clever up their sleeve and show some really good ways to use it on Wednesday.

Should you wait or buy now?

• Looking at a MacBook Pro? Naturally, I'd suggest waiting until after Wednesday. Whether you want touch or not, you'll know exactly what's on offer and what it costs before you commit.
• Looking at an iPad mini? Wait as well, for the same reason. Bear in mind the new one may cost quite a bit more, which is worth knowing before you decide.
• Looking at an iMac? I'd definitely wait. A new iMac with the M6 chip is expected in a couple of days, so buying the current one now doesn't make much sense.
• Looking at a MacBook Air? This is where I'd happily buy now. Both the current MacBook Air and the previous model are staggeringly good value. If you can find a deal online or in a shop near you, either one will last for years and cope with nearly everything you throw at it. The exceptions are the heavy professional jobs that the MacBook Pro is built for.
• Happy to buy refurbished? It's worth keeping an eye on AppleRefurb.com, which tracks the prices of refurbished Apple devices, so you can see if they drop once the new models are out.
• After Wednesday, check Apple's UK website for the real UK prices and release dates before you order anything. I'll update this post once they're out.

If you're not sure which Mac or iPad suits you, or you'd like help moving everything across once a new one arrives, you can ask iHelp AI at /chat for quick questions. Or book a session with us, either remotely from anywhere in the UK or in person across Dorset.

Alex