Gadgetory

Apple added a touchscreen to its laptops but not in the monitor rather the touchscreen is part of the keyboard Apple's new MacBook Pro laptops replace the traditional function keys on top of the keyboard with a customizable touchscreen strip that can read fingerprints the touch bar adapts to whatever software you are using editing videos will show different options than say if you were in Photoshop or a music editing software if you're typing you'll get quick suggestions of words or you can scroll through emojis but perhaps the biggest takeaway from Apple's news is how woefully unimpressive it was compared to what Microsoft unveiled the day before with its surface studio and surface dial both Microsoft and Apple this week have given consumers new ways to interact with a computer Microsoft has the surface dial a hockey puck shaped scroll wheel that can be picked up and put on top of the touchscreen to pull up and cycle through different settings and it changes depending on the program you're in Apple on the other hand put this concept into a strip on the laptop if you do creative work for a living you're now questioning if you want to use a wheel and work directly on a touchscreen monitor or tap through a thin strip of options are you team dial or team bar well team bar is less expensive the new MacBook Pro with touch bar arrives mid November and starts at around 1,800 dollars that's roughly half the cost of Microsoft Surface Studio PC with a dial meanwhile Apple also introduced a new way to watch shows on the Apple TV there's a new app simply called TV it pulls in all the shows and movies you're watching from across all your TV apps cluing you into what shows are coming up next along with recommendations so Apple TV now has a TV app you download on TV OS that let you watch TV shows on your TV now imagine how confusing a look at if Apple ever actually makes a TV I'm Bridget Carey that's it for your tech news updates on top the latest as cnet.com slash