The MacBook Pro 2021 (14-inch) and MacBook Pro 2021 (16-inch) are great laptops, but despite their premium price, they lack something that Windows portables have long had: a touch screen.

The big question is why, and Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal was able to hit Apple directly.

"We're building the best touch computer in the world with the iPad," replied John Tarnas, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering. The iPad is fully optimized for it; the Mac is fully optimized for indirect input; the iPad is fully optimized for touch. We don't see any reason to change that."

At first glance, the answer seems unconvincing. Just because you can have a better touchscreen experience elsewhere doesn't mean you can't have any touchscreen experience on a laptop.

But does Apple really want every MacBook Pro 14-inch review to focus on how inefficient touchscreens are in theory? Besides, if you don't have to touch the screen, there's no reason to buy a $19 cleaning cloth.

Personally, I am a generally satisfied Surface Laptop 2 owner, but I can count on one hand the number of times I have used the touchscreen, mostly by accident when I forgot it was there. So I have a fair amount of sympathy for the argument that "I don't need a touchscreen on my laptop, so I won't put one on."

While Apple was on hand to answer design questions, Stern also asked about the lack of Face ID, but given that the notch is already there, the answer here was rather unconvincing.

"Touch ID is more convenient because your hands are already on the keyboard on the laptop," said Tom Boger, Apple's vice president of Mac and iPad product marketing. if you just turned on the MacBook, you're also right in front of the camera You're going to be in front of the camera.

And those disappointed that the new MacBook Pro is not waterproof shouldn't expect that oversight to be corrected anytime soon, either. "When I asked about waterproof laptops, they both zoomed in and stared at me blankly," Stern writes. Boger eventually replied, "That wasn't on a lot of people's lists."

Despite this oversight, the new MacBook Pro is proudly on the list of the best laptops you can buy today. Yes, it is expensive, but it is beautifully designed, and if money is no object, I thoroughly recommend purchasing one.