Apple just unveiled their brand spanking new MacBook Pro, now with a touchscreen. That’s fine and all, but something about it lacks… imagination.

Apple broke tech and cultural barriers with the iPhone and the iPad. The MacBook, meanwhile, has been a standard-bearer of personal computing for years. Yet Apple’s latest attempt at innovation doesn’t inspire the same sense of possibility.

Tech creators and publications present at the event have shared their thoughts. While they didn’t necessarily say it verbatim, there’s a “Who asked for this?” or “Who needs this?” energy going around.

The argument for the company in Cupertino has always been that while it might join the party late, it arrives with something refined and ready for the spotlight. That feels less certain in 2026.

I digress.

That’s a whole other topic to unpack, so before I go any further, let me shift back to what I wanted to write about in the first place: the innovations I want to see from Apple. Ones that capture the imagination and inspire possibilities.

MacPad or MacPad Pro 

Yes, I’m starting with a haymaker. 

For years, users have been asking Apple to make the iPad run some hybrid of iPadOS and macOS. 

The MacBook Neo and iPad Pro are proof that this isn’t too farfetched. The former runs macOS on an iPhone/iPad chip (A-series) while the latter runs iPadOS on a MacBook chip (M-series). Computing power doesn’t seem to be the issue. Apple is just likely afraid that one device category will cannibalize the other. That’s pure speculation on my part so let’s just continue with the thought exercise. 

Assuming we get that macOS and iPadOS hybrid, what will the hardware look like? 

Some disclaimer before the fun part. This whole article is a thought exercise and I am inviting all of you to imagine with me. But to make things feel a little more grounded, I will name models from other brands that Apple can take some inspiration from. Just, you know, Apple-fy it. 

For the MacPad or MacPad Pro, I’m thinking something like a 2-in-1. The main body is a slab with a display and kickstand. Think Nintendo Switch 2. But instead of provisions for Joycons on the side, you get some form of cooling and the ports. 

Let it have an M-series chip for maximum computing power. But to differentiate it from the iPad, have it come with a foldable keyboard and trackpad folio of some sort. 

The ROG Flow Z13 but Apple-fied

Now that I think about it, what I’m describing is likely closer to the ROG Flow Z13. But instead of a gaming aesthetic, make it closer to how sleek and streamlined the look of MacBooks and iPads. 

Having spent time with the ROG Flow Z13 (2025), I know there’s something genuinely compelling about this form factor. It’s a tablet with the brains of a full-fledged PC, with the keyboard becoming an accessory rather than a permanent fixture.

I traveled with the Flow Z13 and loved how it could serve as my work machine, gaming console, and entertainment device. Detach the keyboard and you have a screen for watching videos. Prop it up and you have a surprisingly capable gaming machine. Connect it to a TV and you have another way to play. It simplified my travel loadout in ways I didn’t expect.

Now imagine that same flexibility with macOS. A MacPad Pro could be a tablet when you want to browse, read, or watch something, then become a proper Mac when it’s time to get serious about work. You wouldn’t need to choose between carrying a MacBook and an iPad because one device could cover both roles.

A detachable design, done right

There’s already a precedent for this, too. The Lenovo Yoga Duet 7i showed how a detachable tablet and keyboard could work together without either feeling like an afterthought. Its Bluetooth keyboard meant you weren’t necessarily tied to the tablet in the same way you would be with a conventional laptop.

That’s the part I’d want Apple to get right. Give the MacPad Pro a proper kickstand, a keyboard that doesn’t feel like a compromise, and enough ports to make it useful beyond the desk. Let people use it as a tablet, a laptop, or a makeshift desktop without having to fight the hardware.

And because this is Apple, I’d expect the accessories to be ridiculously good. If the company can make the Magic Keyboard for iPad feel like a convincing laptop keyboard, imagine what it could do if it built the entire experience around macOS from the start.

Heck, they can even go full Apple and do away with the kickstand and just include a flimsy folio in the original packaging. And then sell a Magic Keyboard and Trackpad folio separately for maximum profit. Now that’s truly the Apple way. 

Refined MacBook Pro 

Look, I love the MacBook Pro. And I’ll take macOS over Windows any day. But every now and again I come upon a Windows machine that has immaculate hardware. 

This year, to me, that’s the ASUS ExpertBook Ultra. In terms of overall build, materials, display, and size it’s my favorite work machine that I personally spent significant time with. 

Premium finish

It already has that sleek MacBook look. But on top of that, the Nano Ceramic finish elevates it in a way that only experiencing it firsthand can make you understand. 

I wrote about this in my original review, but it’s worth repeating: the Nano Ceramic finish is one of those things that sounds like marketing fluff until you actually touch it. It gives the laptop a distinct texture that makes picking it up feel like an experience in itself.

What’s more surprising is that the feeling doesn’t wear off. I got the ExpertBook Ultra back for another stretch of use after ASUS had already collected it, and I still found myself running my hand across the lid before opening it. Thirty days later, I hadn’t outgrown the novelty.

That might sound trivial, but I don’t think it is. We interact with our laptops for hours every day. The materials, textures, weight, and little physical details all contribute to how much we enjoy using them. If a manufacturer can make something as ordinary as opening a laptop feel special, that’s a kind of refinement worth pursuing.

OLED all day

It doesn’t hurt to have STAYC Isa on screen.

The OLED display with matte coating is a feast for the eyes. I regularly worked in cafés beside large windows, and the matte coating helped keep the OLED panel looking magnificent even with all that ambient light. 

Deep blacks, crisp colors, and fewer distracting reflections made it a pleasure to work on and an even bigger pleasure to take breaks with.

Tantalizing typing

And the chiclet-style feeling keyboard will have you waxing poetic about an intimate connection found and faded. The spacing is excellent, the travel feels satisfying, and I found myself typing without that awkward adjustment period you sometimes get with a new machine.

Neither feature is revolutionary on its own. That’s precisely the point. The ExpertBook Ultra brings together a collection of thoughtful hardware decisions that make the whole experience feel a little more special. I want that same attention to detail from Apple, even if the MacBook Pro is already one of my favorite laptops.

Imagine that hardware running macOS. One can dream. 

Yoga MacBook 

I don’t know how Apple will do this without Lenovo suing but for the love of the game, please indulge me. 

Imagine the aforementioned macOS and iPadOS hybrid running on a machine that morphs from a regular laptop to one that’s display-facing. That’d make a touchscreen MacBook more compelling to more users. 

They’re definitely gonna have to call it something else, but a flexible MacBook is more appealing than the same old clamshell but now with a touchscreen. It has more practical uses that extend beyond developers and heavy-duty multimedia professionals and creatives. 

Bend it like Lenovo

Lenovo has been doing this for years with its Yoga series, and there’s a reason it has stuck around for ten generations. A good convertible isn’t just a laptop with a screen that folds backward. It’s a device that can adapt to what you’re doing without requiring you to change devices.

In laptop mode, you have a proper keyboard for writing and getting work done. Fold the display into tent mode and you have a convenient screen for watching videos or following a presentation. Flip it into stand mode and you can use it for video calls or put it in front of you while working with someone else. Fold it all the way back and you have a tablet for reading, browsing, or sketching.

I’ve seen how useful these different configurations can be in practice. They’re not just party tricks for product demonstrations. They offer different ways to use the same machine throughout the day, depending on what you’re doing and where you’re doing it.

Software that adapts

Of course, the hardware is only half the equation. macOS would need to adapt to these different configurations, too. Touch targets should be easier to hit when the laptop is folded into tablet mode, while creative applications should make better use of direct interaction with the display. The interface shouldn’t feel like a desktop operating system that reluctantly tolerates fingers.

This is where a hybrid of macOS and iPadOS could become particularly interesting. Apple wouldn’t have to abandon what makes the Mac good at getting work done. It would simply need to make that experience more adaptable when the keyboard and trackpad aren’t the most convenient ways to interact with the machine.

That’s the kind of touchscreen MacBook I’d get excited about. Not just a MacBook that lets me poke at the screen, but one that gives me a reason to use it differently.

Dream bigger, refine better

To be clear, I’m not asking Apple to reinvent every product in its lineup every year. That would be ridiculous, and not every new idea needs to become a commercial product. But I’d love to see the company take more chances on what its products could become, rather than simply adding another feature to what already exists.

I just miss the Apple that truly turns heads when it enters a room. Right now, it feels to me like the company is banking on the cultural cachet it earned decades ago.

The iPhone Duo and touchscreen MacBook show that Apple is still willing to experiment. Now I’d love to see it push those experiments further. It might as well go all in and Think Different.

Whenever I see a small child holding a tablet (or worse, the same child throwing a tantrum when that tablet is pried away from them), I always think that there’s something wrong with society today. At the risk of sounding like an aging curmudgeon, I believe that we’re too comfortable with fostering our children’s reliance on technology. That said, I don’t believe that technology itself is the culprit. Technology is, as it has always been, a tool that helps more than it harms. Unfortunately, a pervasive mist of anti-technology has once again shrouded the Philippines, and it’s attacking a highly misunderstood platform called Discord.

Speaking as a survivor of previous wars against technology, such a crusade never works, and it never will.

What is Discord?

Discord is just a simple communication tool. If you’ve used Slack, Telegram, Teams, or any platform that has group functionalities, Discord offers much of the same functionalities. It just has a more casual bent, allowing users to adopt aliases or stream games for one another.

Now, if Discord is just a more casual version of the platforms we sometimes use for work, then why is there a war against it?

A few days ago, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center ordered Discord and Reddit to establish local offices within 24 hours of the notice. The new regulation is supposed to help the government promote child and teenage safety by forcing these platforms into accountability inside the Philippines. This, in turn, is a response to school shootings happening around the country, which the local government is attributing to social media.

Late last night, the CICC temporarily restricted access to Discord as both parties explore options to establish an office in the country. At the time of this writing, the ban has already been lifted in response to backlash.

Discord isn’t a teenage wasteland

Let me be clear: School shootings are objectively bad. And, to be completely fair, in the vast stretch of time that I’ve been using Discord, I’ve seen (but not joined) abhorrent communities pop up, so the capacity of Discord to host morally questionable content is there. But the correlation between Discord and gun violence is still tenuous at best.

As a Discord power user, I’ve used the platform to foster a lot of communities. Currently, I’m a part of 54 communities across so many interests, including gaming, music, and even Formula 1. Not once have I seen messaging that promotes extremism or gun violence. In fact, I consider a good number of the people I’ve interacted with as good friends. In my experience, the platform has been a valuable tool for camaraderie and fostering genuine interests.

I’ve also met several people in the country who use the platform for their own interests. There are workers who prefer Discord over Telegram or Slack. There are students who voluntarily chose Discord to host group studies.

Discord is a force in the Philippines. A lot of people are currently affected by the ongoing restrictions. In a way, restricting access to Discord is tantamount to banning the entirety of Facebook because of a handful of questionable pages.

It wasn’t the problem anyway

As a thirty-something millennial, I’ve lived through periods where videogames were blamed as the causes of rising violence in children. And people still do that today. Yet, gaming continues to be one of the most lucrative industries in the world. A lot of people you know have touched games in their lifetime, whether it be on mobile, on console, or on a self-built PC. If you do know people like this, I’d hazard that almost all of them are well-adjusted individuals with no violent tendencies. The hatred towards videogames are often generalized against the stereotypical suspects like Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, or, in today’s case, Roblox.

It’s the same thing with the crusade against Discord. Communication platforms were never the problem. If that were the case, there would be so many radicalized and violent youth today. There aren’t. And even then, how come we’re looking at platforms that are currently being used more often for good?

Children navigating through the net

Why aren’t we looking at improving parenting or technological literacy, for example? In today’s world where it’s become a norm to use tablets as a pacifying device, it should also be important to teach children how to navigate online spaces. If you’re a millennial parent, you’ve lived through a time when the internet was a lot more lawless than it is now. It was a time when downloading a simple Linkin Park song through Limewire might wreck your family’s PC because the file was a virus. Despite how many decades of that, we’re still embarrassingly inept at teaching the youth how to navigate the internet.

And no, limiting their tablet’s apps or the videos they watch isn’t enough. We were children once. How many times have our parents restricted us from certain things as children? And how many times have we bypassed those restrictions using tricks of our own? Children will always find a way. And that’s what’s beautiful. It taught us problem-solving skills. If my parents didn’t have the money to buy an album for me, how can I use Limewire to download it instead? Or, if I couldn’t buy an app, how can I jailbreak my phone to install apps for free?

A Discord restriction isn’t really doing anything but disrupt the activities of innocent citizens who just want a platform for their day-to-day activities.

The real problem

And let’s not forget the real problem, by the way. For all the attention that Discord and Reddit are getting now, why isn’t there a comparable uproar against the availability of guns? How did the children in these school shootings get access to guns?

Sure, parenting styles are under the jurisdiction of individual families, but gun accessibility is something that the government has control over. And yet, there’s hardly any backlash against that. We’re getting angry over the wrong things. The children involved in shootings should not have had access to guns, but they did.

To be fair, there are movements that are pushing for more regulation against gun accessibility or responsibility, but these movements are moving at a snail’s pace. In comparison, the move against Discord and Reddit seemingly blazed through bureaucracy with multiple telcos tagging along.

Though temporary, the restriction hints that technology continues as the scapegoat for violence. It shows a continued lack of understanding towards what makes the world tick. Discord, Reddit, and, as much as I don’t like it myself, Roblox were never the problem.

To cover COMPUTEX 2026, I found myself staying in the Grand Hilai Taipei, a 5-star hotel right beside the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center (TaiNEX), the historical home of the annual conference. I can’t help but think of The Grand Budapest Hotel, a Wes Anderson flick about a similarly decadent hotel. But it’s not the plush hotel rooms, the hospitable staff, or the Romanesque public sauna that has me thinking of the iconic 2014 film. Rather, it’s the man of the hour himself, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang, the king of today’s AI.

In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ralph Fiennes plays Monsieur Gustave, the eponymous hotel’s flamboyant concierge. Always the life of the party, Gustave blends seamlessly into the hotel’s luxurious pink decor as he cavorts willy-nilly with the elder clientele. While the film flings Gustave around a thrilling chase for a deceased friend’s inheritance, the film’s subtext is one of politics, mistrust, and war. Around the hotel, the world haplessly descends into the geopolitical turmoil that brought about the Second World War. And yet, Gustave remains indifferent, content as he is to be atop his lofty pulpit while luxuriating in L’Air de Panache.

The amicable Gustave as he lures you in.

Jensen Huang, clad in his trademark leather jacket, is our story’s Monsieur Gustave. Much like Gustave, Huang revels in the fanfare around him. In COMPUTEX, he’s a hero adored by the masses. Wherever he goes, fans bend over backwards to take a selfie. His merchandise (and yes, it exists), touting AI-generated versions of him, is constantly sold out. It’s a stark contrast to the world and all its doom-and-gloom for a future bloated with AI.

The silence behind the applause

Before the official start of COMPUTEX, Huang conducted his own keynote speech for NVIDIA. If you’ve been to one of his keynotes in the past, you’ll hardly recognize what it’s become. There’s no more talks of realistic graphics or faster gaming performance. It’s all about AI.

Most of his time was dedicated to Vera Rubin, a multi-rack AI supercomputer destined to power the future’s data centers. Amid the drone of technical jargon (almost bordering on technobabble), I was quietly asking myself what I was doing here. Meanwhile, beside me, an enthusiastic woman clapped with as much fervor as if Huang was the second coming of Christ himself. Even if Huang could hear her individual applause (and he most certainly didn’t), he couldn’t have seen her Googling frantically what a multi-rack AI supercomputer was.

NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin

After what felt like forever on the Vera Rubin, Huang finally talked about a consumer-ready product: the new RTX Spark laptops. Admittedly, my interest was piqued. After all, it’s supposed to be the next evolution of PCs. Cue: more applause.

Although, the subtext here is as loud as the clamor. Though it’s certainly impressive that a single RTX Spark notebook can deliver 1 petaflop of AI performance and 192GB of unified memory, this next big thing is not for you and me. No one wanted to talk about the price of these things; not a single OEM, not even Huang himself.

All the hype is on productivity and profitability. It will make more work and more money… but not for you. If anything, you’ll probably end up worse.

The price of progress

Building a PC these days can bankrupt you just as easily as visiting an American hospital. A decent stick of RAM is no longer as accessible as it was a few years ago. And it’s all thanks to AI.

Touting them as humanity’s next evolution, the world’s biggest tech companies want you, a regular consumer, to believe that the technology is coming to your home. But first, they need acres of real estate for data centers. Several states in America have already relegated land to put up these centers, much to the chagrin of their residents. Despite assurances that newer ones can more effectively balance the load on the grid, these same data centers need a lot of space, power, and water. All three of which are coming from the communities surrounding them. At the time of this writing, some state governments are pushing back against the incoming infrastructure, perhaps realizing the mistake of unimpeded data center developments. The outside world is slowly turning on AI, but it’s not a global crackdown.

These stickers are getting more expensive.

And that’s before the effect of these data centers on regular consumer technology. Besides all that land, they need a horde of silicon. That’s why NVIDIA has stopped positioning itself as a GPU company, and that’s why all the chips just disappeared. All those data centers are buying up the world’s stock of chips. It’s all a matter of supply and demand at that point; scarcity drives prices up, and we’re left to pick up the pieces. The GPU that was supposed to go to your new PC is now inside a data center somewhere in the States.

Even if you don’t live near a data center, you’re still not safe. Companies, especially in the Western world, believe that AI can replace human workers, leading to mass layoffs. To be clear, while AI can help with productivity when used as a tool, a full replacement isn’t the most feasible option yet. In fact, according to Fortune, AI is just a convenient scapegoat when companies simply want to cut labor expenses by any means necessary.

And yet, the party goes on. Huang is adamant that you are on the ground floor of a revolution that will change the world. But, sorry, bucko; that elevator is going up without you.

The mask falls

As tempting as it is to pick on a single target, the NVIDIA CEO wasn’t the only Monsieur Gustave gallivanting around COMPUTEX. Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon had his own keynote speech to herald the annual conference. But, opposed to decadence of Huang’s optimism, Amon lets his mask fall just a tiny bit.

To his credit, Amon didn’t extol Qualcomm’s developments exclusively. Rather, he spoke of the overall effects of AI on our world. It’s, of course, the usual optimistic accoutrements of harder, better, faster, stronger for society. Eventually, his excitement gets the best of him and lets slip some shadier effects.

“6G will turn us all into walking cameras,” he said, talking about how AI will affect connectivity.

Now, to be fair, radio frequency sensing isn’t new technology. It’s already been possible to detect objects using only radio signals. 6G, bolstered by AI, will expand this to cover a much wider area for more possible uses.

Amon himself admits that it was a controversial statement. But perhaps, he doesn’t know (or care) about any potential invasions of privacy. He remains ever-so-confident that the use of 6G for surveillance will ultimately help with public safety and infrastructure.

All I can think of is The Dark Knight‘s Lucius Fox doing the moral thing and shutting off Batman’s mass surveillance system after finding the Joker.

It’s a tiny slip, but it speak volumes. Your privacy is a sacrifice that they’re willing to take.

As if that’s not enough, Amon signs off on his diatribe with a succinct “resistance is futile,” talking to those who still oppose AI.

An odd way to start off a celebration of AI, isn’t it? Traditionally, that phrase is one oft used by villainous characters, but that’s just par for the course in today’s AI-infested world. Peter Thiel, one of the moguls of AI, infamously named his company Palantir, the same malevolent surveillance tool used by Sauron in The Lord of the Rings. For some, masks don’t really exist.

The other concierge

Speaking as someone who keeps his finger on the pulse of AI more on the Western side of the world, it’s strange to see a different side of the coin. Huang and Amon are icons. You can’t last two seconds without seeing a single mention of AI somewhere on the show floor. There’s a palpable electricity when talking about the potential of AI.

And to be fair, when I talked to a few developers and engineers, I can feel the optimism. One talked about a voice assistant that would suggest better gift ideas for her spouse based on their history. Another one passionately talked about how much gaming has been better with DLSS 4.5. They truly believe that AI can work to their (and our) benefit, and I believe them. Underneath the smarminess of tech billionaires are ordinary people who found ways to better society. That’s where the conversation about AI should start.

But that’s not what the people want. The people want the parties, the glitz and the glamor. And all these billionaires desperately want to be the next Steve Jobs, the next Great Gatsby. And everyone else wants someone to hate.

In Taiwan, it’s not easy to hate a Monsieur Gustave that wants to make you feel welcome. It’s much easier to come for a monster taking your land, your jobs, and your money.

In Taiwan, Monsieur Gustave can have his parties, his adoring friends, and his fancy leather jacket. But in the rest of the world, he finds in himself the caretaker of an entirely different hotel, The Shining’s Overlook Hotel. Beneath Monsieur Gustave is Jack Torrance, and he’s always been the caretaker.

“Here’s Jensen!”

The other concierge.