Apple unveils a new MacBook Pro; Microsoft shows off Surface Studio

It's a good week for computer geeks, with two media events, on either side of the U.S., showing off some slick new hardware.

Microsoft's event in New York on Wednesday (October 26) was dominated by the new Surface Studio desktop computer, which is unlike anything you've seen before.

It's an all-in-one computer with the components built into the display's stand. The display, 28 inches across, is thin and light and constructed with a touchscreen. The entire assembly is hinged, so with the touch of a finger you can recline the display and work on it with a stylus.

The Surface Studio is priced at US$3,000, $3,500, and $4,200, depending on the configuration you want. And there won’t be too many available. In fact, they will not be available in Canada until 2017.

The Surface Dial is an interface device for Surface hardware. It’s a dial, natch, that can be placed on a Surface screen and that can be used to select colours while in a paint program, for example. Or used for scrubbing audio or video during editing.

Microsoft also announced an update to its premium Surface laptop. The Surface Book with Performance Base will be released on November 10 and will be available with up to 1TB of hard-drive space. The new model adds 30 percent to battery life, has double the graphics capability compared to the existing Book, and uses Intel’s i7 processor.

MacBook Pro gets first major update in four years

Today (October 27) it was Apple's turn in Cupertino, California, and the focus was squarely on the MacBook Pro, which hadn't been significantly updated since 2012.

The keyboard on the new MacBook Pro replaces the row of function keys at the top with a "Touch Bar" which can be configured to display any number of actions. The on-stage demonstration used a series of emoji, but you could use the Touch Bar for media playback or editing keys. At the far end of the Touch Bar is a Touch ID "button".

The Force Touch trackpads on the new MacBook Pros are also significantly larger, and the Retina display is brighter and has more contrast compared to previous models.

There are two models with the Touch Bar, 13- and 15-inch, each noticeably thinner and lighter than previous MacBook Pros with the same screen size. They will be available in "silver" and "space grey".

They will be available later in November, starting at C$2,299 (13 inch) and $2,999 (15 inch).

Apple also announced a new version of its video-editing software, Final Cut Pro X, which will take advantage of the new Touch Bar functionality of the MacBook Pro.

Also revealed was a new TV app for Apple TV, iPad, and iPhone, a "unified experience for discovering and accessing TV shows and movies" from multiple sources.