Intricuit’s $139 Magic Screen Finally Brings Touch to the MacBook—With a Few Major Caveats

The CES 2026 show floor is littered with gadgets attempting to fix problems Apple refuses to acknowledge. This year, the most provocative solution is Intricuit’s Magic Screen, a $139 magnetic overlay designed to slap touchscreen and stylus support onto the MacBook lineup. It is a bold, third-party middle finger to Cupertino’s long-standing refusal to merge the iPad and Mac experiences.

Hacking macOS with Magnets

The Magic Screen is essentially a slab of tempered glass that clings to the MacBook’s existing bezels using the same internal magnets Apple uses to trigger sleep mode. Once snapped on, it draws power and data through a single, somewhat clunky USB-C cable. In person, the digitizer feels responsive, instantly translating taps, pinches, and swipes into macOS actions.

But adding touch to a Mac isn’t just a hardware hurdle; it’s an ergonomic one. While Windows laptops have been touch-enabled for a decade, the MacBook’s deep-seated keyboard and trackpad design mean you are constantly reaching over a vast aluminum desert to poke at your screen. This is the "Gorilla Arm" effect Apple has spent years warning about, and after a few minutes with the Magic Screen, that shoulder fatigue becomes a very real concern.

A Wacom-Style Makeover

Intricuit is betting that the real draw isn't just basic scrolling, but precision work. The $139 entry price includes a pressure-sensitive stylus and a folio case that doubles as a stand to prop the screen up, which helps mitigate some of the vibration you get when tapping on a laptop hinge.

Instead of cluttering the desk with extra peripherals, the Magic Screen packs a 100-hour internal battery and can even be detached to function as a standalone drawing tablet. It’s an ambitious play for digital artists who want the power of a MacBook Pro without the separate cost of a Wacom Cintiq or an iPad Pro.

However, there is a massive "don't forget" factor here: because the overlay sits flush against the bezel, you cannot close your laptop while it’s attached. Forgetting to snap the screen off before slamming the lid shut is a guaranteed recipe for a shattered display or a snapped hinge.

Compatibility and the Kickstarter Gamble

The hardware compatibility list covers most of the modern Apple Silicon era. The Magic Screen supports the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air (M2 through M4) and the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro (M1 through M4). Notably, users still clinging to the original M1 MacBook Air are left in the cold, as that model is currently unsupported.

Intricuit plans to launch the device "soon" on Kickstarter, with a target shipping window of March 2026. As with any crowdfunding campaign launched amidst the hype of CES, a healthy dose of skepticism is mandatory. There is a wide, often expensive gap between a polished tradeshow prototype and a mass-produced consumer product. Until units are actually landing on doorsteps, the Magic Screen remains a promising, if slightly ergonomic-straining, "what if."

For those tired of waiting for the rumored OLED touchscreen MacBooks of the future, Intricuit offers an immediate shortcut—provided you don't mind a little extra cable management and the risk of Gorilla Arm.