Apple's M4 MacBook Pro Announcement: What We Really Think

Introduction

Apple has announced both their new MacBook Pro 14 and 16. The MacBook Pro 14 can be configured with 5 CPU variants: an M4 chip with 10 cores, an M4 Pro chip with 12 or 14 cores, and M4 Max chips, with either 14 or 16 cores. The MacBook Pro 16 has 4 options because it can’t be had with the lowest end M4 chip.

So, what do we like about this announcement and what are we disappointed by?

The New & Exciting

Memory

Finally! Gone are the disgraceful MacBook Pros with only 8GB of memory. For laptops that were priced well above $1,000 it was predatory that Apple was still selling these. It limited what those machines were capable of and definitely affected their longevity and resale value. We felt bad for Apple buyers who bought these and just didn’t know better.

The configurations of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip now all start with 16GB, and can be upgraded up to 32GB. The MacBook Pros with the M4 Pro chips start at 24GB and can be upgraded to 48GB. Apple’s press release actually claims up to 64GB for these, but we couldn’t see anyway to configure them like that. The MacBook Pros with M4 Max chips start at 36GB and can be upgraded to a whopping 128GB. For the vast majority of buyers, the base memory that these laptops now come with is going to be enough, and you don’t have to upgrade.

Apple also sneaked in that the existing MacBook Airs with M2 and M3 processors would now start with 16GB of memory for the same price. This makes them significantly more competitive.

Memory Bandwidth

For some tasks, it’s not just whether you have enough memory that matters, it’s also whether you can access your memory fast enough. This is even more apparent for MacBooks as they use Unified memory. That means the CPU and GPU share the same memory. GPU tasks are highly hardware optimized and need very fast memory. In Windows laptops, they use dedicated GPUs with significantly higher memory bandwidth than what the CPUs have available to them.

Most of the prior M3 MacBook Pros had less memory bandwidth than the M2 MacBook Pros they were meant to replace. This created odd situations where M2 MacBook Pros would sometimes be just as fast or even faster, for tasks that were dependent on fast access to memory.

This has been rectified with these M4 chips. The M4 processors get 120 Gigabytes per second up from 100. The M4 Pro chips get 273 Gigabytes per second up from 150, and those with M4 Max chips get 410 Gigabytes per second for the slower Max chip and 546 for the fastest.

Processor Configuration

These laptops won’t arrive till November 8th. So, our full reviews with test results will drop about a week after that. Check out our YouTube channel to stay in the loop. All we know so far is from the iPad Pro that has had an M4 chip for a while, and that one performs incredibly well. A huge step up from M3.

When it comes to the M4, we get more cores than the chip it is replacing. The M4 has 10 cores up from 8, with 2 extra Efficient cores. Its GPU core count remains the same.

The M4 Pro has 12 cores for the lower end processor and 14 for the faster. This is a bump up from 11 and 12 cores. Also, for the M4 Pro’s specifically, another issue of the M3 series has been resolved. The M3 Pro chips saw a re-arrangement of their CPU cores. The 12 core M2 Pro variant had 8 Performance cores and 4 Efficient ones. Whereas the M3 Pro chip changed that. It had 2 less Performance cores and 2 more Efficient cores. Similar to the nuke to memory bandwidth, this created situations where M3 Pro chips didn’t always perform as well as we would have expected. Sometimes the benefits of the faster M3 cores over M2 cores were offset by having less Performance cores. This change has fortunately been reverted. The 12 core M4 Pro chip goes back to having 8 Performance cores and 4 Efficient ones. And, for the 14 core M4 Pro chip, you get 2 additional Performance cores. I would therefore expect the M4 Pro powered MacBook Pros, in particular, to be significantly faster than the M3 Pro powered MacBook pros that they replace. On the GPU side, both M4 Pros get 2 additional GPU cores.

Both M4 Max chips CPU core counts remain the same, although the lower end variant gets 2 additional GPU cores.

On the NPU front, performance has been upped from 18 to 38 TOPS. This makes it competitive with the current batch of Windows laptops. However, you really should be looking at the total TOPS that the laptop is capable of, including its GPU. These Mac laptops have significantly more powerful integrated GPUs. This will allow them to perform better so long as the models you are running are able to leverage the GPU.

Battery

The MacBook Pro 14s have gotten a slightly larger battery moving up from 69.6 Watt hours to 72.4. The MacBook Pro 16 gets an even smaller increase from 99.6 to 100 (they may just be rounding it here). We are super excited to test the power efficiency of these laptops when they come in, or their performance per watt. Apple’s M3 series was way ahead of Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm, and we expect them to dominate even more.

Ports

Moving along, the next big bit of good news is the ports. The M4 version of the MacBook Pro now gets the same 3 USB-C ports that the Pro and Max versions have. Previously this cheaper version of the MacBook Pro only had 2 USB-C ports on the left side. It’s good that you can now charge on either side and have an additional port. For this cheaper version of the MacBook Pro 14, these ports are Thunderbolt 4 speeds. The M4 Pro and Max versions get a huge upgrade to Thunderbolt 5 speeds. These are some of the first laptops to offer such speeds. Thunderbolt 5 is an absolutely massive step up from 40 gigabits of bandwidth to 120. This will enable multiple high refresh rate 4K monitors or even two 6K monitors running at 60 hz. Thunderbolt 5 is meant to support two 8k monitors at 60Hz, but Apple does not list support for that. It also allows for much higher power delivery. You will now be able to charge your laptop by USB-C up to 240 watts.

Display

The display has a couple of improvements. Apparently, it can now go up to 1,000 nits of brightness for SD content, which is just mind-blowing. That is up from 600 of the prior models, which was already very bright. They are also introducing a nano-texture display, which is meant to reduce glare. Useful for those who use these laptops in direct sunlight. It is a $150 upgrade, though, that we don’t believe is worth it. That is mostly because we have used these Pros in a variety of lighting conditions and found them to be great at combating reflections already. So we did not order any models in with this upgrade.

Webcam

The webcams have been upgraded to a new 12 megapixel camera that will be able to keep you centered as you move around the frame. The quality of webcams in all laptops, including MacBooks, is definitely something that can be improved, so we’re excited to test this.

The Disappointing

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 7 has not been included. These laptops have Wi-Fi 6e, which is not upgradeable. There is no excuse here. Our guess is that Apple has done this so they will have a reason to convince you to upgrade to the M5 models next year.

Display

Some people will be disappointed there isn’t a tandem OLED like in the iPad Pro. This would help reduce the number one issue with Mini LED panels, which is ghosting for fast moving content. We never found it that bad, but it does bother some folks quite a bit.

Notch

The notch is still here and just as big. We are shocked that they still haven’t shrunken this down to the one that the iPhone has. The real estate to the right of the notch is important on MacOS. Many applications run there and can’t be accessed anywhere else like Dropbox. If you don’t have enough space for such applications they disappear behind the notch. This will be even more noticeable on the smaller display of the MacBook Pro 14.

Media Engine

Our next disappointment is that we don’t get any additional Media Engines. You still get one for the MacBook Pros with M4 and M4 Pro chips, and two for the MacBook Pros with M4 Max chips. One of the largest audiences for these laptops are video editors, where media encoding and decoding is the primary bottle neck for them. Not getting additional media engines is disappointing for this user base. Because of this, some tasks for them such as rendering a video are unlikely to be much faster with these new laptops.

Storage

Next is the starting storage of 512g in many of the base models. The MacBook Pro 16 with the M4 Pro chip costs $2,900 and only comes with 512g of storage. Are you serious? And of course, they charge $200 to upgrade it to 1 TB, which likely costs them less than $50. It basically shifts Apple from being stingy on memory to now being stingy on storage. Creators use these laptops and need storage. Also, Apple themselves are trying to make a big push into gaming. Games need a ton of storage.

Pricing Strategy

Finally, Apple’s predatory upgrade strategy is still here. There often appears to be a reason to upgrade, but when you do you get something bundled in that you don’t want, yet you have to pay for. For example. If you want to get the fastest CPU performance you have to get the highest M4 Max chip that has extra GPU cores that you may not need or want. Another example, if you want 36GB of memory in a MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip, you actually can’t. You are forced to get 48GB and pay for the extra memory, which you may not need.

Taking that all into consideration, this issue has been reduced this year for two reasons. Firstly, starting memory on the cheapest models is now higher at 16GB, which is really nice to see. Secondly, the M4 Pro 14 core now has the same number of cores as the lower end M4 Max chip. This means you can get close to max CPU performance from an M4 Pro chip. This was not the case with the older M3 Pro chips. Those had significantly less Performance Cores than their M3 Max chips, so you were forced to buy a max chip if you wanted high end CPU performance.

Conclusion

Alright, overall we are really excited about this announcement. There is a lot more positive here than negative, and this is a better announcement than the atrocious M3 MacBook Pro release. But, which one to buy, or whether you should buy one at all, depends on your use-case.

For Students or Those with Light Computing Needs

The MacBook Pro 14 base model with the M4 chip is the one to get. It’s much better this year than it was in prior years. You get 2 extra cores, a much healthier amount of starting memory, and that extra Thunderbolt 4 port.

For Programmers and Audio Folks

The MacBook Pro 14 with an M4 Pro chip is what we recommend. This year you get much stronger CPU performance with more total cores and more of them are Performance cores. You also get a very healthy amount of memory with 24 gigs.

Now if you want 1 TB of storage, please keep this in mind. Apple laptops regularly go on sale at retailers. Their custom configurations rarely do. If you wait for a sale, you should be able to get the 14 core 1 TB model for the same price as the 12 core with that upgrade.

For Video Editors

Most of you will be fine with the MacBook Pro 16 with the lowest end M4 Max chip. That model has the same number of Media Encoding engines as the 16 core M4 Max. Memory bandwidth has been increased this year, and it comes with a good amount of memory at 36 gigs. Just make sure you get at least 1TB of storage.

For 3D Artists and Data Scientists

If you're doing AI or ML work the highest end M4 Max chip in the MacBook Pro 16 is the way to go. You get the fastest memory speeds, and the most GPU cores. Plus, it comes standard with 48g of memory.

The combination of large amounts of memory, faster memory bandwidth, and an extremely powerful integrated GPU, make the MacBook Pro’s with M4 Max chips ideal for AI workloads and machine learning. No other laptop has this combination. In Windows land, laptops with Powerful GPUs have limited dedicated GPU memory at 12 or 16 gigs. This is a big benefit of Apple’s Unified memory combined with powerful integrated GPUs.

For gamers

We would still recommend a Windows laptop all day long. Yes Cyberpunk 2077 is finally coming to Mac, but it’s a drop in the ocean compared to the games available on Windows laptops, which they likely will continue to come out first on.

Do You Really Need to Upgrade?

This all being said, If you have an M2 or M3 MacBook Pro you are unlikely to notice much of a difference by upgrading. So, please think twice before spending your hard-earned cash. Apple heavily suggests you apply for a credit card when buying one of these laptops, which we do not recommend. You should not be going into debt to buy an Apple laptop. If you can’t afford one, we have a range of other options here on our website that are far more wallet friendly. Just check out the "Deals" section up top, sometimes we even include older MacBooks when they go on large sales! As always, thanks for reading and we hope you have an awesome rest of your day.