Why Apple's New M4 MacBook Pro Is A Beast: Power, Ports, Price & Release Date

Apple has just introduced the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro trims that come armed with M4 series processors. Compared to the M2-class predecessors, which only offered up to a 12-core CPU and a 38-core GPU, the M4 Pro and M4 Max versions serve up to 16 CPU cores and 40 graphics cores. 

Following in the footsteps of the stunning Mac mini refresh, Apple has juiced up the base RAM capacity for its new flagship laptops. The M4 models now start at 24GB for the 16-inch trim, instead of 16GB on the M2 generation MacBook Pro machines. Apple has also expanded the peak RAM capacity from 96GB to 128GB this time around (with an increased memory bandwidth of up to 546 GB/s), while the storage capacity still maxes out at 8TB. 

The star of the show is obviously the M4 silicon, which is based on the 3nm process. For the M4, Apple is claiming a 7x performance boost in Affinity Photo compared to the Intel Core i7 professor, and a 1.8x gain compared to the M1. Furthermore, 3D-rendering tasks see a speed gain worth over 10x, while video editing tasks in Adobe Premiere Pro also command an impressive 9.8x speedier output.

The more powerful M4 Pro version is said to be 4x faster at rendering compared to an Intel Core i9 kit and 3x faster than the M1 Pro. The 20-core GPU Apple has deployed on this one is twice as fast as the vanilla M4 silicon, and nearly three times faster than the corresponding M1 Pro processor.

The Apple M4 Max processor, on the other hand, is an altogether different beast. This one comes armed with two ProRes accelerators for demanding scenarios like editing 4K 120fps ProRes videos. As far as performance gains go, this one is said to be 3.5x faster at rendering, 2.2x quicker at code compilation, and 1.6x speedier at video processing compared to an M1 Max class laptop.

Another major upgrade Apple has made to the M4-driven 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops comes in the form of new Thunderbolt 5 ports. The next-gen ports double the data transfer speeds to 120 Gbps. The rest of the port selection remains unchanged, and so does the wireless connectivity suite, which is still impressive at Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.3 standards.

Color options are once again a familiar black and silver shade, while the screen resolution figures stand at 3024 x 1964 pixels for the smaller trim with a 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR screen and 3456 x 2234 pixels for the larger version with a 16.2-inch panel. For the first time, Apple is also offering an optional nano texture display option, aping the strategy it now follows for the M4 iMac, as well.

Notably, the SDR brightness levels have been doubled to 1,000 nits for the M4 generation. Apple has also put a 12MP Center Stage camera on the new MacBook Pro, while the battery life figures have also increased from 22 hours to 24 hours of video streaming.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,599 for the M4 processor variant, while education customers can get it for $100 lower. Upgrading to the more powerful version with an M4 Pro processor inside will set buyers back by ​​$1,999 in the US. Coming to the 16-inch model, the entry-point configuration with the M4 Pro silicon starts at $2,499, with a $200 discount available for education buyers.

If you wish to go with the M4 Max variant, it starts at $3,499, offering 32GB of unified RAM and 1TB of storage as the bare minimum. But do keep in mind that this is the entry-point M4 Max with a 14-core GPU and 32-core GPU. To get the best variant, you will have to spend an extra $300 for the M4 Max tier offering 16 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores.

The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro goes on pre-order starting today (October 30, 2024) in the US, and in a total of 28 regions across the globe. You can head over to Apple's website and the official Apple Store mobile app to place the order. Shipments, on the other hand, begin on November 8, kicking off the open purchase season from the online storefront, Apple Store locations, and Authorized Resellers globally.

On a side note, to go with the new Thunderbolt 5 ports on the new laptops, Apple is separately selling Thunderbolt 5 Pro cables at $69 a pop.