The much-awaited M4 MacBook Pro is finally here! On day 3 of its week of Mac announcements, Apple unveiled its refreshed MacBook Pro lineup with a powerful M4 family of chips. The new M4 MacBook Pro comes in 14-inch and 16-inch options. As speculated, Apple ditched the traditional launch event route and announced its new Macs via a press release. The new M4 MacBook Pro models are available for pre-order starting today, with shipping starting as early as November 8.
M4 MacBook Pro: Specs and Features
In terms of design, the new M4 MacBook Pro looks pretty similar to the M3 model, featuring a flat-edged chassis and a slim bezel screen with a notch cutout that holds the FaceTime camera. The prime highlight of the new MacBook is the upgraded and insanely capable M4 processors with Apple Intelligence support. There’s an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 processor, and a higher-end 14-inch & 16-inch MacBook Pro in M4 Pro and M4 Max variants.
Talking about the specifications, Apple’s M4 MacBook Pro features a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, the same version that powers the expensive M4 iPad Pro. The M4 chip brings a massive jump in performance, especially regarding the Neural Engine capabilities. The M4 Neural Engine is 3x more powerful than in M1, making it a great upgrade for AI workloads. Interestingly, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro starts with an upgraded RAM of 16GB, which is double the 8GB RAM on older models. This will allow for a better performance for Apple Intelligence features.
The MacBook Pro with M4 Pro comes with a 14-core CPU and a 20-core GPU and brings a 75 percent increase in memory bandwidth. This makes the M4 Pro MacBook Pro up to 3x faster than the M1 Pro models. The ultimate powerhouse, the M4 Max brings up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, a faster Neural Engine, and up to 128GB of unified memory, allowing on-device AI models to run faster than ever.
In terms of connectivity, the M4 MacBook Pro is equipped with three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Whereas, the 14- and 16-inch models with M4 Pro and M4 Max level up the connectivity game with Thunderbolt 5 so you can enjoy transfer speeds up to 120 Gb/s. Also, all the models feature an 8K HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, a MagSafe 3 charging port, and a headphone jack, along with Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E support.
All the M4 MacBook Pro models feature a Liquid Retina XDR display that levels up the viewing experience with an all-new nano-texture display option and up to 1000 nits of brightness for SDR content. Besides, all the M4 MacBooks boast an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera and an improved battery life that can last up to 24 hours on a single charge.
M4 MacBook Pro: Price & Availability
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip and 16GB RAM starts at $1,599. Whereas, the 16-inch MacBook Pro M4 model starts at $2,499. It’s nice to see Apple sticking to the same price points as the previous M3 models, despite an upgraded RAM of 16GB.
The new M4 MacBook Pro comes in Silver and Space Black color options. Both 14-inch and 16-inch models are up for pre-orders from the Apple online store, with shipping kicking off as early as November 8.