Apple's new M4 processors promise generation-over-generation improvements to CPU and GPU performance for its MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 laptops. The new M4 Pro and Max chips, which follow the M4 and M4 Pro updates to Apple's iMac and Mac Mini desktops, will also potentially bring better and faster AI performance and battery life.
The M4 chips all have a Gen 2, 16-core neural cluster that's slightly faster than the first generation, designed to support early Apple Intelligence features. These features will continue to roll out with MacOS 15.1 and future updates. The M4 has up to 10 CPU and 10 GPU cores, while the M4 Pro has up to 14 CPU and 20 GPU and the M4 Max has up to 16 CPU and 40 GPU. That means there's likely a big performance jump between the Pro and the Max for gaming. The biggest jump from the M3 generation is the Pro, with a notable bump in memory bandwidth, from 150GB/sec to 273GB/sec.
M4-series processors
| Apple M4 | Apple M4 Pro | Apple M4 Max | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chip configurations (CPU/GPU cores) | 8/8 or 10/10 | 12/16 or 14/20 | 14/32 or 16/40 |
| Performance cores | 4 | 8/10 | 10/12 |
| Efficiency cores | 4/6 | 4 | 4 |
| Neural engine cores (second gen) | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| Peak memory bandwidth (GBps) | 120 | 273 | 410 |
| MacBook Pro memory configurations (base/max, GB) | 16/32 | 24/36 or 24/128 | 36/128 |
All MacBook models, including the M2 and M3 MacBook Air (with an expected M4 upgrade early next year), will now have a minimum of 16GB of memory, because that's really the minimum necessary for AI processing via an integrated GPU, like AppIe's. No price bump for any entry-level models, though. The MacBook Pro 16's entry model has 24GB RAM, up from 18GB.
Physically, there are no visible changes to either MacBook Pros except for an added Thunderbolt port on the 14-inch, for a total of three ports; all systems with an M4 Pro or Max have Thunderbolt 5 ports. (They finally get an upgrade from the 1080p FaceTime camera to the 12-megapixel Center Stage camera. Yay!) The M4 model of the 14-inch is now also available in space black, like the higher-end versions.
Thanks to the new Tandem OLED video controller in the M4 chips, the Liquid Retina XDR displays can hit up to 1,000 nits in SDR, plus the option for the new non-reflective nano-texture layer. It adds $150 to the price of either size laptop.
And the battery life is projected at a couple hours longer than before in some cases, but, as always, that'll vary a lot depending on the internal components and battery capacity.
The MacBook Pro 14 starts at $1,599 (£1,599, AU$2,499) and the MacBook Pro 16 starts at $2,499 (£2,499, AU$3,999). Preorders begin today and the systems are slated to ship Nov. 8.