Any not-so-obvious differences between different M4 MBP models?

[bread.bernd]

Hi everyone,

I am a first-time poster, hoping not to miss any guidelines for this forum. Happy to adapt the post if I did!
I am considering buying a 14" M4 MacBook Pro for work. I am aware of the different versions (base, Pro, Max; Nano display; etc.) and the many obvious differences (CPU/GPU count, Thunderbolt connections...). However, I am trying to figure whether there are any not-so-obvious differences I should consider. For example, I recall from the introduction of the M2 models that there were significant differences in the SSD speeds between the base model vs. Pro/Max (link).
I have looked at the reviews and benchmarks out so far but didn't spot any such differences for the M4 models. Nevertheless, I am worried to miss a finding of this sort prior to my purchase decision. Are there any not-so-obvious differences (beyond the technical data given by Apple) I should be aware of? I hope the question is sufficiently well-phrased.

Many thanks for your help!

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

Most of the unknown differences are going to be between the sizes of products. Example, the 16" will have better temps and better sounding speakers given the physical size but all the hardware (e.g. ssd) is the same.

 

[navaira]

I believe M4 Pro/Max have Thunderbolt 5 rather than 4, and the SSD read/write speeds are much higher.

(Edited: added a comma before ‘and’ – those are two separate differences.)

 

[dmccloud]

I believe M4 Pro/Max have Thunderbolt 5 rather than 4 and the SSD read/write speeds are much higher.

The internal SSDs aren't using Thunderbolt, so that would have no impact on read/write speeds. What does impact read/write speeds is the NAND configuration of the internal SSD. The reason the base M2 models had noticeably slower SSD speeds was because the 256GB configurations used one NAND instead of the two 128GB NANDs M1 had. I believe M4 has gone back to the dual 128GB configuration. Even within the M2 series, SSDs above 256GB were all (at a minimum) dual NAND so the performance delta largely disappeared.

 

[navaira]

The internal SSDs aren't using Thunderbolt, so that would have no impact on read/write speeds. What does impact read/write speeds is the NAND configuration of the internal SSD. The reason the base M2 models had noticeably slower SSD speeds was because the 256GB configurations used one NAND instead of the two 128GB NANDs M1 had. I believe M4 has gone back to the dual 128GB configuration. Even within the M2 series, SSDs above 256GB were all (at a minimum) dual NAND so the performance delta largely disappeared.

Perhaps I should have placed a comma before ‘and’ – I didn’t mean to suggest those things were related.

I can’t find the specific review I’m thinking of, but here’s a comparison of the SSD speeds in M4 vs M4 Max:

Apple MacBook Pro M4 review: the Pro for everyone

Apple’s base model finally feels like like a full-throated Pro.

www.theverge.com

I don’t know what AmorphousDiskMark is, but the read/write speeds on M4 are roughly half of those on M4 Pro and M4 Max.

 

[fw85]

The M4 base model has 1 fan compared to 2 fans on the M4 Pro and M4 Max models.

 

[raythompsontn]

Pro and Max come with a 96 watt charger instead of the 70 watt charger.

 

[Toutou]

Pro and Max come with a 96 watt charger instead of the 70 watt charger.

Only the 14-core Pro, not the 12-core one.

 

[dmccloud]

Perhaps I should have placed a comma before ‘and’ – I didn’t mean to suggest those things were related.

I can’t find the specific review I’m thinking of, but here’s a comparison of the SSD speeds in M4 vs M4 Max:

Apple MacBook Pro M4 review: the Pro for everyone

Apple’s base model finally feels like like a full-throated Pro.

www.theverge.com

I don’t know what AmorphousDiskMark is, but the read/write speeds on M4 are roughly half of those on M4 Pro and M4 Max.

The SSD speeds scale with both the number of NAND chips in use and their respective capacities. With the 256GB models using two 128GB NAND chips, a 512 configuration could use either two 256GB modules or four 128GB modules, with both configurations offering faster read/write speeds over the base configurations.

 

[PotentPeas]

The SSD speeds scale with both the number of NAND chips in use and their respective capacities. With the 256GB models using two 128GB NAND chips, a 512 configuration could use either two 256GB modules or four 128GB modules, with both configurations offering faster read/write speeds over the base configurations.

I was going to note, I saw in another thread that you get four NAND chips with 4TB or 8TB configurations, so those will show faster SSD speeds than configurations with only two NAND chips, which I think is all of the rest of them.

 

[Mity]

The M4 base model has 1 fan compared to 2 fans on the M4 Pro and M4 Max models.

Does the binned 12-core M4 Pro model also have 2 fans?

 

[fw85]

Does the binned 12-core M4 Pro model also have 2 fans?

Yes, it does.

 

[bread.bernd]

Thanks so much everyone for the very helpful comments and tipps!