Apple Announces M4 Max Chip: Up to 16-Core CPU, Up to 40-Core GPU, Up to 128GB of RAM, and More

[MacRumors]

Apple today announced the M4 Max chip alongside new MacBook Pro models—its most advanced and powerful Apple silicon chip to date.

Like the M4 chip introduced in the iPad Pro and the M4 Pro chip unveiled yesterday in the redesigned Mac mini, the M4 Max chips are fabricated with TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3E) process. Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji said:

Apple silicon has taken the Mac to unprecedented heights, and the rapid pace of innovation continues with M4 Pro and M4 Max. With the world's fastest CPU core, immensely more powerful GPUs, and the fastest Neural Engine ever, the power-efficient performance and capabilities of the M4 family extend its lead as the most advanced lineup of chips in the industry.

The M4 Max's 16-core CPU contains 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores, making it 2.2x faster than the M1 Max. The GPU contains up to 40 cores for performance up to 1.9x faster than the M1 Max. The M4 Max supports up to 128GB of unified memory with up to 546GB/s of memory bandwidth. The chip also contains an enhanced Media Engine with two video encode engines and two ProRes accelerators. Like the M4 Pro chip, the M4 Max supports Thunderbolt 5 with up to 120Gb/s data transfer capability.

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Apple also today drew attention to the M4 and M4 Pro chip, with the M4 Max completing the new chip lineup. Apple's new MacBook Pro models are available with either the M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chips, depending on the model and configuration.

Article Link: Apple Announces M4 Max Chip: Up to 16-Core CPU, Up to 40-Core GPU, Up to 128GB of RAM, and More

 

[allquixotic]

I'm extremely disappointed that Apple did not increase the RAM on the top end M4 Max. We need more RAM for our generative AI (LLM) workloads, and this isn't getting it done. 48 GB sticks are available commercially; they could have slotted 4 x 48 GB modules for 192 GB on the top end. Why didn't they? Why?

+15% CPU and +20% GPU isn't gonna get it done. Sorry Apple, I'm skipping this generation. Your inability to ship more RAM just cost you at least $8k from me.

 

[adamw]

WOW! Glad the M4 Max has Thunderbolt 5 support, faster cores, 2x faster ray-tracing engine, and up to 128GB RAM support.

 

[CWallace]

My guess is that the M4 Ultra will be two M4 Max with the UltraFusion interconnector so that is going to be a beast at up to 32 CPU and 80 GPU cores and 256GB of RAM.

 

[dinobear]

Love it! Why marketing page comparing specs to 4 year old M1 tho?

 

[macduke]

Damn, the M4 Max (low) only supports 36GB memory. For comparison, the M3 Max (low) supported up to 96GB. Apple is really squeezing people to upgrade to the topmost spec to get more memory. What's even crazier is the M4 Pro in the Mac mini can be configured to 64GB memory but in the MacBook Pro the M4 Pro is limited to 48GB. Why??

 

[ROLLTIDE1]

no wifi 7

 

[Eric_WVGG]

Love it! Why marketing page comparing specs to 4 year old M1 tho?

The video shows one benchmark indicating a 1.2x increase in speed over the M3 Max… sounds like a minor year-over-year upgrade, vs the leap from M1/2 to M3 Max.

Feeling pretty okay about being relegated to last-year’s-coolness this time around.

 

[mazz0]

Why can't you get the Max in a Mac Mini? If the cooling in the MacBook Pro is sufficient you'd think the cooling in the Mini would be too (even the new tiny one). Probably to help them differentiate the Studio (and charge extra for it).

 

[cczhu]

2x faster than M1 Max, impressive. When are they going to do a redesign with Face ID?
That's the time to upgrade from M1 Max then.

 

[Cervisia]

$600 for 12 GPU cores is insane. That buys an RTX 4070 Super.

 

[ralph_sws]

no wifi 7

next year with M5

 

[CWallace]

Damn, the M4 Max (low) only supports 36GB memory. For comparison, the M3 Max (low) supported up to 96GB. Apple is really squeezing people to upgrade to the topmost spec to get more memory. What's even crazier is the M4 Pro in the Mac mini can be configured to 64GB memory but in the MacBook Pro the M4 Pro is limited to 48GB. Why??

The M4 Pro also requires the "unbinned" model for capacities larger than 36GB or 48GB.

The 36GB option requires 12GB DIMMs, the 48GB can use 12GB or 16GB DIMMs, and the 64/128GB requires 16GB DIMMs, but the SoCs must have a controller that can handle both.

EDIT - duffyanneal believes it may be due to the memory bandwidth between the binned and unbinned with the binned using three-channel (so 3x12GB for 36GB and 3x16GB for 48GB) and the unbinned using four-channel.

 

[awshucks]

This means 256 GB RAM for the M4 Ultra!

 

[CWallace]

Why can't you get the Max in a Mac Mini? If the cooling in the MacBook Pro is sufficient you'd think the cooling in the Mini would be too (even the new tiny one). Probably to help them differentiate the Studio (and charge extra for it).

Yup.

But the price difference between an M4 Pro Mac mini with similar specs to the base M4 Max Mac Studio would probably be minimal, so an M4 Max Mac mini could end up being hundreds more.

 

[Beau10]

Damn, the M4 Max (low) only supports 36GB memory. For comparison, the M3 Max (low) supported up to 96GB. Apple is really squeezing people to upgrade to the topmost spec to get more memory. What's even crazier is the M4 Pro in the Mac mini can be configured to 64GB memory but in the MacBook Pro the M4 Pro is limited to 48GB. Why??

Likely weren't popular SKUs for the M3 Max, so they decided the cost to support them in their supply chain isn't worth it.

 

[ChedNasad]

Love it! Why marketing page comparing specs to 4 year old M1 tho?

Most people probably still have M1 and they are the most likely to consider updating. I still have my M1 Pro for instance and am thinking about it.

 

[mctrials23]

Love it! Why marketing page comparing specs to 4 year old M1 tho?

Because thats what plenty of people will be upgrading from (myself included) and it also massages the numbers more vs M2, M3.

 

[sza]

Love it! Why marketing page comparing specs to 4 year old M1 tho?

My M1 mac mini still rocks...

 

[mthomas184]

no wifi 7

Like 4 people in the world are set up with WiFi 7.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I got the m2 max 16" with 96gb and 4tb second hand for 2800cdn. Hoping to see benchmarks on m4 max as trade in value for my model on apple store is 1500$cdn. Eek. I like the large screen and performance all the same and so far so good. Importantly is the battery efficiency with the new chips.

 

[GDF]

Like 4 people in the world are set up with WiFi 7.

Interesting comment. When companies like Apple start producing more WiFi 7 devices that will make people like me upgrade to WiFi 7. I am sure others would agree and would upgrade to WiFi 7 too. I think anything Apple releases now should be WiFi 7. Makes no sense that iPhone 16 Pro’s are WiFi 7 capable, but all the new devices announced this week are not.

 

[t0rqx]

Waiting for in-depth reviews, knowing the new Apple they probably cut corners on the design.

 

[t0rqx]

Interesting comment. When companies like Apple start producing more WiFi 7 devices that will make people like me upgrade to WiFi 7. I am sure others would agree and would upgrade to WiFi 7 too. I think anything Apple releases now should be WiFi 7. Makes no sense that iPhone 16 Pro’s are WiFi 7 capable, but all the new devices announced this week are not.

Cause they want you to upgrade again in 2025. Revenue.

 

[MrGimper]

I'm happy that it's only a 20% increase over my M3 Max 16/40, especially as I saved £700 buying an Apple Refurb. I don't need to browse MR any faster.