Apple Announces MacBook Pro Models With M4 Pro and M4 Max Chips, Thunderbolt 5 Support, and More

[t2jd1967]

My wonderful, expensive LG OLED TV had burn in just over a year. Burn In excluded from warranty of course. Last OLED TV for me. They do look great but I'm not getting chumped again.

I protect my 65" C1 like my life depends on it, in particular with sunlight (blinds down on sunny day or when I am not at home) and with the Apple TV going to the LA night screen saver after 2 mins and power save after 5. When I moved house recently, the apartment did not have blinds for a couple of months (manufactured to specification). So I put some bed sheets on the TV for days when the sun came out. I love the OLED display, but also think it is easily damaged.

As for the upgrade, when I left a business a few years ago I had to leave my 14" M1 Max 64GB/1TB behind and went for a 14" M2 Pro 16GB/1TB. The machine has not let me down, but I have run out of disk a few times and more importantly out of memory quite a lot. So the 14" M4 Max 64GB/2TB is going on order now. Yes, Wifi 7 would have been nice, but not a dealbreaker for me. And the additional SDR brightness and nano texture display are sure going to come in handy when I am working on the train, in particular paired with improved battery life.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Will the SDXC slot finally be a UHS-II slot? It's pointless to have an SD card slot for creatives on this device and limit it to super slow standards.

Yup. I have always argued for another TB port rather than a slow SD card slot. If I am going sneakernet it will be with fast CF Express not lame SD; even UHS-ll is not fast.

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Does anyone has a feeling that the M4 Pro is a binned and chopped M4 Max like it was in the M1 and M2 families and not it’s own design like the M3 Pro?

Who cares how Apple manages yields? We care about performance.

 

[DailySlow]

So arriving in stores Nov 8. Can pre-order now.

 

[arlomedia]

Everyone still sticking with M1 Max shows how well Apple did with the first M series MBP’s.

Agreed ... I have one that could probably go another year. But I also use an old Intel MBP that's no longer adequate, so after penciling out a few options, decided to upgrade the M1 to an M4 now and replace the old Intel with my current M1. I actually got nauseous looking at the price of an M4 with the specs I'm likely to need in the coming years. But I typically upgrade every three years and if I can get four years out of the M4, it will be worth it.

 

[platinumaqua]

Yup. I have always argued for another TB port rather than a slow SD card slot. If I am going sneakernet it will be with fast CF Express not lame SD; even UHS-ll is not fast.

The SD card reader is hooked up to 1 PCI Express Lane. Even if it was removed, that is not enough for another Thunderbolt port

 

[AppelGeenyus]

My PC has wifi 7. Makes no ****ing difference because my router isn't wifi 7 and if it was my internet wouldnt be faster.



So? MBP displays still rock without the need for OLED and if you go for the nano option OLED has no benefit.

There are people who still use Intel and M1 Macs. The new M4s are a huge upgrade for them in every way, every port, every component. When you cry online about computers keep in mind that the majority of people upgrading are not doing incremental upgrades. They are doing big upgrades and they aren't going to sit on their hands and wait longer just because tech nerds on the internet told them to.

Wtf is wrong with you, maybe if you took 1 second to calm down and consider I’m an existing M series owner sharing my personal preference you wouldn’t need to insult people as ‘crying tech nerds’. The world isn’t out to get you, no matter how much you want it to be.

 

[Riot Nrrrd]

My wonderful, expensive LG OLED TV had burn in just over a year. Burn In excluded from warranty of course. Last OLED TV for me. They do look great but I'm not getting chumped again.

My 2016 vintage LG OLED65E6P TV still doesn't have any burn-in. Don't play games and don't leave it on channels with static logos.

 

[lcseds]

How'd you manage that? I've been using an LG OLED as a desktop monitor since 2021 and I don't have so much as a hint of burn in.

I didn't "manage that". The LG managed that. It was a 55", so maybe different than a smaller one? Different experiences is all. It was sad to contact them and describe my issue and told in so many words, shove off. I paid $2500 for it, and ended up donating it at 1.5 years for a $400 deduction.

Apple may pull off a great OLED adoption that has longevity, or everyone is going to be excited to pay big bucks for another butterfly keyboard scenario.

 

[lcseds]

My 2016 vintage LG OLED65E6P TV still doesn't have any burn-in. Don't play games and don't leave it on channels with static logos.

Yep, I know how to treat it. Didn't work for me. But it isn't pleasant when you have one of the "weak" ones maybe and lose a lot of dollars. Bottom line, OLED is fragile in use. For my story there is another of success. Unfortunately, there should be only success.

 

[Trisaeclisenex]

So arriving in stores Nov 8. Can pre-order now.

I ordered mine, and it will arrive on november the 18th. In store or at my door makes no difference.

So Apple says they're supposed to arrive in store on the 8th, but not here!

 

[Christopher Kim]

Looking for a little buying advice, if anyone has a moment. I'm an average user, not doing any video editing or heavy gaming (though once in awhile when I get bored I might play the Sims or Civilizations - but that is very rare). My aim is longevity of use before the thing makes me want to tear my hair out. I'm typing this right now on a late 2017 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 16 GB memory, and I am now getting to that point with this one - battery life not great anymore and occasionally want to throw it against the wall. It is therefore replacement time.

What do you guys think, does the 14-core Pro chip with memory upped to 48 GB serve my purposes better, or the lower level Max chip with 36 GB memory? I really wish you could increase the memory on the base Max chip, but that's not something they're allowing and the upper level Max chip is unfortunately a little beyond my budget for this (and probably more than I need anyway). Would greatly appreciate any guidance provided, thank you!

Looks like you already got good advice / decided on M4 Pro 48GB, but just a +1. I think if you’ve been able to get by with an Intel version all this time, you probably don’t need the added oomph of the Max vs the Pro. The M4 Pro already still an amazing chip (heck, my M1 Pro / 32GB is still great for my needs). The other thing to mention is on the 14” model, the heat-dissipation isn’t as good as the 16”, and so there has been some cases where people who get the Max in the 14” and really push it (given they ”need” the added horsepower), there’s been throttling or otherwise hot temp issues. For those who really need the power of the Max, in general, the 16” seems to be the better buy. That is, of course, if you can manage the heft / extra-weight. If you want the 14” from a size perspective, unless you‘re sure you need the power of the Max, the Pro chip is usually the safer play.

In my situation, I got the 14” M1 Pro (32GB / 1TB) on Day 1, kind of out of zeal, but after 3 years, I realize I don’t really even need the power of the Pro chip. Being honest, I just liked having the MBP chassis, and could handle the mini-splurge given I don’t buy laptops that frequently.

I’m seriously considering ”upgrading” to the 15” MBA when it gets updated with the M4. I think that would more than suit my needs power-wise, and I’d love the body of the thinner/slimmer MBA with the larger 15” screen size and no fans. I’d probably get min-24gb memory (and maybe even 32gb if the next M4 MBAs have a 32gb option too, now that 16gb is the min base amount)… So I’m someone else who really doesn’t need the power of the Max, let alone even the Pro! Hah

Yes it's great that one will be able to buy the 48GB model without BTO. A little fuzzy on the nano texture screens (no pun intended) - will they require a BTO no matter what or do you think apple/retailers will stock nano versions of the standard sku's?

I haven’t seen anyone talking about this yet, but I think it’s unclear and remains to be seen. Will be up to retailers (and Apple) on how readily available the ”standard non-BTO models” will be in terms of w/ and w/out nano-texture.

Before the current M4 iPad Pros, the only other item that had option for nano-texture was the Pro Display XDR I think. And it’s at a price point that it’s not readily available at retailers (like Amazon or Best Buy)… Will be interesting to see after the M4 iPad Pros are out a bit more, whether retailers start offering discounted versions incl. the nano-texture option. Either way, not necessarily what they’ll do with these new MBPs and nano-texture too.

Will be interesting to see?

 

[Tagbert]

It takes around 2-3 years, mostly with static pictures. Just read reviews about any OLED tvs and other gadgets with OLED screens. OLED has organic nature and burn-in is just a matter of time. The one can’t be skipped.

That is exactly what the tandem OLED is designed to combat. With two layers of emitters, each pixel can generate the same brightness running at half the power. That significantly reduced the changes of burn-in. There is a non-linear, inverse relationship between power and longevity.

 

[antonrg]

Hm, I thought about buying a MacBook Air 15" 8/10/16 witg 16GB Ram and 1 TB SSD in the last days to replace my old Intel Macbook Pro from 2018.
Or should I better go with a base M4 10/10/16 with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD ? The price difference is 70 € and the Pro seems to bet the better all-in-one-package.
More Thunderbolt-Ports, SDXC and HDMI, better display, weight difference seems negligible and 15" vs 14" should also be ok.
What do you think

I had a similar situation. Went with a Pro instead and never looked back. The screen alone is million times better. Speakers and extra ports. Plus, you’ve got active cooling in it. Go with a Pro

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I didn't "manage that". The LG managed that. It was a 55", so maybe different than a smaller one? Different experiences is all. It was sad to contact them and describe my issue and told in so many words, shove off. I paid $2500 for it, and ended up donating it at 1.5 years for a $400 deduction.

Apple may pull off a great OLED adoption that has longevity, or everyone is going to be excited to pay big bucks for another butterfly keyboard scenario.

I only thought it was strange is all. Especially since TVs have a different implementation of OLED, and LG has all those extra features intended to prevent or reduce the appearance of burn in.

I'm confident in OLED as a technology at this point. Hasn't failed me yet.

 

[PowerButton]

Apple Intelligence is almost becoming a joke. Why advertise this with the new MBP’s and only have simple word processing capabilities. 🤷‍♂️ This stuff has been around for a few years now and Apple is selling it like it’s sliced bread.

 

[MallardDuck]

I also ordered my new MacBook Pro, today!

As I understand it, it seems that the nano-textured display is designed for people using their Mac in bright sunlight, and since it isn’t my case, I went for the regular glass.

I also bought the 1TB drive, with 48GB of RAM. I hope I’ll be using this Mac for the rest of my career!

I made a similar decision. I think there’s a real question about durability of nano-texture on mobile devices, and I’m not willing to risk the screen on a very expensive Mac (or iPad) until we know more about the real world.

 

[MallardDuck]

Looking for a little buying advice, if anyone has a moment. I'm an average user, not doing any video editing or heavy gaming (though once in awhile when I get bored I might play the Sims or Civilizations - but that is very rare). My aim is longevity of use before the thing makes me want to tear my hair out. I'm typing this right now on a late 2017 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 16 GB memory, and I am now getting to that point with this one - battery life not great anymore and occasionally want to throw it against the wall. It is therefore replacement time.

What do you guys think, does the 14-core Pro chip with memory upped to 48 GB serve my purposes better, or the lower level Max chip with 36 GB memory? I really wish you could increase the memory on the base Max chip, but that's not something they're allowing and the upper level Max chip is unfortunately a little beyond my budget for this (and probably more than I need anyway). Would greatly appreciate any guidance provided, thank you!

Either is going to be a massive upgrade for you. Unless you’re running heavy RAM workloads like virtual machines, either amount of ram should be more than enough for the foreseeable future given you workload (even the base M4 is going to be like 5 x the speed of your current machine). But given the choice, I’d probably err on the RAM side vs the CPU side - thought you might look at spending that money on upgrading the storage instead. On the flip side, buying a stock pro machine and then an external USB 4/TB5 SSD is going to be even more cost effective if you need it.

the hardware has gotten to the point that unless you’re doing insane things, the lifespan is more likely limited by Apple’s OS support than any workload.

The M1 I’m replacing could legit handle my needs for at least 1-2 more years. I do run heavy workloads, and while I did upgrade, I expect my next machine after this to be an M8 or M9. Either of the M4’s you mention, for what you describe doing should last 5+ years with no problem, and probably longer than that.

 

[Christopher Kim]

I made a similar decision. I think there’s a real question about durability of nano-texture on mobile devices, and I’m not willing to risk the screen on a very expensive Mac (or iPad) until we know more about the real world.

Agreed. And more importantly, other than durability, I really think the nano-texture makes the screen look worse in regular, indoor conditions than the normal screen. On the M4 iPad Pros, I‘ve looked at the nano-textured screens a lot at Apple Stores, and I really thought it took away from the brilliance of the new OLED screens. The fact that the black borders around the screen were non-matte also looked strange - I would imagine it’ll be similar on the MBPs (eg. the black borders around the screen will be non-coated, only the actual screen will have the nano-textured coating).

Even though it’s ”new” and “costs more”, I really think the only people who should be considering the nano-texture on either the iPad or the MBPs are those who use the devices outdoors the majority of the time. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve used either my MBP or my iPad outdoors in over 10 years. So it’s definitely not for me.

 

[yuda398]

Who cares how Apple manages yields? We care about performance.

I am

 

[john1970]

Hm, I thought about buying a MacBook Air 15" 8/10/16 witg 16GB Ram and 1 TB SSD in the last days to replace my old Intel Macbook Pro from 2018.
Or should I better go with a base M4 10/10/16 with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD ? The price difference is 70 € and the Pro seems to bet the better all-in-one-package.
More Thunderbolt-Ports, SDXC and HDMI, better display, weight difference seems negligible and 15" vs 14" should also be ok.
What do you think ?

I would go with the 14" MBP vs. 15" MacBook Air

 

[Crom!]

PCIE 4.0 support? So eGPU support?

 

[Joe Bauer]

Apple today announced new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models featuring M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, alongside a new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M4 chip.

Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.​

The new M4 Pro and M4 Max machines come with a minimum of 24GB of Unified Memory as standard, up from 18GB in the previous models. Both models feature three Thunderbolt 5 ports, the newest specification of Thunderbolt that offers speeds of up to 120 Gb/s with Bandwidth Boost, which is triple the maximum bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4.

The new standard also features support for native DisplayPort 2.1 output over USB‑C. Thunderbolt 5 is fully compatible with USB4, and supports advanced protocols such as PCIe 4.0, allowing faster data access speeds for storage devices and peripherals.

M4 Pro features a 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores, along with up to a 20-core GPU that is twice as powerful as M4, according to Apple. With M4 Pro, the new MacBook Pro offers a 75% increase in memory bandwidth over the prior generation. The new MacBook Pro with M4 Pro is also up to 3x faster than models with M1 Pro, says Apple.

The M4 Max model features up to a 16-core CPU, up to a 40-core GPU, over half a terabyte per second of unified memory bandwidth, and a Neural Engine that is over 3x faster than M1 Max. With M4 Max, MacBook Pro delivers up to 3.5x the performance of M1 Max, according to Apple. The M4 Max also supports up to 128GB of unified memory.

All models include an improved Liquid Retina XDR display thanks to an all-new nano-texture display option, offering up to 1000 nits of brightness for SDR content. There's also a new 12MP Center Stage camera, which Apple says delivers enhanced video quality in challenging lighting conditions. The new camera also supports Desk View, which shows both your face and the desk immediately below. On the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the M4 Pro model offers up to 22 hours of battery life, while the M4 Max model offers up to 18 hours. For the 16-inch MacBook Pro, users opting for the M4 Pro can get up to 24 hours of battery life, while the M4 Max offers up to 21 hours.

All MacBook Pro models feature an HDMI port that supports up to 8K resolution. The M4 Pro model is able to support up to three 6K displays at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI, an improvement over the previous M3 Pro model. Apple's M4 Pro chip alternatively supports one display at 6K resolution over 60Hz and a second display at 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz.

Meanwhile, the M4 Max model supports up to three external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI, or up to two external displays with 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or one external display with 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI.

In addition, both models come with a SDXC card slot, a MagSafe 3 port for charging, and a headphone jack, along with support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

Like their predecessors, the new MacBook Pro models with M4 Pro and M4 Max are available in space black and silver colors. The new MacBooks are available to pre-order starting today, and they will be available beginning Friday, November 8. In the US, pricing starts at $1,599 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, and $2,499 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

Article Link: Apple Announces MacBook Pro Models With M4 Pro and M4 Max Chips, Thunderbolt 5 Support, and More

Is it worth upgrading from an M1 Pro? I do a lot of FCP video editing.

 

[john1970]

Is it worth upgrading from an M1 Pro? I do a lot of FCP video editing.

Is Final Cut Pro still working well on the M1 Pro for the type of video that you are editing? If yes, you probably don't have to upgrade. Just my opinion.

 

[Tagbert]

Is it worth upgrading from an M1 Pro? I do a lot of FCP video editing.

As John mentions, it depends on if you are satisfied with your current performance.

Here is an early look at comparative performance. You can use this to get some idea of how much the new chips might speed up some parts of your work. How much would depend on which tasks are processor bound vs which are just the time it takes you to do things. Then there is the question of whether the improved performance costs verses how much additional revenue you could make.

Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) vs M1 Pro: performance comparison

We compared Apple M4 Pro (12-Core) (4.51 GHz) against M1 Pro (3.2 GHz) in games and benchmarks. Find out which CPU has better performance.

nanoreview.net