Apple has continued its week of Mac announcements by updating its popular MacBook Pro line up to include the firm’s latest M4 chipsets. The new machines replace the year-old M3 Pros, and bring the laptop range up to date with a processor that unusually debuted in the iPad Pro this year instead of MacBooks.
The new laptops, which add to this week’s new iMac and Mac mini launches, come in several configurations that have either the M4, M4 Pro or M4 Max processors, which Apple says offers faster performance and “enhanced capabilities”, including being able to run Apple Intelligence, the firm’s new artificial intelligence features.
The cheapest new MacBook Pro with M4 chip costs £1,599 and has a 14-inch screen, three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports and 16GB RAM. More expensive 14- and 16-inch models with M4 Pro and M54 Max have Thunderbolt 5 ports for faster transfer speeds of files.
Just like the M4 iMac announced on Monday, the MacBook Pros gain an updated 12MP Centre Stage webcam that can automatically frame you for video calls if you’re moving around. Apple also claims the new machines will offer 24 hours of battery life, the “longest ever” for a Mac device.
Buyers will be able to choose between space black or silver models, and can add an optional nano-texture coating to the screen for £150 at point of purchase. This is also available on the iMac and iPad Pro and helps to keep reflections down when working in direct sunlight.
“MacBook Pro is an incredibly powerful tool that millions of people use to do their life’s best work, and today we’re making it even better,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With the powerful M4 family of chips, and packed with pro features like Thunderbolt 5, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, an all-new nano-texture display option, and Apple Intelligence, the new MacBook Pro continues to be, by far, the world’s best pro laptop.”
The regular M4 chip lets you run Apple Intelligence, though it will be interesting to see if Apple ports the new features back to the M3 MacBooks, as we think they would be more than powerful enough. M4 will likely be stupendously powerful, but it’s telling that Apple only compares the M4’s speeds to the M1 – a chip that debuted in 2020 – saying the M4’s neural engine is more than 3 times more powerful for AI workloads.
It’s also claimed the M4 MacBook Pro is up to 1.8 times faster for editing gigabit photos and up to 3.4 times faster for rendering 3D graphics. The base MacBook Pro can now output to two external monitors and still use its built-in display.
The M4 Pro and M4 Max versions of the MacBook Pro are aimed firmly at professionals working in creative industries that require the oomph of a phenomenally powerful portable PC. These aren’t for students or people noodling around in a browser or in Gmail. Erm, sorry, Apple Mail.
These models have Thunderbolt 5 ports for the first time on any Mac, which allow transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s – that’s 120 gigabytes of data per second. All models also have an HDMI port, SDXC card slot, headphone jack, MagSafe 3 port for charging.
If you fully spec out the top end MacBook Pro M4 Max with nano-texture screen, 128GB RAM, and 8TB storage, you’ll pay £7,349. For most people out there, a MacBook Air wull suffice.
If you want Apple Intelligence on your Apple laptop though, one of these Pros is the way to go.
“With systemwide Writing Tools, users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarising text nearly everywhere they write,” Apple said. “With the newly redesigned Siri, users can move fluidly between spoken and typed requests to accelerate tasks throughout their day, and Siri can answer thousands of questions about Mac and other Apple products. New Apple Intelligence features will be available in December, with additional capabilities rolling out in the coming months.”
