Continuing its string of announcements, Apple has revealed the latest MacBook Pro lineup as well as its new top-of-the-line chip. The M4 Max has a 40-core GPU – that’s double the number of cores found in the M4 Pro that the company revealed this week. It has a 16-core GPU with 12 performance and four efficiency cores and a 16-core Neural Engine that is said to be three times faster than the engine on the M1 chip. The M4 Max supports up to 128GB of RAM, which Apple claims offers 30 percent more memory bandwidth than the M3 Max.
The GPU is said to have faster cores and a ray-tracing engine that is twice as fast as the M3 chips. Apple claims that the Neural Engine is twice as fast as the engine on the previous generation chipset. In addition, Apple says that the CPU is 2.2 times faster than the CPU in the M1 Max.
Like the M4 and M4 Pro, the M4 Max is built on second-generation 3nm technology to enhance power efficiency and performance. Like the M4 Pro (which can be used to power the new Mac mini), the M4 Max supports Thunderbolt 5, which will make it faster to move files around as it has a data transfer capability of up to 120GB per second. And, like all of Apple’s other M-series Macs, devices running the M4 Max will support Apple Intelligence features.
The device has an 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display that is sadly limited to a 60Hz refresh rate. The lack of a Face ID sensor and the lack of one of the M-series chips present in Apple’s flagship iPads are our other big gripes with this tablet.
But it’s a solid tablet otherwise. The iPad mini 7 runs on the same chipset as the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple has doubled the base storage compared to the previous generation. It weighs 0.65 pounds, so you won’t have much trouble holding it in one hand.
The Touch ID sensor is built into the power button, and there are stereo speakers and good cameras (12MP on both sides). Like nearly every other Apple device these days, the iPad mini 7 has a USB-C port instead of a Lightning port. Speaking of which, the tablet should last up to 10 hours before needing a recharge. And although there’s no cellular connectivity here, the iPad mini 7 does support Wi-Fi 6E.