Not that this is a huge surprise after Apple’s weeks of M4 upgrades — first with the 24-inch iMac, then the lovely new Mac mini — but today the company is also bringing its M4 chips to the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro. And, in addition to the base M4 chip and the M4 Pro, they can also be configured with the recently announced M4 Max.
Apple isn’t making any major changes to the 14-inch MacBook Pro this time around, other than bringing a Space Black color option. Still, the internal upgrades should be attractive to anyone with an M1 MacBook Pro or an older Intel model. Just like with the M4 iMac and Mac mini, Apple is also making 16GB of RAM the default for the $1,599 14-inch MacBook Pro (fixing one of our biggest problems with that model). You can thank Apple intelligence for the memory bump, even if you don’t care about AI.
Apple isn’t saying much about the M4 Max chip right now, but we do know it will have a 16-core CPU (12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores) and a 40-core GPU. In comparison, the M4 Pro has a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU, while the plain M4 chip has 8 or 10 cores along with a 10-core graphics chip. The M4 Max chip also has up to 128GB of RAM and 30 percent more memory bandwidth than the M3 Max.
In terms of other upgrades, the M4 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pro will also have three Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports, just like the M4 Pro-equipped Mac mini. If you’re constantly moving a lot of files around, this alone could be a reason to move on, as Thunderbolt 5 can support speeds of up to 80 Gbps (it can also reach 120 Gbps with its Bandwidth Boost feature). This is a huge step up from the 40 Gbps limit of Thunderbolt 3 and 4, and it also opens the door for better external GPU support, as well as powerful AI accelerators.
The new MacBook Pros have slightly brighter screens that can reach up to 1,000 nits SDR brightness (compared to 600 nits previously), and there’s also a nano-texture display option. This feature is primarily for people working in very bright environments or direct sunlight, as it reduces glare significantly. Both machines are also getting 12MP Center Stage webcams, which is a huge upgrade over the previous 1080p cameras.
The 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro still starts at $1,599 ($1,499 for education customers), while the M4 Pro model starts at $1,999 ($1,849 for education customers). Meanwhile, the 16-inch MacBook Pro still starts at $2,499 ($2,299 for education customers). You can pre-order both laptops today and they’ll be available in stores on November 8.