MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) review: the best gets even better

Apple MacBook Professional M4

MSRP $3,649.00

“With the M4, the MacBook Professional has by no means been higher.”

Professionals

• Even brighter show
• Incredible 12MP webcam
• Document-breaking efficiency
• Finest-in-class keyboard and trackpad
• All of the ports you need, now sooner
• Audio system so good you will ditch your headphones

Cons

• Nonetheless no OLED
• The 16-inch mannequin is kind of heavy

The M4 chip comes at an essential time. The competitors from Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD has by no means been stronger on the Home windows aspect, coming to disrupt Apple’s snug lead previously few years.

I used to be despatched the M4 Professional configuration of the 16-inch MacBook Professional. It’s a big laptop computer with a really highly effective chip inside, one which claims to have all of it: implausible battery life, spectacular GPU efficiency, world-class AI, and the “quickest core” on the CPU aspect. It’s onerous to complain when Apple has solely lowered the value of those machines and amped up almost each facet, together with the ports, show, efficiency, digital camera, and battery life. This isn’t simply the best MacBook you should purchase, it’s additionally one of many very best laptops that cash should buy.

Specs and configurations

As with the M3, the M4 MacBook Professional begins at $1,599. For the primary time, it now comes with 16GB of RAM as an alternative of 8GB, which was previously a $200 improve. The bump is critical for that entry-level 14-inch mannequin and ends in a $200 low cost all through the lineup.

Like earlier than, the 16-inch MacBook Professional M4 begins at $2,499, however has a reasonably substantial base configuration of the M4 Professional, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. My evaluation configuration costed $3,649, coming with the 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 48GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and the optionally available nano-texture show. Apparently, the M4 Professional configuration solely has the 48GB possibility for reminiscence — no extra, no much less. You possibly can, in fact, at all times max out by selecting the M4 Max, which may be configured with as much as 128GB of RAM and 8TB of storage.

Whereas the beginning costs of the MacBook Professional are cheap, including storage will get out of hand rapidly. It prices $600 to get 2TB of storage, and the costs get astronomical from there on out. It’s one other $600 for 4TB, and at that time, you’re paying over $4,000 to your laptop computer. Simply to place issues in perspective, you may purchase the Asus ProArt P16 with an RTX 4070 with 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage for $2,300.

Design

It’s been three and a half years of the MacBook Professional utilizing this influential design, each the 14-inch and 16-inch sizes. These are thick laptops, constructed like tanks, and sure, lack among the finesse of a MacBook Air. However they’re stunning, nonetheless. The introduction of the House Black shade possibility final yr is the one bodily change that’s been launched since 2021, and this time round, the darker shade has fully changed House Grey in all configurations. Personally, I’ll miss House Grey, and I want it had traded out Silver as an alternative. Oh nicely.

My mannequin was the 16-inch dimension, which I’ll admit is simply too massive for me. It doesn’t provide you with a lot in the best way of extra efficiency or additional options, and at 4.7 kilos, it’s no joke to lug round. Some will admire the additional display actual property, little doubt, however there’s undoubtedly a trade-off in mobility. Among the finest MacBook Professional options, the Asus ProArt P16, is each lighter and thinner, regardless of packing in a robust discrete GPU.

However the 14-inch MacBook Professional actually is the right compact laptop computer. I’ve obtained final yr’s 14-inch M3 Max mannequin sitting subsequent to it, and it continues to be the laptop computer I choose utilizing.

It goes with out saying that no matter which dimension you select, you’re getting a keyboard that’s giant, snug, and exact. It’s among the many greatest laptop computer keyboards you’ll sort on — and that goes for the trackpad too. I proceed to understand the full-size perform keys and the graceful glass floor of the trackpad. Double-clicks are clean and never too loud, one thing another haptic suggestions trackpads wrestle with.

The one eyesore in the entire expertise to me continues to be the notch within the show. I discover it fairly ugly and intrusive, and the best way it cuts into the menu bar may be clumsy, particularly on the 14-inch mannequin. I do know we’ll transfer past this design ultimately, so right here’s to hoping it occurs within the 2026 redesign a minimum of.

Ports and connectivity

The ports on the MacBook Professional haven’t modified since 2021, and that’s a great factor.

The one massive improve this yr is the inclusion of Thunderbolt 5. It’s solely obtainable within the M4 Professional and M4 Max fashions, whereas the M4 is caught on Thunderbolt 4. The Thunderbolt 5 will increase bandwidth from 40Gb/s to 120Gb/s. Which means a lot sooner file transfers and broader exterior show assist. The system can assist as much as two 6K 60Hz exterior shows, and in the event you improve to the M4 Max, that bumps as much as 4 exterior shows.

There aren’t any upgrades to wi-fi connectivity with the M4. For future-proofing functions, it’s too unhealthy we didn’t get the bump to Wi-Fi 7, however Wi-Fi 6E right here is actually nonetheless present, as is Bluetooth 5.3.

Show

I’ve already mentioned how the scale choices for these screens impacts the general expertise, however let’s speak concerning the show itself.

Apple has been resisting OLED on the MacBook Professional for years now, and it’s beginning to present. Don’t get me flawed — I really like this MacBook Professional’s mini-LED show. It’s extremely vibrant, and the nano-texture show is the right steadiness of delivering readability whereas deflecting glare. Sadly, Apple is charging $150 for the nano-texture improve, but it surely actually is a ravishing addition. It’s creates a refined matte impact that basically does look implausible.

However no, the mini-LED panel will simply by no means attain the highs of OLED, particularly when it comes to shade saturation, accuracy, and distinction. When you think about the brightness of the tandem OLED panel on the iPad Professional  This display hits 100% sRGB, 99% Show-P3, and 87% AdobeRGB, whereas OLED usually will get nearer to 100% throughout the board. For shade accuracy, I measured a Delta-E of 1.18, which isn’t unhealthy, however a bit behind most of the best OLED laptops I’ve examined.

Just like the iPad Professional, nonetheless, the MacBook Professional display does now go as much as 1,000 nits of brightness in SDR. The catch is that you just’ll have to activate adaptive brightness in settings to succeed in that most. When examined with that setting off, I measured max brightness of 585 nits, which continues to be brighter than many OLED laptop computer screens.

To check the complete brightness, although, I introduced the MacBook Professional outdoors. However beneath the noon cloudy skies of Portland, I may inform I wasn’t hitting the complete 1,000 nits. I needed to shine a flashlight proper into the sunshine sensor to essentially see that max brightness shine. And although I wasn’t capable of get a studying from my colorimeter at this brightness, I may undoubtedly see the distinction. I do want Apple had made it doable to manually attain that full brightness, even when hidden in settings. Nonetheless, whenever you may really want the additional brightness, the MacBook Professional does have extra to supply than every other laptop computer.

Talking of additional brightness, HDR is dealt with rather well too, principally because of the seamless integration with macOS. Whenever you hit HDR content material, you’ll comprehend it. And whenever you don’t, you’ll overlook it even exists. That’s precisely how HDR needs to be dealt with.

Webcam and audio system

The front-facing FaceTime digital camera obtained fairly a bump this time round, going from 1080p to 12-megapixel. That makes it probably the most high-resolution webcam on a laptop computer, and it actually does look nice. It handles low gentle higher, introducing a lot much less noise into the picture.

It’s not solely about extra pixels although. Apple has two methods up its sleeve in terms of the digital camera: Desk View and Heart Stage. Each are neat additions, if a little bit gimmicky. Heart Stage retains you focused within the body, which may be useful throughout displays.

Desk View, in the meantime, provides a second digital camera feed of the desk in entrance of you. There’s a separate new app known as Desk View, which helps you arrange the angle appropriately. I examined this out in a FaceTime name, and whereas I may see particular situations the place it might be helpful, it’s a bit too blurry to make me enticed to attempt it out extra.

The audio system are implausible, as you may anticipate. They’re louder, bolder, and bassier than many Bluetooth audio system, filling even giant rooms with loads of quantity. The 16-inch mannequin specifically, which I examined out, nonetheless has the very best audio system of any laptop computer. That’s not altering anytime quickly.

Efficiency

“Quickest core. Interval.” That was really a quote from Intel’s advertising about its most up-to-date Core Extremely Sequence 2 chips. Which will have been true for a few weeks, however the M4 has rapidly arrived to spoil Intel’s enjoyable. And boy, it positive does run circles round nearly each different cell chip in the marketplace.

The 14-core half has eight Efficiency cores and 6 Effectivity cores, however that association hasn’t modified on this technology. As a substitute, it’s all about pushing these cores as onerous as they’ll go, ensuing within the quickest single-core rating in Cinebench R24 and Geekbench 6 I’ve ever seen. And it’s not even shut. Its rating of 179 is eighteen% larger than the the M3 Max and 29% larger than the quickest Core Extremely 7 258V in our database, the Asus Zenbook S 14. The comparability isn’t trying any brighter for Qualcomm or AMD’s latest efforts.

The multi-core good points are extra modest over the earlier technology, however they nonetheless present Apple method out within the lead over its direct opponents. Take one in every of my favourite laptops from this yr for instance, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition. The M4 Professional within the MacBook Professional is a stunning 53% forward of the Snapdragon X Elite chip contained in the Floor Laptop computer. That’s no joke.

Having such a commanding lead in each single-core and multi-core efficiency means the M4 Professional MacBook Professional is simply going to really feel sooner in nearly each process you throw at it. You won’t discover the efficiency distinction when searching the online, however in the event you spend most of your day in entrance of an modifying timeline, you positive will.

These MacBook Professionals maintain their crown as the final word creator workstation. The ProArt P16 is a implausible Home windows various, and it’s spectacular how a lot Asus has been capable of emulate the success of the MacBook Professional, however there’s a cause they continue to be the go-to possibility.

A part of the story with the M4 can be the AI efficiency. Apple Intelligence launches in earnest on these laptops, and Apple says its new Neural Engine is twice as quick as within the earlier technology. As examined in Geekbench AI, that’s precisely what I noticed.

Graphics

Upon the announcement, Apple said that there have been graphics enhancements within the M4 sequence. Though the previous-gen M3 would nonetheless signify the bigger architectural improve, introducing options similar to mesh shading and Dynamic Caching, the M4 builds on that change with larger frequencies and sooner reminiscence. Impressively, the M4 Professional scored a 9182 within the GPU check in Cinebench R24.

Making a one-to-one comparability with a discrete GPU is troublesome, particularly since efficiency varies so wildly in laptops. However it lands someplace within the ballpark of between a cell RTX 4060 and 4070. For instance, the RTX 4070 within the ROG Zephyrus G16 scored 10395 on this similar check, whereas the RTX 4070 within the Dell XPS 16 scored 9721.

However the comparisons with older Macs are significantly fascinating. The M4 Professional’s GPU is 16% sooner than the M2 Extremely’s GPU within the Mac Studio. That’s proper — the 20-core GPU within the M4 Professional beats the 60-core GPU we examined within the $4,000 Mac Studio. That’s mind-boggling.

So, what’s all that GPU efficiency good for? Nicely, actually not net searching and phrase processing. However because it seems, the M4 Professional MacBook Professional is a reasonably nice gaming machine, as long as you’ll find one thing to play. I loaded up Baldur’s Gate 3, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Rocket League, and Myst.

In my testing thus far. The primary two video games, that are a bit extra graphically intense, performed easily on the highest graphics preset — as long as I dropped the decision to 1200p. Neither may deal with enjoying easily in native decision, in fact, however that wasn’t too stunning.

HDR seems to be unbelievable in each of those video games on this show, one thing no gaming laptop computer can ship in fairly the identical method. And the MacBook Professional stays surprisingly quiet and funky throughout video games, an underrated benefit this has over a typical gaming laptop computer.

The GPU within the M3 Max within the MacBook Professional continues to be barely sooner, averaging 88 fps in Shadow of the Tomb Raider versus 81 fps within the M4 Professional. I can’t wait to see how highly effective the M4 Max is in video games, however the M4 Professional continues to be spectacular at its lower cost.

Battery life

Apple claims the M4 Professional MacBook Professional will get as much as 24 hours of battery life, two hours greater than within the earlier technology. That 24 hours is just obtainable within the M4 Professional 16-inch MacBook Professional and the M4 14-inch MacBook Professional. This drops by an hour or two within the different configurations.

In fact, the claimed 24 hours is just video streaming, whereas net searching is as much as 16 hours. Extra testing is required to get a greater sense of how lengthy the battery lasts in several situations. For instance, it lasted over 20 hours in our gentle net searching check, which is the longest we’ve ever seen. That obtained me excited, particularly with all of the stress coming from Qualcomm and Intel on reaching new heights when it comes to battery life.

The opposite check I ran was working the multi-core check in Cinebench on battery till the system died. Sadly, the MacBook Professional died after solely an hour and a half. I used to be disenchanted by this consequence, because the M3 MacBook Air lasted over twice as lengthy. Whereas Cinebench is an unrealistic workload, it could trace that the MacBook Professional dies sooner in heavier duties. Extra testing is required, nonetheless, and I’ll replace this evaluation as soon as I’ve extra outcomes and spend extra time with the machine.

Is it value it?

Completely. The $1,599 14-inch MacBook Professional went from being a questionable proposition within the earlier technology to a stable worth. The M4 Professional, in the meantime, is a big step ahead in nearly each efficiency indicator: the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine.

In the meantime, the opposite high quality of life upgrades, such because the improved webcam, Thunderbolt 5, even longer battery life, and brighter display, all sweeten the deal and cement the MacBook Professional as absolutely the highest-tier laptop computer you should purchase that’s nonetheless someway definitely worth the cash regardless of how costly it’s.

I haven’t examined each configuration but, in fact — nobody has but. So in the event you’re contemplating an M4 or M4 Max configuration, it’s possible you’ll need to look ahead to every week or two till extra testing outcomes are revealed earlier than selecting which to get. However in the event you have been already enthusiastic about shopping for a MacBook Professional, simply know that it’s solely gotten higher on this yr’s replace.