The new MacBook Pro is insanely powerful but also efficient. Apple overnight announced 14 and 16-inch models with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips that offer up to 24 hours of battery life.
If you’re a video editor like me, you’ll be super pumped to get your hands on the M4 Max version – which – fully specced out – costs A$11,529.00.
“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.”
Apple silicon is the single best move in the company’s history. Big call I know but when you consider how much control Apple has over its destiny because of its System On a Chip (SoC) you quickly realise there’s no one to stand in its way.
M4 Chip Series
Built using second-generation 3-nanometer technology, the M4 family features the world’s fastest CPU core, along with outstanding multithreaded CPU performance. Combined with machine learning accelerators in the CPU, an advanced GPU, and a faster and more efficient Neural Engine, Apple silicon is built from the ground up to deliver for AI tasks. Together with faster unified memory, each chip also includes increased memory bandwidth, so large language models (LLMs) and other large projects run smoothly and on device. Additionally, the industry-leading performance per watt of the M4 family means that users get up to 24 hours of battery life. This is an extraordinary improvement for a workhorse device.
M4 14-inch MacBook Pro
Featuring a more powerful 10-core CPU, with four performance cores and six efficiency cores, and a faster 10-core GPU with Apple’s most advanced graphics architecture, the new MacBook Pro starts with 16GB of faster unified memory with support for up to 32GB, along with 120GB/s of memory bandwidth. With M4, MacBook Pro is up to 1.8x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 for tasks like editing gigapixel photos, and even more demanding workloads like rendering complex scenes in Blender are up to 3.4x faster. With a Neural Engine that’s over 3x more powerful than in M1, it’s great for features in Apple Intelligence and other AI workloads. The M4 model also supports two high-resolution external displays in addition to the built-in display, and now features three Thunderbolt 4 ports so users can connect all their peripherals.
M4 MACBOOK PRO STATS
- Up to 7x faster image processing in Affinity Photo when compared to the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with Core i7, and up to 1.8x faster when compared to the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1.
- Up to 10.9x faster 3D rendering in Blender when compared to the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with Core i7, and up to 3.4x faster when compared to the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with M1.
- Up to 9.8x faster scene edit detection in Adobe Premiere Pro when compared to the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with Core i7, and up to 1.7x faster when compared to the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with M1.
M4 Pro MacBook Pro
The 14-inch MacBook Pro is where I would start for video work. M4 Pro features a powerful 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and four efficiency cores for a jump in multicore performance, along with up to a 20-core GPU that is twice as powerful as M4. With M4 Pro, the new MacBook Pro gets a massive 75 per cent increase in memory bandwidth over the prior generation — double that of any AI PC chip. The new MacBook Pro with M4 Pro is up to 3x faster than models with M1 Pro, speeding up workflows like geo mapping, structural engineering, and data modelling.
M4 PRO MACBOOK PRO STATS
- Up to 4x faster scene rendering performance with Maxon Redshift when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Core i9, and up to 3x faster when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro.
- Up to 5x faster simulation of dynamical systems in MathWorks MATLAB when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Core i9, and up to 2.2x faster when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro.
- Up to 23.8x faster basecalling for DNA sequencing in Oxford Nanopore MinKNOW when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Core i9, and up to 1.8x faster when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro.
M4 Max MacBook Pro
Designed for pros like data scientists, 3D artists, and composers who constantly push workflows to the limit, MacBook Pro with M4 Max empowers users to work on projects that were previously only imaginable on a desktop. M4 Max brings 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, allowing on-device AI models to run faster than ever. With M4 Max, MacBook Pro delivers up to 3.5x the performance of M1 Max, ripping through heavy creative workloads like visual effects, 3D animation, and film scoring.1 It also supports up to 128GB of unified memory, so developers can easily interact with LLMs that have nearly 200 billion parameters. And with the powerful Media Engine in M4 Max, which features two ProRes accelerators, MacBook Pro performance is amazing even when taking 4K120 fps ProRes video captured with the new iPhone 16 Pro and editing it in Final Cut Pro.
M4 MAX MACBOOK PRO STATS
- Up to 7.8x faster scene rendering performance with Maxon Redshift when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9, and up to 3.5x faster when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max.
- Up to 4.6x faster build performance when compiling code in Xcode when compared to the 16‑inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9, and up to 2.2x faster when compared to the 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max.
- Up to 30.8x faster video processing performance in Topaz Video AI when compared to the 16‑inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9, and up to 1.6x faster when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max.
Liquid XDR Display
The new MacBook Pro introduces an all-new nano-texture display option that dramatically reduces glare and distractions from reflections. In bright lighting conditions, the new MacBook Pro can now show SDR content at up to 1000 nits and still displays HDR content at up to 1600 nits of peak brightness.
New 12MP Center Stage Camera
MacBook Pro includes a new 12MP Center Stage camera. The new camera also supports Desk View, which adds a whole new dimension to video calls. And with studio-quality mics and a phenomenal six-speaker sound system with support for Spatial Audio, MacBook Pro delivers an incredibly immersive audio experience whether users are listening to music or watching a movie in Dolby Atmos.
Thunderbolt 5 Comes to the Mac
MacBook Pro with M4 Pro and M4 Max features Thunderbolt 5 ports that more than double transfer speeds up to 120 Gb/s, enabling faster external storage, expansion chassis, and powerful docking and hub solutions. For example, by connecting just a single cable, pros like music producers can now light up their entire studio. All MacBook Pro models feature an HDMI port that supports up to 8K resolution, 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.
Apple Intelligence on the Mac
Apple Intelligence ushers in a new era for the Mac, bringing personal intelligence to the personal computer. Combining powerful generative models with industry-first privacy protections, Apple Intelligence harnesses the power of Apple silicon and the Neural Engine to unlock new ways for users to work, communicate, and express themselves on Mac. It is available in U.S. English with macOS Sequoia 15.1. With systemwide Writing Tools, users can refine their words by rewriting, proofreading, and summarising text nearly everywhere they write. 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. Image Playground gives users a new way to create fun original images, and Genmoji allows them to create custom emoji in seconds. Siri will become even more capable, with the ability to take actions across the system and draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that is tailored to them. In December, ChatGPT will be integrated into Siri and Writing Tools, allowing users to access its expertise without needing to jump between tools.
Apple Intelligence does all this while protecting users’ privacy at every step. At its core is on-device processing, and for more complex tasks, Private Cloud Compute gives users access to Apple’s even larger, server-based models and offers groundbreaking protections for personal information. In addition, users can access ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and privacy protections are built in — their IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI won’t store requests. For those who choose to connect their account, OpenAI’s data-use policies apply.
macOS Sequoia
macOS Sequoia completes the new MacBook Pro experience with a host of exciting features, including iPhone Mirroring, allowing users to wirelessly interact with their iPhone, its apps, and notifications directly from their Mac.4 Safari, the world’s fastest browser,5 now offers Highlights, which quickly pulls up relevant information from a site; a smarter, redesigned Reader with a table of contents and high-level summary; and a new Video Viewer to watch videos without distractions. With Distraction Control, users can hide items on a webpage that they may find disruptive to their browsing. Gaming gets even more immersive with features like Personalised Spatial Audio and improvements to Game Mode, along with a breadth of exciting titles, including the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Easier window tiling means users can stay organised with a windows layout that works best for them. The all-new Passwords app gives convenient access to passwords, passkeys, and other credentials, all stored in one place. And users can apply new beautiful built-in backgrounds for video calls, which include a variety of colour gradients and system wallpapers, or upload their own photos.
MacBook Air Memory Boost
Models with M2 and M3 double the starting memory to 16GB.
Environment
The new MacBook Pro is built using 100 per cent recycled aluminium in the enclosure. It also uses 100 per cent recycled rare earth elements in all magnets, and 100 per cent recycled tin soldering, gold plating, and copper in multiple printed circuit boards. The packaging for the 14-inch MacBook Pro is now entirely fibre-based, joining the 16-inch MacBook Pro and bringing Apple closer to its goal to remove plastic from its packaging by 2025.
Price and Availability
Customers can pre-order the new MacBook Pro starting today, 31 October, on apple.com/au/store and in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, beginning Friday, 8 November.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 starts at RRP A$2,499 inc. GST and RRP A$2,349 inc. GST for education; the 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro starts at RRP A$3,299 inc. GST and RRP A$3,069 inc. GST for education; and the 16‑inch MacBook Pro starts at RRP A$3,999 inc. GST and RRP A$3,699 inc. GST for education. All models are available in space black and silver.
MacBook Air with M2 and M3 comes standard with 16GB of unified memory, and is available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space grey, starting at RRP A$1,599 inc. GST and RRP A$1,449 inc. GST for education.
New accessories with USB-C — including Magic Keyboard (RRP A$149 inc. GST ), Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (RRP A$209 inc. GST), Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad (RRP A$249 inc. GST), Magic Trackpad (RRP A$179 inc. GST), Magic Mouse (RRP A$119 inc. GST), and Thunderbolt 5 Pro Cable (RRP A$115 inc. GST) — are available at apple.com/au/store.
Apple Intelligence is available now as a free software update for Mac with M1 and later, and can be accessed in most regions around the world when the device and Siri language are set to U.S. English. The first set of features is in beta and available with macOS Sequoia 15.1, with more features rolling out in the months to come.
Apple Intelligence is adding support for more languages. In December, Apple Intelligence will add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K., and in April, a software update will deliver expanded language support, with more coming throughout the year. Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages will be supported.
