Spooky.. powerful is what it is. At the time of writing this article, the M4 is among the fastest of CPUs in the Mac lineup, no questions asked. Let’s.. put this into perspective: A 2019 ‘Pro with the 28-core Xeon W-3275M cost $12,999 USD brand new from Apple. Then there’s the new M4 Mini for $599. According to Geekbench 6.3.0, it benches ~125-130% higher multicore than the 28-core 7,1, and the single core performance is approximately ~275% faster. Miraculously in 5 years , it costs $12,400 less to own a computer with equal to or greater performance as that 28-core 7,1. Adjusted for inflation, a 28-core 7,1 is $16,031 in 2024 dollars. If you went all-out, it becomes a staggering $52,499 (including the wheel kit), or $64,746.86 in Late 2024!

What’s new?

For $1599, you get: 4x 4.4Ghz clocked performance cores, 6x 2.85 GHz efficiency cores, brand new LPDDR5X-7500 3750MHz SDRAM, memory bandwidth is bumped to 120 GB/s over the M3’s 100GB/s, a 10-core GPU vs 8 in the M3, and comes standard with a PCIe 512GB SSD. Quite a few things were upgraded with the M4 Pro chip over last year’s, too. The M4 Pro has faster memory bandwidth (153 GB/s vs 273 GB/s), newer 4266 MHz LPDDR5X-8533 SDRAM, and now starts with 24 GB instead of 18GB of unified memory. Space gray as a color option is not offered this year either, continuing the Space Black color from the M3 MacBook Pro. The Liquid Retina XDR got a bump up, too – 1000 nits sustained full-screen in XDR, and 1000 nits in outdoor conditions for SDR content (can be replicated on other AS ‘Books using the app called Vivid*).

Introduction of Thunderbolt 5 to the Mac

The M4 MacBook Pro still has Thunderbolt 4, and the M4 Pro has Thunderbolt 5. The difference is in USB 4v2. The ports on the M4 can do up to 40 Gb/s, whereas the ones on the M4 Pro can do up to 80 Gb/s.

• Support for up to 80 Gb/s bi-directional bandwidth
• Support for up to 120 Gb/s “Bandwidth Boost” oriented toward display experiences
  • (In Bandwidth boost mode, Transmit is 120 Gb/s, Receive is 40 Gb/s)
• Support for USB 4 v2 (80 Gb/s)

Apple Intelligence

macOS Sequoia and later supports Apple intelligence on any Mac with Apple Silicon. This feature is also available on any iPad with an M-chip, as well as iOS devices running 18 and later with an A17 Pro chip or better (iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, or all iPhone 16 models+). While device capability has increased over the years, it’s theorized by some that older devices don’t have enough RAM to properly run Apple Intelligence. This hasn’t stopped anyone, of course, from installing Apple Intelligence on older devices.

Details

• Announced 2024.10.31
• Model Identifier: Mac16,1 (Standard M4, 10-Core CPU, 10-Core GPU)
  • Model Number: A3112 (EMC 8623)
  • Order Number: MW2W3LL/A (Silver, 16GB, 512GB SSD)
    • MW2U3LL/A (Space Black, 16GB, 512GB SSD)
    • MW2X3LL/A (Silver, 16GB, 1 TB SSD)
    • MW2V3LL/A (Space Black, 16GB, 1 TB SSD)
    • MCX14LL/A (Silver, 24GB, 1 TB SSD)
    • MCX04LL/A (Space Black, 24GB, 1 TB SSD)
• Model Identifier: Mac16,8 (M4 Pro, 12-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU)
  • Model Number: A3401 (EMC 8894)
  • Order Number: MX2E3LL/A (Silver, 24GB, 512GB SSD)
    • MX2H3LL/A (Space Black, 24GB, 512GB SSD)
    • MX2F3LL/A (Silver, 24GB, 1 TB SSD, 14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU)
    • MX2J3LL/A (Space Black, 24GB, 1 TB SSD, 14-Core CPU, 20-Core GPU)
• Model Identifier: Mac16,6 (M4 Max, 16-Core CPU, 40-Core GPU)
  • Model Number: A3185 (EMC 8623)
  • Order Number: BTO/CTO

Mac OS

• Requires macOS 15.0 Sequoia (Build 24A8332) or later

Core System

Note: M4 Pro/Max chip specs are incomplete, and will be filled as information trickles in. Missing information will be marked “-“.

Legend: L1i = L1 Instruction Cache, L1d = L1 Data cache

• M4 ($1599): 10 Cores, 4x 4.4 GHz “M4” High Performance Cores: 768K L1i, 512K L1d, 64MB L2, 8MB System Level Cache
  • 6x 2.85 GHz “M4” energy efficient cores: 768K L1i, 320k L1d, 24MB L2, 8 MB SLC
• 16-Core Neural Engine
• M4 Pro ($1999): 12 Cores, 8x 4.5 Ghz “M4 Pro” High Performance cores, 1.53 MB L1i, 1.02MB L1d, – L2 cache, – L3 cache,
  • 4x 2.85 GHz “M4 Pro” energy efficient cores: 512K L1, 16MB L2, – MB SLC

• M4 Pro ($2399): 14 Cores, 10x 4.5 Ghz “M4 Pro” High Performance cores, 1.92 MB L1i, 1.28 MB L1d, – L2 cache, – L3 cache,
  • 4x 2.85 GHz “M4 Pro” energy efficient cores: 512K L1, 16MB L2, – MB SLC
• M4 Max ($3699): 16 Cores, 12x 4.5 Ghz “M4 Pro” High Performance cores, 2.30 MB L1i, 1.53 MB L1d, – L2 cache, – L3 cache,
  • 4x 2.85 GHz “M4 Pro” energy efficient cores: 512K L1, 16MB L2, – MB SLC

Memory

• M4: 3750 MHz LPDDR5X-7500 SDRAM, up to 32GB
  • 120 GB/s Memory Bandwidth on M4 Models
• All M4 Pro/Max models: 4266 MHz LPDDR5X-8533 SDRAM
  • 273 GB/s M4 Pro
  • 409 GB/s on 36 GB M4 Max
  • 546 GB/s on 48/64/128 M4 Max
• This model is slightly unorthodox in the memory options, CPU/GPU model affect maximum available configurations.
  • M4 : 16/24/32 GB
  • M4 Pro: 24/48 GB
  • M4 Max 14 CPU/32 GPU: 36 GB only
  • M4 Max 16 CPU/40GPU : 48/64/128GB
• Standard: 16GB ($1599), 24GB M4/M4 Pro ($1999), 24GB ($2399), 36GB ($3199)

Video

• M4/M4 Pro: Integrated Apple M4 with 10-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
  • Simultaneously supports built-in display @native res plus..
  • 2x displays at once: 2x 6K60@TB, or 1x 6K60 + 4K144@HDMI
  • Single external display: 8K60@HDMI OR 4K240@HDMI
• M4 Max: Integrated Apple M4 with 16-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
  • Simultaneously supports built-in display @native res plus..
  • 4x displays at once: 3x 6K60@TB + 4K144@HDMI
  • 3x displays at once: 2x 6K60@TB + 1x 8K60 or 1x 4K240@HDMI
• Liquid Retina XDR IPS LCD @ 3024 x 1964 w/254 ppi 14″
  • “XDR Brightness”: 1000 nits sustained full screen
    • (Vivid for Mac does this on earlier AS models)
  • 1000 nits sustained brightness outdoors
  • 1600 nits peak HDR content
  • Nano-texture “antiglare” display (+$150)

Drives

• Drive Bus: PCIe v4.0 or 5.0 SSD
• Base configurations:
  • M4: 512GB
  • M4 Pro: 512GB ($1799)
  • M4 Pro: 1 TB ($2399)
  • M4 Max: 1 TB ($3199)
• Configurable to:
  • M4: 1 TB (+$200), 2 TB (+$600)
  • M4 Pro: 1 TB (+$200), 2 TB (+$600), 4 TB (+$1200)
  • M4 Max: 2 TB (+$400), 4 TB (+$1000), 8 TB (+$2200)

Expansion

• Wifi 6E (802.11a/b/g/n/ac)
• Bluetooth 5.3
• Three USB-C style Thunderbolt 5 Ports
  • Support for: USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
  • Support for: USB 4v2 (up to 80 Gb/s)
• Magsafe 3 Port
• HDMI 2.1
• SDXC card slot
• 3.5mm headphone jack

Misc.

• 6-Speaker sound system
• Force Touch Trackpad
• Ambient Light Sensor
• Touch ID on Power button
• 12 MB Center Stage Camera with support for Desk View, 1080p Video
  • Image signal processor w/computational video

Battery

• M4 up to: 24H Video / 17H Web
• M4 Pro up to: 24H Video / 17H Web
• M4 Max up to: 21H Video / 14H Web

Included Peripherals

• MacBook Pro
• M4/M4 Pro: 70W Power Brick + Cord
• M4 Max: 96W Power Brick + Cord
  • $20 option for non-max M4’s

Physical

• Size: H/W/D 0.61 x 12.31 x 8.71 in / 1.55 x 31.26 x 22.12 cm
• M4 Weight: 3.4 lb./1.55 kg
• M4 Pro Weight: 3.5 lb./1.60 kg
• M4 Max Weight: 3.6 lb./1.62 kg