The iPad Pro arriving with the M4 chip on board was rather a shock move from Apple, leaving many of us questioning why we didn't see a MacBook with the new chip first. Well, now we have our answer: Apple wanted the focus to be on the mighty new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips instead, both of which can be found in the newly-announced M4 MacBook Pro.
I'm going to be primarily discussing the 14-inch version of the new MacBook Pro here; if you're more interested in its big brother the M4 MacBook Pro 16-inch, just click that link for our coverage of the larger laptop.
Now that the M4 MacBook Pro has officially been revealed, I've got all the juicy details right here - and since pre-orders are open right now, this is all the information you'll need to make a buying decision.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next-gen MacBook Pro
- When is it out? Pre-orders open October 30, full release on November 8
- How much will it cost? Starting at $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,499
Apple M4 MacBook Pro 14-inch: release date and price
Although the M4 MacBook Pro 14-inch won't hit shelves until November 8, pre-orders from Apple's digital storefront are already open, with delivery targets for any pre-orders being that aforementioned official launch date - so get your order in now if you already know you want to buy this laptop.
Pricing will start at $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,499 for the base configuration, which comes with the standard M4 chip and 16GB of unified memory. If you want the M4 Pro chip, it'll start at $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,299, while the M4 Max model starts at $2,399 / £2,399 / AU$3,999.
As usual for Apple hardware, bumping up the memory or storage will cost you a fair amount, but mercifully the MacBook maker has seen fit to boost the base unified RAM configuration to 16GB in all Mac devices going forward - no more piddly 8GB for us. Other configurable extras will futher ramp up the price, so check out Apple's website if you want a model with very specific specs.
There's also a full suite of updated 'Magic' Mac peripherals, switching over from Lightning to USB-C connectors (all of which launched alongside the new M4 Mac mini and the M4 iMac). The Magic Keyboard starts at $99 / £99 / AU$149, the Magic Trackpad at $129 / £129 / AU$209, and the Magic Mouse at $79 / £79 / AU$149.
Apple M4 MacBook Pro 14-inch: features
As I mentioned above, we've got a welcome bump up to 16GB of base memory in every M4 MacBook Pro configuration now, but that's not the most impressive performance leap to discuss here. The M4 Pro and M4 Max chips offer a serious step up for users who want a powerhouse laptop for business or creative work, manufactured on the same cutting-edge 3nm process as the already-available M4 chip.
Apple was keen to boast that the M4 family features 'the world's fastest CPU core', delivering best-in-class single-threaded performance as well as strong results in multithreaded workloads. The integrated graphics performance also gets a boost, with faster GPU cores and a ray-tracing engine that can render at twice the speed of the M3 GPU.
AI performance also gets a boost - no surprise, given Apple's fresh focus on its Apple Intelligence toolbox - thanks to an updated Neural Engine. Apple's signature Neural Processing Unit (NPU) offers up to twice the speed of the one found in the M3-series chips, combined with industry-leading memory bandwidth for faster performance in local AI workloads.
Additionally, the M4 Pro and M4 Max versions of the MacBook Pro 14-inch will introduce Thunderbolt 5 connectivity to Mac devices for the first time, giving users access to blazing-fast transfer speeds and improved power delivery. Naturally, this means that Lightning ports are dead: this new MacBook will sport USB-C ports instead.
As we expected, the every version of the MacBook Pro 14-inch will feature Apple's iconic Liquid Retina XDR screen - but with an optional upgrade to a new nano-texture display variant, plus an upgraded 12MP webcam. Finally, Apple claims that the new MacBook Pro will offer a whopping 24 hours of battery life: the longest ever for a MacBook.
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