Apples New MacBook Pro Has M4 Chips and Thunderbolt 5

Apple has revealed new MacBook Pro laptops, complete with faster M4 chips, more memory in the base models, and other upgrades.

The new MacBook Pro is available in 14-inch and 16-inch models, with the base models using the same M4 chip as the iMac, Mac Mini, and iPad Pro. The regular M4 chip should be more than powerful enough for typical productivity, web browsing, and content creation. Apple is also selling more expensive options with the higher-power M4 Pro and M4 Max, intended for more demanding video editing, 3D modeling, AI workloads, and other tasks that can make use of the additional CPU and GPU cores.

Apple

Apple said in its announcement, “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 incredible performance for AI. 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.”

Importantly, the new laptops start with 16GB memory, just like the new iMacs. That has been a frequent complaint with base model Mac computers for the past few years, and it was especially silly on Apple’s “Pro” computers. Farewell, 8GB MacBook Pro laptops, you will not be missed.

The laptops also have an “all-new nano-texture display option” that should reduce screen glare when outside, and a more powerful 12MP Center Stage webcam. You’ll probably still need a USB webcam or an iPhone in Continuity Camera mode for the best possible picture (and better lighting always helps), but it’s nice to see at least some improvement.

The base model M4 MacBook Pro has three Thunderbolt 4 ports, with support for USB 4 and Thunderbolt devices up to 40 Gb/s. Any of the ports can also be used for charging, or you can just use the dedicated MagSafe 3 power connector. The M4 Pro and M4 Max models upgrade the ports to Thunderbolt 5, doubling transfer speeds to 120 Gb/s for faster external storage and more docks. There’s also still 8K HDMI, an SD card slot, headphone jack, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3 across all models.

The new laptops seem like a great upgrade for anyone with an older MacBook or MacBook Pro, or even people in the Windows ecosystem who can do everything they need in macOS. You can pre-order the new laptops starting today from Apple’s online store, with the 14-inch model starting at $1,599 and the 16-inch version starting at $2,499.

Source: Apple