Apple MacBook Pro 16 2024 Review: This Is Why You Get the Big Mac

Apple’s caller MacBook Pro 16 with M4 Pro is not carrying the aged idiom, “what’s aged is caller again.” Simply put, what’s aged is old, what’s caller is new, and it’s bringing each the baggage from past generations. The MacBook Pro 16 with M4 Pro sports the aforesaid look and chassis we’ve seen for the past 3 years. There’s an existential prime to the latest MacBooks. You cognize they’ll beryllium powerful. You cognize they’ll past you a good, agelong while. You cognize it truthful good that you whitethorn conflict to warrant the upgrade.

But if you were sitting determination wondering which is better, the M4 oregon the M4 Pro chip, the second is leagues much powerful. The M4 Pro by itself is susceptible of competing against desktop-level CPUs successful immoderate of our tests. Rendering is simply a breeze, and with the 20-core GPU variant, it’s perfectly susceptible of maxing retired respective of the games disposable to Apple’s desktop ecosystem (which, contempt Apple’s gaming initiatives, is inactive paltry compared to PC). The caller large MacBook is amended connected its ain than the M3 Max from past year. Plus, the M4 Pro has entree to the High Power Mode settings antecedently lone disposable connected the Max chips, allowing amended power of however overmuch oomph you let your MacBook.

For each that promised power, this is inactive an costly laptop. Our 16-inch M4 MacBook Pro reappraisal portion included the M4 Pro with 14 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores, positive 48 GB of RAM and 2 TB of storage. All totaled up, this configuration would acceptable you backmost $3,500. The lowest-end M4 Max configuration starts astatine that aforesaid price. The basal exemplary astatine this surface size is $2,500, already a princely sum. Compare that to high-end PCs with a discrete GPU, and you tin find fantabulous gaming laptops similar the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i for hundreds of dollars less. I would dice for a MacBook with a keyboard similar the ones you spot connected the latest, top gaming laptops, but there’s nary specified luck.

And yet, the MacBook Pro 16 is simply a productivity beast, beating the contention successful each the benchmark tests but for graphics. It’s truthful akin to past year’s that I’m starting to wonderment what different usage cases determination could perchance beryllium for Mac, particularly for M4 Pro oregon M4 Max chip. Sure, there’s Control, Frostpunk 2, present connected Mac natively, and finally, Cyberpunk 2077 is rolling into the presumption travel 2025. The M4 Pro tin game, but you’ll beryllium depressed if you situation look astatine Steam library’s Mac compatibility.

Even with the committedness of much aboriginal titles, gaming can’t beryllium your 1 large crushed to upgrade to the much costly Mac. Apple hopes that anybody inactive utilizing a MacBook Pro and an Intel Chip from earlier 2020 volition consciousness enticed to driblet it for an M-Series MacBook. If you acceptable the measure and you’ve been eyeing an upgrade, this is the champion 1 yet. Just don’t presume Apple Intelligence volition alteration your world. It can’t perchance bash truthful until 2025, if ever.

MacBook Pro 16 2024 Review: Performance

© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

Since this year’s plan is truthful akin to the MacBook Pro with M3, the Pro with M2, and the M1 Pro and Max designs from 2021, show truly matters. The M4 Pro is simply a powerhouse that managed to bushed past year’s M3 Max successful galore of our tests. Even much than that, it tested amended than I had thought it would.

The M4 Pro is simply a immense measurement up from what you get if you opt for the cheapest MacBook Pro 14. Benchmark results intelligibly bushed retired the basal M4 spot arsenic dramatically arsenic the M3 Max did to the bottom-end M3 from past year. In Geekbench 6, the M4 was 67 points amended successful single-core than the MacBook Pro 14 and adjacent to 7,800 points successful multi-core settings. The M4 Pro scored 1 of our champion times for our Handbrake tests, transcoding a 4K video into 1080p.

It besides scored supra oregon astatine par with the M3 Max MacBook Pro 16 successful astir tests, prevention for graphics-specific tasks. The CPU could decorativeness our Blender test, wherever we forced it to render a country of a BMW successful 1 infinitesimal and 34 seconds, conscionable 2 seconds slower than the M3 Max.

Compared to an Intel Core i9-14900K, the M4 Pro beats it by astir 800 points successful single-core and 1,900 successful multi-core settings with Geekbench 6. A desktop PC with a discrete GPU whitethorn inactive triumph retired for the involvement of rendering tests, but if you comparison it to the Intel Core i9-14900HX successful a large laptop similar the Razer Blade 16, the M4 Pro wins by much than 200 points successful multi-core tests.

Apple seems to deliberation the M4 Pro is simply a gaming-ready chip. I ran it with respective games and recovered that, yes, it’s perfectly susceptible of playing demanding titles with comparative ease. Apple likes to notation the hardware-accelerated ray tracing enactment connected M4. I tried the Myst remake, and astatine afloat solution and ray tracing, I was astatine stable, sub-60 FPS framerates, though the glitchy ray-traced lighting connected h2o surfaces routinely tanked performance.

Resident Evil 4 could connection betwixt 100 and 120 FPS astatine precocious settings astatine a 1920 by 1200 resolution. If you max retired the resolution, you tin expect betwixt 45 and 60 FPS, which you tin boost by expanding the MetalFX upscaling from “Quality.” It’s the same story with Death Stranding: Director’s Cut, with FPS that ne'er dipped contempt the ray tracing in the background.

In Baldur’s Gate III, I could get much than 90 FPS indoors and betwixt 60 and 70 FPS outdoors, though astatine a lower-than-native resolution. Going up to the screen’s 3456 by 2234 solution required enabling AMD FSR oregon other dialing backmost the settings to get playable framerates. You can’t expect overmuch much from a machine without a discrete GPU, but it bodes good for immoderate aboriginal titles coming to Mac if and erstwhile they do.

Let’s interruption it down. The power-per-square-inch is wherefore you should opt for the M4 Pro implicit the basal 14-inch M4 models. You should inactive look towards a prime PC if you privation a mobile gaming computer. If gaming is secondary to your Mac usage, The MacBook Pro 16 is astatine slightest susceptible of handling immoderate is thrown its way.

MacBook Pro 16 2024 Review: Build Quality and Display

© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

The notch is inactive there, the bane of my Mac surface experience, the oculus of Sauron that Apple refuses to topple. I don’t request a cutout connected my display. I privation it gone, but that’s not successful the cards for this MacBook refresh. It’s different hard pill to swallow due to the fact that the mini-LED “Liquid Retina XDR” show is already a prime screen; I would privation Apple to maximize each the surface existent property it can. I recognize immoderate radical don’t bask the iPhone’s dynamic island, but surely it’s a amended enactment than what we’ve gone done with Apple’s laptops, right? Besides, a caller surface whitethorn yet mean a modulation to OLED. Imagine the iPad Pro’s tandem OLED connected a MacBook. Come on, manifest it with me.

There’s present an enactment among the MacBook Pro 14 and 16 for the Cupertino company’s touted “nano-texture” to trim reflections and glare. Apple said it sent maine a MacBook Pro 14 with the nano-texture and the 16 exemplary without it. However, I recovered my 16 exemplary seemed much matte than the 14. The quality was evident side-by-side with the M3 MacBook Pro.

However, the new, higher brightness connected the 16-inch show did much to offset issues than a texture. In nonstop airy done a window, I could honestly not archer overmuch of a quality betwixt 1 with it and 1 without. Compared to the IPS LCD MacBook Air 15, some the min-LEDs did a amended occupation reducing glare. I would suggest redeeming your wealth and opting for the regular screen. Perhaps doubly truthful since Apple inactive wants you to bargain a $19 polishing cloth for the nano-texture. Our advice: don’t.

It’s inactive a beauteous laptop, to beryllium sure, and successful my opinion, it’s prettier without nano-texture. The blacks are not going to person the inky prime of OLED (and possibly we mightiness yet spot that OLED Mac successful 2025), but they’re heavy capable to consciousness satisfying erstwhile gaming oregon streaming. As for the fewer different insignificant changes, there’s a caller upgrade to the larboard selection.

I inactive consciousness satisfied with the I/O connected the Pro models. There’s the SD paper reader, 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and Apple’s proprietary MagSafe 3. All the versions of the MacBook Pro with M4 Pro and M4 Max, alongside the M4 Pro-powered Mac mini, present see Thunderbolt 5 alternatively of 4. Thunderbolt 4 capped retired astatine 40 Gbps bandwidth speeds. The upgrade offers 80 Gbps basal bandwidth capableness and a max of 120 speeds with Bandwidth Boost, though the higher velocity would headdress receiving information to 40 Gbps. You tin inactive instrumentality with the MagSafe 3 charger successful the box, but anybody with large powerfulness bricks with a USB-C extremity tin expect to max retired connected charging speed.

Despite the large promises, you can’t enactment aggregate 8K monitors with a MacBook Pro. The M4 Pro spot tin bash the afloat 3456 by 2234 solution connected the Pro’s show portion supporting 2 outer monitors astatine 6K and 60 Hz refresh rate. You tin bash a 4K up to 144 Hz done HDMI positive a 6K astatine 60 Hz, but you’ll suffer retired connected your MacBook screen. If you privation more, you request to walk other dosh connected the M4 Max with enactment for 3 6K monitors done Thunderbolt and a 4K show done HDMI.

Even with the determination to Thunderbolt 5, immoderate upgrades look mysteriously lacking. There’s inactive nary WiFi 7 support; instead, it’s stuck with WiFi 6E. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s unusual to spot Apple taking the other tack erstwhile different laptops are jumping up to WiFi 7 agelong earlier Thunderbolt 5.

Apple MacBook Pro 16 2024 Review: Battery Life

© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

Macs are known for their artillery life, which is arsenic existent with the M4 models arsenic with the M3, M2, and M1 chips. These laptops past for a agelong time. Apple promises 24 hours of video streaming and 17 hours of wireless web browsing connected laptops with the M4 Pro. Our tests recovered the MacBook Pro 16 was adjacent to those metrics, but of course, you won’t get 17-hour runtimes since you won’t conscionable beryllium utilizing a $3,500 laptop to browse the internet.

In our artillery tests, wherever we ran the laptop connected a 24-hour YouTube video astatine the lowest imaginable brightness, the 16-inch MacBook Pro was astatine 61% aft 12 hours. It lone reached 50% astatine the 14-hour mark. As you mightiness expect, it took different 12 hours to dice completely. It has amended longevity than its 14-inch counterpart with M4, which sat astatine 50% aft 12 hours connected the aforesaid tests.

Apple MacBook Pro 16 2024 Review: Verdict

© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo

You mightiness beryllium wondering wherefore I haven’t mentioned Apple Intelligence erstwhile since the opening of this review. Simply put, it does not alteration however you usage your Mac. We’ve covered plentifulness of that already, and if you privation more, work my MacBook Pro 14 review. If you don’t person an M-series Mac oregon the latest iPhones oregon iPads, you are not missing overmuch arsenic it presently stands. During our review, Apple pushed retired developer betas for macOS Sequoia 15.2, offering the ChatGPT integration that works with the revised Siri. To sum it up, I recovered it didn’t adhd thing to the Mac experience. Sequoia is already a prime update, and I’d overmuch alternatively usage iPhone mirroring than plug prompts into ChatGPT done Siri.

The M4 Chip has a amended 38 TOPS neural motor than the M3, M2, oregon M1 chips. Our Geekbench AI benchmarks amusement that the M4 scores are astir 14,000 points higher than the people of the M3. However, you person to retrieve that the NPU doesn’t bash overmuch of the intensive AI tasks. The NPU is built for inheritance AI. Anything that requires much foodstuff is apt handled by Apple Intelligence’s much-hyped backstage unreality computing. If you’re an AI developer, you already cognize you attraction much astir the qualities of the GPU.

Beyond each that, the MacBook Pro 16 with M4 Pro feels similar a beast, thrumming with power, and you person to walk a dragon’s hoard to usage it. Even if it sported strong-as-hell show for that price, the benignant of nonrecreational who needs that powerfulness would person to person a speech betwixt themselves and immoderate gods they worship earlier dropping that magnitude of wealth connected a singular machine. Just marque definite you tin unrecorded with this chassis. I cognize I could, but portion of maine is hoping for thing better.