Apple MacBook Pro M4 review: the Pro for everyone

For a agelong time, the entry-level MacBook Pro has felt similar a weird in-betweener, with the processor of a MacBook Air, the assemblage of a MacBook Pro, and immoderate features stripped distant to support it squarely successful the middle.  

Last year’s 14-inch MacBook Pro was a measurement successful the close direction, yet shedding the Touch Bar and upgrading the instrumentality to beryllium overmuch person to the different Pros. But it inactive followed the aforesaid formula: its processor was worse, its basal RAM was lower, and it had 1 larboard fewer. It was a bully machine, and a batch amended than the M2 and M1 models, but it inactive didn’t consciousness similar a full-throated Pro. 

With the M4, Apple yet has a basal MacBook Pro that’s little of a parts-bin compromise and much of an existent Pro machine. It’s a laptop you tin bargain and not consciousness similar you’re caught successful betwixt anything.

The M4 MacBook Pro fixes astir each ailment we had with the M3 version. It starts astatine $1,599 with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD — the aforesaid starting terms arsenic the M3 model, but with 2 much CPU cores, doubly the RAM, and a 3rd Thunderbolt port. That larboard is connected the close side, conscionable similar connected the “real” Pro models, truthful you tin yet complaint oregon link to an outer show connected either broadside of the laptop. The Pro besides benefits from Apple’s across-the-board bump to 16GB of memory. Apple Intelligence is mostly boring and useless close now, but I convey it for the acquisition of much RAM.

Those are already notable upgrades successful what mightiness person different been conscionable a spot bump year, but Apple besides gave each 3 MacBook Pros caller 12-megapixel webcams with Center Stage and its Desk View bundle feature, the enactment to adhd an anti-glare nano-texture show for $150, and the prime of a abstraction achromatic chassis. The M4 Pro besides present supports 2 outer displays with its lid open, 1 much than the M3 could.

These upgrades spell a agelong mode toward making the M4 MacBook Pro a meaningful upgrade implicit the MacBook Air for anyone dabbling successful Final Cut Pro, Premiere Pro, oregon akin originative apps. I’ve edited galore high-resolution earthy files successful Lightroom Classic connected my work-issued M1 MacBook Air — I bash it immoderate clip I sprout pictures for The Verge — and I cognize firsthand however susceptible that small instrumentality is. But I often bump against the constraints of its larboard enactment and the show ceiling of its aging, passively cooled processor. It’s wherefore my idiosyncratic machine is simply a Mac Mini with M2 Pro, which was Apple’s champion worth for years.

While editing the pictures you spot here, the M4 MacBook Pro felt much spritely than my M2 Pro Mac Mini, and its velocity successful displaying and processing full-res 33-megapixel raws was a pleasant surprise. I cognize it’s not bogged down similar the Mini is by astir 2 years of usage and each my idiosyncratic app cruft, but it felt faster adjacent moving connected my usual, bloated Lightroom catalog — which I copied implicit from my Mac Mini — with the images stored connected the aforesaid outer SSD I ever enactment from. I did each of that portion not plugged into powerfulness each day. The laptop ran for conscionable implicit 12 hours of moderate-to-heavy usage and stayed quiescent and chill to the interaction the full time. 

As for doing my edits connected the nano-texture display, I cognize glossy screens person a somewhat deeper contrast, but I emotion not worrying astir glare. I’m not exclusively editing successful a acheronian country with a hooded notation monitor, and I similar the flexibility of moving successful places with less-than-ideal lighting conditions. The convenience of the nano-texture acold outweighs immoderate flimsy method vantage of a glossy display. And astatine $150, it’s a worthwhile upgrade for ocular pros. 

You won’t spot the aforesaid show successful grueling workloads arsenic you would if you spent a spot much to get an M4 Pro oregon a batch much for an M4 Max, but the modular M4 has immoderate marked improvements implicit the M3. The M4 fared astir 64 percent amended than the M3 successful Cinebench’s modular multicore test, and it maintained astir a 41 percent delta erstwhile moving a longer, sustained 30-minute loop of the aforesaid benchmark. It’s got 2 much cores than the M3 we tested, truthful it makes consciousness for the M4 to excel here, but its single-core scores successful some Cinebench and Geekbench were besides implicit 20 percent better. The instrumentality was up to 25 percent faster successful GPU benchmarks with the aforesaid fig of GPU cores, too. 

Apple has a past of shipping disappointing webcams, adjacent connected its $1,599 Studio Display that costs arsenic overmuch arsenic the M4 MacBook Pro and the just-released iPad Mini. But the MacBook Pro’s caller 12MP camera has bully opposition adjacent erstwhile I’m backlit by a window, and its Center Stage bundle that keeps you successful framework works good capable without being overly assertive connected reframing. I can’t connection akin praise for Desk View, which uses immoderate dense cropping and bundle corrections to amusement a top-down presumption of your desk. It’s distorted and low-res, and determination are myriad amended ways to amusement and archer connected a video telephone — including utilizing your iPhone and Apple’s ain Continuity Camera feature.

The cheapest M4 MacBook Pro costs $1,599 — $100 much than a 15-inch MacBook Air with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and equivalent representation and storage. (The Airs inactive commencement astatine 256GB; it costs $200 to upgrade to 512GB.) For the price, you get importantly amended performance, much and faster Thunderbolt ports, a better-quality surface that’s higher solution with up to a 120Hz refresh rate, 2 much speakers, and a amended webcam. All these upgrades and quality-of-life improvements truly adhd up — and for a batch of people, they’re worthy the money.

Of course, if you privation the anti-glare surface and 1TB of retention similar our trial unit, that puts you astatine $1,949, and present you’re conscionable $50 distant from the upgraded MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro processor, faster storage, much cores, 24GB of RAM, and Thunderbolt 5 ports — oregon $200 distant if you privation the nano-texture surface upgrade again. And past you’re squarely successful Apple’s tornado of a pricing funnel, wherever it’s casual to speech yourself into spending a fewer 100 dollars much connected each incremental upgrade until you’re successful scope of the adjacent exemplary up entirely, and past the process repeats. 

The biggest quality this clip is that the entry-level MacBook Pro doesn’t truly consciousness similar a compromise. The basal configuration has capable representation and retention to beryllium really worthy considering, and it has each the ports and carnal comforts of the higher-end Pros. Even the nano-texture surface upgrade feels worthy it. For the archetypal clip successful a agelong time, it really feels similar a Pro.

Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge