Apple’s new MacBook Pro features an incredibly powerful M4 family of chips in the new era with Apple Intelligence

After two days of announcements, Apple finally delivered news that many have been waiting for. They revealed the new MacBook Pro, which is now running on an M4 chip. The new MacBook Pro comes with a bunch of exciting new features: Thunderbolt 5 ports, a 12MP camera, a nano-texture display, and the three M4 chips: the M4, M4 Pro, or the M4 Max. Apple really brought their A-game with this one.

All three have a 16-core neural engine and are paired with 16GB, 24GB, or 36GB of unified memory. They’re available for preorder today starting at $1,599 and will be available regularly beginning November 8th. 

The new MacBook Pros come in either Space Black or Silver, and either a 14- or 16-inch configuration. The former is available with all three chips, while the 16-inch version only comes with the M4 Pro or M4 Pro Max. The new chip — released just one year after the M3 — aims to propel Apple back to the top of the industry by harnessing AI capabilities powered by the chip’s neural processing unit (NPU) for increased on-device performance for large language models. 

The base-level M4 has three Thunderbolt 4 ports (one on the right side now), while the M4 Pro and Pro Max have three Thunderbolt 5 ports, a first for Apple with the new connectivity standard. Apple also touts improved battery life with the M4 chip: up to 24 hours on a single charge, which pushes the bar for what was already great battery life with the M3. 

The MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip bumps up the performance further, with Apple claiming twice as much power as the base M4 and a 75% increase in memory bandwidth from the M3 chip (double the amount, Apple notes, as any AI PC chip). At the top is the MacBook with the M4 Pro Max chip, which has up to a 40-core GPU and neural engine that’s three times faster than the M1 Max. 

Regarding their displays, Apple’s liquid retina XDR display features an all-new nano-texture option that can support up to 1000 nits of brightness, with up to 1600 peak brightness for HDR content. Alongside the display, the 12MP Center Stage Camera aims to deliver high-quality video in challenging lighting while pairing with on-device AI to keep users centered in the frame. 

The MacBook Pro M4 also comes with Apple Intelligence straight out of the box, although many of the most noteworthy features will roll out over the next few months. Apple’s proprietary AI feature set includes text summaries, writing tools, and image generation, with ChatGPT being integrated into Siri in December of 2024.

Pricing and Availability

• Customers can pre-order the new MacBook Pro starting today, October 30, on apple.com/store and in the Apple Store app in 28 countries and regions, including the U.S. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorized Resellers, beginning Friday, November 8.

• The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 starts at $1,599 (U.S.) and $1,499 (U.S.) for education; the 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro starts at $1,999 (U.S.) and $1,849 (U.S.) for education; and the 16‑inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499 (U.S.) and $2,299 (U.S.) for education. All models are available in space black and silver.

• Additional technical specifications, including the nano-texture display and configure-to-order options, are available at apple.com/mac.

• MacBook Air with M2 and M3 comes standard with 16GB of unified memory, and is available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray, starting at $999 (U.S.) and $899 (U.S.) for education.

• New accessories with USB-C — including Magic Keyboard ($99 U.S.), Magic Keyboard with Touch ID ($149 U.S.), Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad ($179 U.S.), Magic Trackpad ($129 U.S.), Magic Mouse ($79 U.S.), and Thunderbolt 5 Pro Cable ($69) — are available at apple.com/store.