I Ordered An M4 MacBook Pro

I’ve been a macOS user since 2011 when I ordered my first 15 “ MacBook Pro.  Previously, I had always been a PC guy and had a desktop that was my primary computer at home.  At the  time I was traveling a lot, Which meant I was using laptops more.  There for a while I was on every other year upgrade cycle.  One year I would upgrade the desktop, and the next year I would upgrade the laptop.  And that’s something you could pretty easily do for between $1000 and $2000 in the PC world.  When I jumped to macOS, the devices were much more expensive, But also more capable, and were usable for longer as a result.  I didn’t feel the need to upgrade every year or every other year.  Because of the price of admission, and the more capable devices, it just didn’t seem to make sense to run both a laptop and a desktop.  One of the selling features of the MacBook Pro has always been performance that rivals or exceeds desktop counterparts.  So since 2011, I’ve simply used a MacBook Pro as my do everything machine.  Most recently I’ve been running the 2021 M1 MacBook Pro.  The M1 chip ushered in the Apple silicon era and was a huge upgrade from the Intel based MacBook Pros that I had owned previously.  Here are the specs on my outgoing M1 MacBook Pro I’ve been using for about the past four years:

• 16″ M1 MacBook Pro (Silver)
• 32GB Memory
• 2TB Internal SSD
• 720p FaceTime HD camera

Here’s the specs on the inbound M4 MacBook Pro:

• 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display (Silver)
• Apple M4 Pro chip with 14 core CPU, 20 core GPU, 16 core Neural Engine
• Three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI port, SDXC card slot, headphone jack, MagSafe 3 port
• 48GB unified memory
• Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID – US English
• 2TB SSD storage
• Standard display
• Accessory Kit
• 140W USB-C Power Adapter
• 12-megapixel (MP) webcam that supports Center Stage and Desk View

I increased both the memory and the storage over the base offering which accompanies the M4 MacBook Pro.  The memory is a nice increase over my M1 MacBook Pro. i’ve been getting by with 2 TB of internal storage on my last three MacBook Pros so I don’t see any need to increase that, particularly at Apple’s prices for internal storage.  However, with the inclusion of Thunderbolt 5 ports, internal versus external storage may become an issue of the past.  Thunderbolt 5 Transfer speeds are now capable of meeting and exceeding the read/write speeds of the internal SSD on the M4 MacBook Pro.  Which means that theoretically you will no longer see any difference in storing files on the internal drive versus external drives, which is really exciting.  The built in webcam is a substantial upgrade in the M4 MacBook Pro over the M1 – but not an often used function for me. New this year was the optional nano-texture display ($150) but I never use my laptop outside so I skipped that option.

Much like in 2021 when I ordered my M1 MacBook Pro, The M4 MacBook Pro is available in three different levels of performance:  M4, M4 pro, and M4 Max.  Historically the middle level pro option is where value and performance intersect.  This was the case in 2021 when I ordered my M1 MacBook Pro and based on the reviews I’ve seen since the M4 MacBook Pro was introduced last year, the M4 Pro was the best bang for your buck.  The most taxing thing that I use my MacBook Pro for is to edit videos for my YouTube channel.  And I think that’s the main performance increase that I will notice in the new laptop.  Interestingly, By my calculations, the MacBook Pro really hasn’t increased in price since 2021.  My M1 MacBook Pro cost me about $3500 and that’s exactly what my 2024 MacBook Pro was priced as configured.  The Apple trade-in program gave me About $1000 toward the the upgraded laptop.  And I have an annual stipend at work that I was able to apply which made the total out of pocket cost not very painful.  The relatively low cost of the upgrade combined with the conventional wisdom of tech reviewers saying that if you were coming from an M1 MacBook that the upgrade was worthwhile drove the upgrade decision.

WHY DID I PURCHASE ANOTHER MACBOOK PRO?

There’s a pretty good argument to be made for me not needing a MacBook Pro anymore.  Honestly my most used computing device is my 13” M4 iPad Pro.  If it wasn’t for photo and video editing, I would honestly not have any need for a Mac OS computer.  But as it stands, photo and video editing are still most easily done on a Mac…and I do a lot of photo editing.  I would probably do better with a Mac Studio considering that I can count on one hand the number of times my M1 MacBook Pro has made it out of the dock.  I’d travel with it more, but the responsibilities of my day job dictate that my laptop is pretty much with me at all times.  So I tend to take my work laptop, and my iPad when I travel, Which has been working fine.  The most compelling argument that I see for getting the Mac Studio is running multiple monitors.  And while I insist on two monitors at work, at home, I really do like using just one monitor.   So even though I’m not using the flexibility associated with a laptop, I’m not ready to give up the option to do so by going with the Mac Studio.

I believe it’s going to be about a week before I get my M4 MacBook Pro delivered so I’ll report back after I’ve had some time using it.