Should you upgrade M4 to M4 MacBook Pro? I did, and it was perfectly worth it

Key takeaways of zdnet

• The M4 MacBook Pro starts at $ 1,799 and improves the most subtle places.
• Upgrade of graphical performance, battery life and transfer speed are the most notable.
• Be ready to overpage for almost every imagination.

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On Amazon, everyone M4 MacBook Pro Configuration is on sale. You can buy Apple’s latest flagship laptop for low as $ 1,299.

I am using M4 MacBook Pro Now for a few months, and it is the most boring terrible tool in my daily arsenal.

My 14-inch M1 MacBook Pro is the most polished and full laptop of the latest model Apple, without jealousy, at this point, where the base M4 configuration can only be sufficient for 90% of users. Most people will be pleased with the overall computing experience of the M4 MacBook Pro, especially if they are coming from an Intel-based system.

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From a small percentage-e-SDR mode, there will be a complete greetings to the USB-C ports in USB-C ports, from changes in USB-C ports, fine touching. In fact, the Base M4 Model – M4 Pro or M4 Max is not – exactly what I am moving around the city, and it has found all the bells and whistles that I need to push video and photo editing, gaming (with all rays), and the harsh amounts of material consumption.

I am 11 hours since the previous charge, and this laptop has 20% battery left in the tank. This is not exactly the “24-hour battery life” that APPLE avoids its marketing, but remember that the company is only a video playback benchmark. With various creative functions and background apps, I have been greatly impressed by the endurance of M4 MacBook Pro. If this was my M1 MacBook Pro, my battery worrying long ago.

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The new M4 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pros have USB-C Thunderbolt 5 ports, which have become some of the first laptops in the market to support 120GBPS transfer speed, up to 240W charging, and more strong monitor support. Professional creatives who use external GPU and storage solutions and require a portable system that can move large files rapidly, it is advisable to pay for additional processing power.

Otherwise, the base M4 MacBook Pro is higher than the pro-competent, now there are three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. Not only the additional USB-C port is located on the right side of the laptop, which plays well with all monitor and charging cables that naturally live to the right of my office desk, but the new processor allows the computer to expand the computer to two monitors while the lid is open. First, you have to close the MacBook Lid to power two external monitors.

In addition to the ports, the only major hardware difference between the base M4 MacBook Pro and the M4 Pro and M4 Max variants is the number of cooling fans, with high -level options two instead of one. While I am not able to test the difference in throttleing of all three systems and heat dissipation, I am satisfied with the performance of Base M4. Whether i was running or playing benchmark Mist On high graphical settings and with rand tracing active, the laptop fan did not pay attention to the “tapping” manner, ever distracted.

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Before I jump into the benchmark, I want to give a node for the display of M4 MacBook Pro. The 14-inch model does not have the same holes and depth as the leading OLED on the M4 iPad Pro, but in the new luster rating-SDR, 1,000 NITs and HDR have been added with 1,600 NIT-optional, expensive, and satisfactory clean nano-texture coating, it makes the best looking laptop display. The matte-frosted layering reduces considerable dazzle, while the brighter panel manages to defeat the November sun, which still thinks that it is in summer.

With M1 MacBook Pro – and every other laptop with a bright performance – I often found the webcam area smiling while lifting myself or wiping the dust mark. On the M4 MacBook Pro, after a week of intensive use, the performance remains clean and ancient.

So, is it worth $ 150 for nano-texture display? For most people, not. Instead, consider lifting one Matte screen guard For less than $ 20 from Amazon. You will be almost satisfied for more than a fraction of the cost.

Now, here is the breakdown of M4 MacBook Pro (with 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, and 1TB storage):

Unexpectedly, the M4 Macbook Pro along with its predecessors -Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) performs better than some of some of the latest Windows machines running on chipset. It is quite impressive to see $ 1,599 M4 MacBook Pro, with a 16 -inch MacBook Pro with an M1 Pro chip, for which I paid around $ 3,000.

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It helps Everyone The MacBook model (including M3 and M4 Air) now starts with 16 GB RAM; We have AI for thanks for this. I am doing with Macos Sequoia 15.3.2, when I spend less time while using MacBook to taste life (read: Relying on Apple Intelligence). Here is a brief level list of the best new features:

• Chat-guard Siri (one level): It is quite game-changing when Siri can answer more sophisticated questions rather than really inhabited the search results. It is also very good that the command key is able to reach a floating Siri menu by double-represen the command key, although I would like to be able to automatically start a voice prompt with a long press.
• Writing Equipment (B Tier): From the invitation to the event to real estate messages, I need to manage various conversations and have greatly benefited from AI-Assisted Response. The only thing is that my natural tone is somewhere between “professional” and “brief” versions, so there is always one or two things that need to be dial or spiffed below.
• Image playground (c tier): In addition to the output from the image generator, looks like a variant Jetpack Jyroid iconI am struggling to find the use of a practical, real world for this. Often, sending an emoji provides the same point in the form of AI-borne thumbnail, and for a very short time.

ZDNET purchase advice

For the same price as the McBook Pro model of the previous generation, M4 variant – Especially base configurations- Performance, utility and battery provide remarkable upgrades in life. The introduction of Thunderbolt 5 ports, an M4 processor that is better made for machine learning, a more competent webcam, and a bright performance funnel is in a form factor that should play well with office staff, digital nomads, students, professional creative and more.

For most users, 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro There is a way to go. If you need more internal storage than 512GB, it is not the worst idea to collide up to 1TB tier for $ 200. In addition, I would recommend taking an external SSD, which gives you more storage than Apple and much less money.

If you are after portability and can live without facilities like promotion display and a SD card slot, M4 or M3 MacBook AirWhich also supports the upcoming Apple Intelligence facilities.

The article was originally published on 7 November 2024, and was updated on August 5, 2025.