When is a Pro not pro? Or when is it a double Pro? Is, only then, that pro enough? (The short answer is yes). Apple has made the MacBook Pro naming convention a bit of a mess, with three tiers of MacBook Pro.
From the base level to the highest tier: MacBook Pro M4, MacBook Pro M4 Pro, and MacBook Pro M4 Max. The middle tier is the most convoluted to say. It’s also the one I’d say is right for most people who truly need a MacBook Pro.
And as for the base-level M4, well, I’m not as much of a fan.
When you really need it
Compared to the plain Jane M4, mid-tier M4 Pro chip ups the ante from three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports to three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports, in addition to the slick MagSafe 3 charging port that lets you plug in the adapter without having to use up one of those useful peripheral ports.
The base-level M4 shares its chip with the $850 MacBook Air M4, which features a 10-core CPU and 10-core CPU. The benchmark scores of the MacBook Air M4 (54,806) and MacBook Pro M4 (57,596) are really quite close, meaning you’re paying nearly $600 more for the MacBook Pro M4 (base level) than the MacBook Air M4 for not a whole lot of performance gain.
The M4 Pro’s 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU, coupled with 24 GB of RAM, provide plenty of oomph for powering through intensive programs and tasks, even video editing. Chalk that up partly to its two onboard fans, shared with the M4 Max, that keep it cool as ice even when it’s working hard.
The base-level MacBook Pro M4 has only one fan, which contributes to its slight performance boost over the MacBook Air M4. It’s better able to manage its heat and keep itself in an optimal temperature range during heavy or demanding usage.
But is the base-level MacBook Pro M4 that much better than the MacBook Air M4? Nah. Certainly not worth $600 more. As I pointed out in my piece, “Brawl From Cupertino: MacBook Air M4 vs. MacBook Pro M4,” the MacBook Air M4 is a better deal than the base-level MacBook Pro M4.
If you don’t need a machine for heavy-lifting tasks, such as editing raw photographs and videos or using heavyweight CMSes, then don’t just pick up the base-level MacBook Pro because it’s swankier than the Air. Save your money; buy the Air.
And if you want to truly step up from the MacBook Air M4, which is an excellent value at a near-constant sale of $850, make sure you pick up at least the MacBook Pro M4 Pro. And if your workload is so intense that you need even more power than that, you’ll know who you are.
Friends who’ve chosen the M4 Max are those who work professionally as video editors and audio engineers. The software they run is mind-bogglingly performance-intensive, far beyond anything I, a mere writer and sometimes photographer, need. If you need the M4 Max, you likely know it.
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