With last month’s launch of the M4-powered MacBook Pro laptops, Apple introduced two incredibly powerful options with the high-end M4 Pro and M4 Max chipsets. Both are available in 14-inch and 16-inch forms, and both offer workstation levels of performance for the very professional buyer.
There, it’s the M4-powered MacBook Pro. This macOS laptop is more focused on consumer needs. It comes at a lower price, with fewer configurations and lower performance from the chipset.
14-inch MacBook Pro
The power you need in your MacBook Pro
Of course, powerless is a relative term. Apple’s Silicon M4 chip delivers some impressive numbers in terms of raw performance, battery life and graphics capability. Take the M4 MacBook Pro in isolation and you’ll find an incredible laptop.
But it’s a laptop that comes with Apple’s premium price tag, which lags significantly behind other models, and the direct comparison needed to make an informed buying decision won’t be on sale until March 2025.
The real problem with the M4 MacBook Pro is the M4 MacBook Air. You don’t have the M4 MacBook Air to act as a comparison because Apple is keeping it. It’s not expected to launch until the end of the first quarter of 2025 (many think it will arrive alongside the next-gen iPhone SE).
The M4 MacBook Air will be the closest in performance to the M4 MacBook Pro. The additions to the MacBook Pro that have early reviewers excited—such as boosting the performance of the M4 chipset, offering 16GB of RAM as a base, more I/O ports, and adding a new surface finish—may all be coming to the MacBook Next Air. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t, and if they do, then the M4 MacBook Pro’s value for money will drop precipitously.
MacBook Pro vs MacBook Air
If the Air gets the identical packaging additions as the Pro, the only major difference may be the increased thermal performance between the passively cooled MacBook Air and the active fan-driven cooling of the MacBook Pro. If your main consideration is performance, then you’ll be looking at the MacBook Pro powered M4 Pro and M4 Max laptops. For everyone else, the differences between the entry-level MacBook Air and MacBook Pro will be much more nuanced and likely put a premium on a more competitive price.
Apple has denied consumers this comparison. We don’t know what an M4-powered MacBook Air will offer. Those eyeing the M4-powered MacBook Pro are, at least partially, buying blind.
Since the debut of Apple Silicon and the launch of the M1 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro, Apple has struggled to justify the consumer-focused MacBook Air. It was understandable in the Intel days when clear compromises had to be made around performance and thermal management to get the MacBook Air out the door. The need for a basic MacBook Pro was clear.
Those compromises are no longer necessary. Apple’s vanilla silicon of the M1, M2 and M3 chips is good enough for consumers. There’s no need for a “short” MacBook Pro, yet Apple has released the M4 version to entice consumers… and hasn’t released the only other competing macOS-powered laptop that could offer consumers a real choice.
Hyping the MacBook Pro
The M4 MacBook Pro is underpowered compared to the M4 Pro and M4 Mac variants. The MacBook Pro range as a whole remains highly touted, and the addition of the awkwardly named Apple Intelligence turns it up to 11. And the improvements in the laptop’s specs are little more than catching up on poor decisions of the past.
In context, the M4 MacBook Pro is an adequate laptop, but Apple has much more powerful options on sale now and much more cost-effective options coming out in the near future.
Now read the latest MacBook Pro, iPhone and iOS headlines in Forbes’ weekly Apple Loop news roundup…