Apple listened: the new M4 MacBook Pro fixes the M3's most disappointing feature

It's been a busy week for Apple. After teasing us with announcements of a new M4 iMac followed by a new M4 Mac mini, it's finally made the main reveal: new MacBook Pros with a choice of M4, M4 Pro or M4 Max chip.

The imminent release of new MacBooks was a poorly guarded secret. They had been rumoured for weeks, but today's announcement came a little earlier than expected. And there are a few details that we hadn't seen in the many rumours.

The base model will get a boost in memory. That's to help power Apple Intelligence, but it also shows Apple may have listened after it was criticised for the decision to provide a not-very-pro 8GB of memory in the base model of last year's M3 laptops (see our Black Friday MacBook roundup for deals on that).

M4 MacBook Pro: design and specs

MacBook Pro Announcement - October 30 - YouTube

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The base M4 MacBook Pro 14 should be a significant upgrade from the M3 version. It has a minimum of 16GB memory instead of 8GB and three Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of two. Also the black colour is now available for the base model.

Like with the M4 Pro Mac mini also announced today, opting for the more expensive M4 Pro or Max MacBook gets you faster chips but also faster ports, with Thunderbolt 5 coming to MacBooks for the first time.

As for the displays, all models have Liquid Retina XDR displays for up to 1,000 nits of brightness and the option of the new nano-texture display to reduce glare. There's also a new 12MP Centre Stage camera that follows you around the room, and every configuration is intended to use Apple Intelligence as it rolls out in macOS Sequoia, including Writing Tools and the new Siri.

All three M4 chips use second-generation 3-nanometer technology for improved performance and power efficiency. Apple says they have the world’s fastest CPU core. It also says that the new MacBooks can deliver up 24 hours of battery life. If that's the case, it would be more than six hours more than what we got when we tested the M3 Max MacBook Pro 16.

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As with the previous generation, the 16-inch MacBook Pro is available only with Pro or Max chips.

M4 MacBook Pro price and release date

The new M4 MacBook Pros are available for pre-order today for release on 8. The cheapest model, the M4 MacBook Pro 14, starts at $1,599 / £1,599 – the same starting price as last year's M3 model despite the larger memory. 14-inch M4 Pro configurations start at $/£1,999, 16-inch M4 Pro configurations at $/£2,499 (see below for deals on previous models). Going for the new nano-textured display option adds $150 to all prices.