MacBook Pro M4: Review & Recommendations

[@JustJoshTech]

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[@apricreed9580]

As a 3D Artist I use a MBP 16" M3 Pro before some updates on Blender I dismissed working heavy task with it, I just did some basic asset creations but when Blender made use of the Metal API for their rendering it became much better, they are now using the hardware RT of the M3. When rendering huge scenes the Macs are champions because if that scene is rendered on a windows machine you are VRAM bottlenecked, there are times where rendering on the mac is faster than my 4080, the reason why is because the Mac has unified memory. Now that the M4 Max is close to the level of the 4080 desktop in rendering, it is the only portable machine you want to use for serious work, even replacing your desktop workstation is feasible. Instead of buying a A6000 Ada for 7k, just get the M4 Max with 128GB ram and it cost less than that card for a whole system, it might be a little bit slower but the amount of vram you have is insane.

[@vintagewander]

Granted that IF the app that you're using can fully utilize the hardware, it'll triumph the Windows machine, simply because it is better designed both in hardware and software

[@dnch]

well only if your render times are under 10 minutes.. as seen on the cinebench torture test

[@Xariann]

I asked for an upgrade at work and they just went, "Sure, have an M4 Max MacBook Pro". Seeing this is making me happy, can't wait until it arrives.

[@phdadventures3203]

straight to the point. focuses on the numbers instead of his "opinion". Gold standard review style

[@jimtipton8888]

As always, the gold standard review! I'll vouch for the M4 14/20/24 , a massive upgrade from the M3 12/18/18. Zero regrets.

[@sambaotaku]

About the programming section, I think you should put something like Xcode benchmark and some JS or chromium compile benchmark. At least we can see the difference betwen macs generations in the xcode one, and JS benchmark for the large mayority of devs, I don't work with neither of those, but that was the kind of benchmark was expecting

[@ml4319]

These macs are just murdering the competition.

[@RobloxianX]

Honestly if you're already on M1, waiting for M5 would be better. But if you're on Intel, now is a great time to upgrade.

[@alpgencgil4936]

It would be nice to see DAW benchmark, most of buyers buying these for music production as well.

[@vibraniummusic2004]

i agree!

[@brunonascimentofavero6097]

Search for James Zhan videos on music production on the m4 MacBook pros, best videos there are. I'm a programmer and I watch those for curiosity, who knows one day I start trying music production on my Mac haha.

[@wisdomyaw03]

The Premier Pro Puget benchmark runs using the Intel version, which has to be translated using Rosseta 2. It’s not optimized for Apple silicon yet that’s why it’s performance is lower than their Windows counterparts, while Davinci Resolve shows the opposite(since it’s optimized). Great video, btw. Very thorough review.

[@m-stat9]

miss the 20C M4 Pro in the 16“. This is the sweet spot macbook of this year for most.

[@PlatinAviation]

Thanks for the honest and helpful review, as always! I plan to buy my M4 Pro 14" MBP tomorrow... so excited! Graphics performance on M4 Pro/Max is really impressive ✨

[@bestof467]

How come you are the ONLY person who shows Apple beating RTX 4090 in GPU results?? Are u a magician?🧙‍♂

[@geoffstrickler]

Key point, he’s testing laptops, so it’s beating the 4090m/4080m, not the desktop versions.

[@bestof467]

@@geoffstrickler NO way it beats 4090 laptop gpu. Where's the real proof since only this video in entire KZbin gives this statement!

[@geoffstrickler]

@ You can go watch the video where he tested the laptop with the 4090m and see the results there. And the M4 Max did beat it, barely.

[@bestof467]

@@geoffstrickler Can u give the link, cuz I don't see it under this channels videos.

[@productivitywithbang]

@@bestof467 At 8:52, you can see the Wiildlife Extreme benchmark where the M4 Max 40 core GPU matches the 4090m performance, while the 32 core GPU is faster than 4080m. Do you think it’s reasonable? It’s pretty damn fast to me

[@S3lvah]

That feeling when you've watched videos talking about a future video, go back on youtube frontpage and that future video is now posted 5 minutes ago.

[@PopCar]

An integrated GPU standing toe-to-toe with the RTX 4090 is ridiculous. Chip manufacturers really need to step it up, I wonder if Nvidia's ARM chip coming next year will be anywhere near as powerful.

[@blacriderv]

This is absolutely mind blowing (and I am a PC user). But damn, Apple killed AMD/Intel/Nvidia all at once.

[@ShinigamiAnger]

it makes sense actually

[@krishbin]

I think you cannot treat it as a integrated gpu. If you look at the die shot of m4 max, its more like a cpu attached to a gpu. Around 50% of the chip is gpu. That is massive considering these chips are huge and i think bigger than the 4080.

[@ryankwan1934]

Good God. It's also pretty crazy that the base M4 is 35% better than Battle Mage.

[@iraklimgeladze5223]

Besides this iGPU doing it by consuming 20-30w when RTX4090 can eat up to 175W

[@saturnotaku]

Your fan noise results don’t seem to line up with what I’ve seen from other outlets that report significantly higher levels on the M4 Max versus the M3 Max.

[@suryasajan2298]

Hi Josh, I would like to raise few important points based on the review you shared. Number 1 @7:11 you showed the M4 max (14 core, 14 inch)had the highest temperature of 48*c, however when we look into the fan noise, @8:10 the m4 max 14 core fans are quieter than m4 pro 14 core, can't wrap my head around why is this the case ? Number 2 @8:55 when Cierra shows the graphic performance chart, it's shown that the m4 pro has 16 core GPU, However, 14 core m4 pro doesn't have 16 core GPU variant, instead has 20 core. So I am confused if you are reviewing the 14 core m4 pro or 12 core m4 pro. I would highly appreciate if you can clarify on these highlighted points.

[@sikarinkaewjutaniti4920]

I'm going to sell my kidney to buy a m4 max 16 inch lol

[@anshumansingh2156]

The amount of effort you team has put in this video is just amazing. Best review as always!

[@JustJoshTech]

Thank you!

[@videofrat3115]

You do the best reviews im seeing online right now. Just one small suggestion for battery life test: Run one of your own video reviews in youtube in 4k on repeat until battery dies. This is literally a real world use case for all of your viewers (otherwise they wouldn't be watching this video). If you have a chance, it would be nice to include the binned m4 pro too. (its the one i am considering buying)

[@JustJoshTech]

Thank you!!!!! Noted

[@ionmihai79]

your tests are flawless and shows a very good understanding of cpu / gpu architecture, memory bandwidth, bottlenecks etc. I'd love to see a review like this on photography side of things. Lightroom, but not importing (generating previews) or exporting, but masking + sync on 1000 files, AI noise reduction etc

[@agussio]

This is the review I have been waiting for. Thank you for the great work. Finally someone showed the 14c Max and spent the time on the benchmarks and the math.

[@arturweber7493]

When presenting battery life test results, it’s more effective to show the percentage of battery consumed during the test rather than the remaining battery life. This approach highlights the energy efficiency of the laptops more clearly because it directly compares how much battery each device used. For example, if one laptop uses 15% of its battery during the test and another uses 30%, focusing on the percentage consumed provides a clear picture that the first laptop is twice as energy-efficient as the second. Conversely, displaying the remaining battery percentages (85% and 70%) makes the difference seem less significant. By graphing the percentage consumed, the visual representation becomes proportional to the actual energy usage, making the comparisons more intuitive.

[@arkabhowmik7832]

Amazing review! Still really really happy with my M1 Pro. I used Windows all my life and shifted to a base MacBook Pro 14 M1 Pro 2 years ago. It’s been extremely stable and still performs great! More than adequate for my needs. The only thing I miss is playing CS2 and some Windows exclusives. I hope game developers and Apple figure this out soon. Unless my laptop dies suddenly, I don’t think I’ll need to upgrade until M7/8 Pro

[@videofrat3115]

Great video and it deserves a subscription. I think you are my favorite reviewer now. You go straight to the facts without sounding like an apple fanboy

[@JustJoshTech]

Thank you, I appreciate that!

[@MuhammadHosny0]

hands down the best reviews on KZbin. witnessing your channel's growth has been inspiring, Good job.

[@JustJoshTech]

Thanks so much. We are trying very hard to improve in every area.

[@MuhammadHosny0]

@ I have noticed the improvements and have to say you’re doing great so far. Looking forward to the next gen laptops and how they will try to compete with the dominant M4 As a windows user I honestly don’t want to move to MacOS unless I really have to and it’s getting difficult to make excuses for Windows especially after the M4 🤣

[@blendernoob64]

I’m still on an intel MacBook Pro. It’s showing its age and I abused that thing with so much animation and music creation work. I cannot wait to upgrade to a M series chip with a tb of storage compared to the 500 gig which filled up very quickly lol

[@amill1563]

I'm prescribed!!!

[@JustJoshTech]

Thank you!

[@Wunderkinddd]

Real question is 12-core vs 14-core it’s so hard to decide! What do you recommend?? I think the 14-core uses more battery but is it significant?? That’s the answer I’m looking for

[@JustJoshTech]

I literally gave my opinion to that in the video. Very clearly

[@videofrat3115]

I found a mistake at 8:58. It says M4 pro 14/16, this chip does not exist. It is either 12/16 or 14/20. So which one is it?

[@travismster8276]

I've been surprised to see no one else noticing in the comments. They said they didn't buy the 12 cores CPU at the 1:50 so it should be the 14/20

[@videofrat3115]

@@travismster8276 Exactly, and at 9:17 she says that the 16c gpu has the same performance as the 38c M2 pro, which seems incorrect if they are listing the incorrect number of cores.

[@AbdulSubhan-pp1ee]

recently discovered your channel one of the best tech channel out there 💙💙💙 planning to buy m4 pro mbp 14 inch in back to school offer but i am confused between 12core and 14core and whether i should opt for nano texture or not ? btw i'm an engineering student from cse background is there any brightness difference between glossy and nano texture one because i mostly use my laptop indoors

[@justinchundakkattil284]

go for 12 core and no nano display since you are mostly indoors. Best bang for the buck in the entire lineup

[@AbdulSubhan-pp1ee]

@@justinchundakkattil284 i want to use this laptop for around 4 to 5 years thats why i am confused between 12 core and 14 core like if there will be a huge performance differnce then i will go for 14 core

[@AbdulSubhan-pp1ee]

@@justinchundakkattil284 btw thanks for replying

[@tightertech]

I really want to see more of these video editing tests for all laptops! Thank you for the detailed insight!

[@solitude5501]

The nano texture is the big question this generation. A lot of big reviewers seem to prefer it. I look forward to your experience with nano texture, given your high attention to detail.

[@TheMonemone2]

your reviews are definitely the best! ❤

[@LuvvSURYA]

Watching your video on late-2011 Macbook Pro 15" that originally came with 4GB RAM, 512GB HDD and MacOS Lion. But I upgraded to 16GB RAM (Max supported memory) and 500GB SSD. Converted the CD_Drive slot into another storage unit with a caddy where I installed the original 512GB HDD. So in total, I have now 1TB storage. The machine is super fast AF....but...... the processor is still the 2.2GHz i7 which cannot catch up with the demands of the current softwares. Even chrome doesn't support the final OS version on my machine - MacOS High Sierra.

[@agiverreviga4592]

Great review but you should consider including some common AI app benchmarks too. For example the easiest one you can do is from the Topaz family - Topaz Video or Topaz Photo. I'm very curious to see how well the M chips compare to Nvidia GPUs in terms of video upscaling.

[@JustJoshTech]

I'll take a look at that one

[@agiverreviga4592]

@@JustJoshTech Superb! Will be very interesting

[@Conjuredfilms]

Yay! Sweet treat to wake up and see this video got posted. Now that you have the MacBooks you can do that video editing laptop show down you said you were waiting on getting the m4’s for 👀

[@DenCato]

Great review. One suggestion would be to test the fans in clamshell mode as well, as it seems the M4 max is quite noisy in this setup.

[@ahmedazaz2152]

Keep it ip. The analysis is really good

[@markO-S-z6h]

The video I was looking for, awesome!

[@FranceManhique]

You review made me think about getting a Mac for 20min. Great review btw. I think you should include a coding benchmark for compilation time for projects in C/C++, Java/JS, and Python...

[@charlsmv]

Yessss, finally. I was waiting for your video before buying

[@weizenyang]

From the looks of the battery test on Cinebench, ProArt did pretty respectably, seems like it did better than the M4 Max which is quite surprising.

[@defnotatroll]

Incredible performance

[@htkaze6092]

The first ever Apple laptop series that makes me want to use a Macbook. I'm waiting to see how AMD's strix halo will do but my biggest regret is the fact that they all abandonned upgradability. Like for a budget buyer, being able to upgrade after buying is actually important.

[@stickmanned]

Add the MacBook pro 14 with the m4 max 16c?

[@Keven-ol1hd]

Why don’t you cover M1/M1 pro? I’m sure that’s still what most people have including myself so it would be nice to see it compared to that

[@FF18Cloud]

Because those videos already exist

[@Keven-ol1hd]

@@FF18Cloud then is it really that hard to add M1 Pro to the charts?

[@wilsonbotlero2363]

Bruh

[@messicomps344]

​@@Keven-ol1hd why do you want him to give you information so easily accessible elsewhere

[@dandjsh7978]

Lazy boy

[@kamalaksh.shenoy]

Good and informative video.

[@MuhammadHosny0]

for the programming just do a compilation test and that's it 😄it is very difficult to test "programming" performance, but a compilation test is a good start.

[@SirSomnolent]

The apple m4 is obviously good for mac users but I just don't put any weight on performance testing in Windows.

[@SuryaPrakash-nt9mg]

M4 14 M4pro (24GB 2000USD) vs M3 14 M3pro(18 GB 1700 USD) ? buying my first mac

[@Sam-oz8tw]

Great, in-depth review! The topic was holistically covered, Ugreen Sponsor was nice and not manipulative, and Cierra seemingly slowed down her speech to match Josh's pace. No audio EQ inconsistencies that would have happened ~6 months ago... You guys have really stepped up your game. Your hard work is noticed. Freaking fantastic work!

[@montenegrofees]

My laptop is 2 years old and it has ryzen 7 6800H. And from what i see the only way for me to get really significant upgrade is to switch to macs or wait till the software gets in better shape on the side of qualcomm. AMD, Intel, get it together, what the hell?

[@SoumyaRajalt.]

Hey Josh! Is macbook pro worth over macbook air just for the screen, battery life, etc? I'll be using my device for remote desktop only 90% of the times.

[@cameronbosch1213]

For the port selection too.

[@HeavenSevenWorld]

Please remember that the M4 line is the first to introduce the equivalent of AVX instructions, and Cinebench 2024 hasn't taken advantage of them yet under macOS. So it's not like everyday tasks are magically accelerated by some mysterious hardware, and Cinebench 2024 shows the truth about general performance - precisely the opposite. Apple Silicon chips were lacking, and starting with M4, there is feature parity with x86, which requires recompilation of the existing binaries. Only then will we see the proper general performance of those chips.

[@notalexbaker4959]

Does the 14” M4 Pro 12 core get similar performance to the 14 core? Would have really liked to see that on these charts bc it’s at a much better price point

[@--AnonymousUser--]

How much RAM do you recommend for a photography workflow with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop on the new MacBook Pro with M4 Pro chip? I work with RAW photos with 40+ megapixels. Are there any workflows where choosing 48GB would be better than 24GB?

[@Robiejan1]

Thanks for this comprehensive review! Minor comment, in your charts the 14core m4 pro has 20 GPU cores, not 16 cores. Maybe you can change this?

[@andresinaga9885]

21:13 agreed Josh.

[@ryankwan1934]

I can't wait for the M4 Airs. They're going to be ludicrous.

[@MislavBušić]

This is the review I was waiting for. RIP my wallet, thanks Josh for that.

[@albertoeffe8524]

as a ee student I'm in doubt between the m4 with 36gb ram or m4 pro with 24gb (no 36 option avaiable, what do you suggest? I think 36gb is better

[@nuna5767]

Thanks team! I'm thinking about getting the m4 pro version, but was wondering if the rams were the standard 24gbs for your tests? I'm debating whether 24 is good enough for me or if I need to go for the 48gb version to be able to handle big data projects in the future without going for cloud solutions. Also, for the Graphics Performance test results, I think the m4 pro 14 core's gpu text is wrongly written? There are either 20c or 32c gpu for the 14-cored cpu version, the 16c gpu version is only in the 12-cored cpu version.

[@jimtipton8888]

Just a .02¢ opinion based on some personal experience. 24 is more than adequate. I think RAM upgrades are largely a money grab. With the way MacOS uses swap, and regardless of RAM it always does, the performance gains are negligible. Both Max Tech and Created Tech did a torture test comparison of 16 vs 32. They threw the kitchen sink at both and the 16 kept up very well, granted, using more swap. Swap and SSD health has become a non issue. You're better spending the $$ on going from the 512 GB to the 1 TB drive as the read/write speeds are higher on the 1TB. Hope that helps.

[@nuna5767]

@@jimtipton8888 Ooo I see, thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience! Your 2 cents might save me thousands times more money :D I'm branching into Mac for the first time mostly thanks to Josh's videos, but that 24gb ram made me second think. The swapping might be one of Mac's biggest sell point for me. Not needing a dedicated rtx gaming laptop is super cool, in the way that it gives me less ways to distract myself from work :')

[@jimtipton8888]

@@nuna5767 Hah! Yeah, I don't game on mine, but do plenty of photo and some light video editing along with plenty of multitasking and my 14/20/24/1TB cuts through it like a hot knife thru butter. I think you'll really enjoy the experience, they are exceptional machines!

[@m-stat9]

nice video, though M4 Pro would better sit in the 16“

[@sloppy-1-1]

I'd love to see some compile times benchmarks, e.g. clang building chromium/firefox or some xcode stuff. Some Unreal engine stuff would also be nice :D

[@videofrat3115]

I am suprised that the m3 pro battery life is higher than the base m4, did not see that one coming at all. For someone like me who really cares about battery life i might consider buying an m3 pro instead.

[@TheGuesstp]

In Thailand right now I can buy a macbook pro m3 16gb of ram 1tb ssd for $90 more than a m4 MacBook pro16gb of ram 512gb ssd . In your opinion which one should I buy? ps. Both are brand new from Apple Store Thailand.

[@adylutai10]

get the M4 one, with the difference in money you can buy an external SSD

[@ylliimeri]

Doesn’t the M4 Pro 14C have 20 GPU cores? In the presentation it’s 16C GPU. Edit: Never mind, I just noticed you corrected it in the pinned comment.

[@kalef1234]

If you wanna feel good about whatever macbook you have now, just go re-watch Apple's announcement for it 😂

[@_noize]

All info graphics seem to have an error regarding the 14-Core Pro chip. They say the 14-Core has 16 GPU cores, but there only exists either a 12-Core/16-Core chip or 14-Core/20-Core chip.

[@JustJoshTech]

That is an error. It's the 14x cpu

[@TheKdcool]

Would have been nice to have lunar lake instead of 185H in the comparisons! espacially at 6:07

[@JustJoshTech]

Oh we added a couple of call outs showing scored and a graph with it btw

[@TheKdcool]

nevermind 6:42 solves it for me

[@charlsmv]

My big question, mb air m3 24gb or mb pro m4 16gb?

[@afxquest6167]

What is the best laptop for engineering

[@ogikay7056]

I got m4 max 36gb ram. I don't think I will ever push this machine besides gaming.

[@gianni99999]

Is the base M4 Macbook Pro worth it over a M3 Air?

[@AzVfL]

As always, depends on your use case

[@gianni99999]

​@@AzVfL performance wise the M3 Air would be sufficient for me, more in terms of if better display / ports / newer chip is worth the 300$ premium

[@alpgencgil4936]

@@gianni99999 I think 300 dolar is worth it for these aspects that u re talkin about

[@madshoisgaard]

You get a better screen resolution, more nits more lit screen, sound system better... otherwise wait until March '25 and compare to the M4 Air.. On the negative, compared to the 13 inch Air you get a heavier machine with a slightly higher table profile

[@akin242002]

It seems that Intel and AMD are stuck at M2 & M2 Pro CPU levels of performance. Lunar Lake seems like the Windows M2 Air. AMD Zen 5 seems like M2 Pro levels (slightly higher multi-core). Only Snapdragon seems to be on M3 Pro levels of CPU performance. Full X86 software compatibility, gaming, OLED screens, removable & replaceable SSD, linking with dedicated GPUs, and more ports are the things keeping Windows laptops competitive. Lunar Lake at least has a fighting chance in the business laptop market segment that only needs mid-level CPU intensity. AMD Zen 5 for programmers and personal gaming needs.

[@waqarhaider2226]

I feel like Apple should give us 32GB RAM at the premium $2000 price point. Giving it 24GB is a crap move imho.

[@khaledelmor5428]

good job

[@eldardb]

I'm wondering how Intel&AMD chips would perform under Linux, I'm not expecting big performance gains but at least some since it has already been proven that windows is poorly optimized.

[@thane-j]

even this machine is so great, but for a programmer and a gamer like me and also tons of ppl like us, alot indie game still launch on window, thats why i need to by window pc instead

[@kudryavchik]

M2Pro with 12 cores is faster than M2Max 16 cores in geekbench... Looks like a mistake

[@davitdavid7165]

I only wish you could game on it.

[@AdnanAhmed-nh4dm]

Should i get the zenbook 14x or 14 with the amd apu from 2024 if im doing software engineering and want a bit of light gaming

[@davidepace8821]

9:19 it's wrong cpu and gpu core count. it should be 12 cpu / 16 gpu, or 14 cpu / 20 gpu. Which one is it?

[@JustJoshTech]

14 cpu 20c gpu

[@owlmostdead9492]

M4 Max 48GB RAM 2TB SSD is ~5200€, the exact same setup with the M4 Pro is ~4100€. Where is the value here, *just* the max is not worth and additional 1.100€.

[@JDMlover9999]

FINALLY M4 CHIPPPPPP

[@tc102167]

Ur charts show 14c with 16core gpu but all 14 core come with 20 core gpu.

[@JustJoshTech]

See pinned comment

[@david_thomas]

Doesnt the m4 pro with 14c cpu have a 20c gpu not 16?

[@SaurabhShukla_22]

can someone on earth do a realistic medium to heavy use battery test of MBPs ! why do you tell us extreme performance, or just a video playback, they mean nothing.

[@ashyouknow7420]

What chances do Windows laptops have of competing with these M4 chips in the next 2 years? If anyone has any info from AMD's and Intel's roadmap for future architectures please fill in!

[@richardobore-ogwang337]

Ha ha ha, First!!! I always wondered what sort of juvenile people bothered to say "first!", yet here we are😂😂😂

[@m-stat9]

grow up, cringe comment.

[@dhruvsanjaykumar2582]

God knows when will windows chip manufacturers produce powerful chips which are as good as apple.

[@kudichris1168]

Thank you josh for the review. This really highlighst that Windows is so cooked... They better watch for their game section cause apple is coming hard at it.

[@LiveLifeWithLove]

Amazing video - Apple should thank Qualcomm for showing importance of having more Performance cores :)

[@zonyyu8412]

What does that supposed to mean 😂 didn't M3 Max come out basically a few days after the X elite? They both have 12 performance cores...

[@LiveLifeWithLove]

​@@zonyyu8412 😅 that one slide from Qualcomm showcasing more P cores outsmarts M3 pros propelled Apple to release M3 Max else M3 Max would have been Branded as M4 and these M4 as M5s. Apple can't afford to be beaten in this race till top developers start building native apps for apple devices.

[@kylorokx1552]

Finally

[@videofrat3115]

Do you have a crypto wallet for donations? i don't use patreon and i don't like using my credit card for these sort of things.

[@KaushalTaunk]

We should consider apple is at its 4th generation of arm chips, and the x elite destroyed both m1 and m2 in the first attempt at raw performance. Time will balance them out.

[@GradualReportSerbia]

568th hehe

[@thejakawijerathna]

2:11 Just ordered a M3 MacBook Air Yesterday and he said the performance is lackluster for the price 🥲