While the new M4 MacBook Pros got a number of sweet quality of life upgrades, the new MacBooks looked about the same externally, except for the M4 MacBook Pro gaining an additional Thunderbolt port over the M3 model, something that the M3 Pro/M3 Max models already had.

Apple last week replaced the M3 Max MacBook Pro with the new M4 Max MacBook Pro, and we picked up one of the new high-end MacBook Pro machines to

The M4 represents as much of a philosophical shift as it does a performance upgrade. It is Apple acknowledging that if you’re buying a laptop with “Pro” in the name, than it should be a better machine.

The M4's single-core performance is between 14 and 21 percent faster than the M3s in our tests, and tests that use all the CPU cores are usually 20 or 30 percent faster. The GPU is occasionally as much as 33 percent faster than the M3 in our tests, though more often, the improvements are in the single or low double digits.

The biggest reason to upgrade to the MacBook Pro M4 is the performance. This machine gets the newest M4 chip that is based on a 3-nanometer process, promising the fastest CPU core and better multithreaded performance than M3. Based on our testing, the M4 blows a lot of the competition away but not on every test.

That $300 price cut applies if you decide to upgrade the RAM or the chip as well. For example, you can get the 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 Pro, 48GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD for $2,599 (regular price $2,

When it comes to selecting the perfect MacBook Pro, understanding the differences between the M4 Max, M3 Max, and M1 Max chips is crucial. Each chip

The M4 MacBook Pro is pretty stellar. Apple made it far better than the previous generation — without increasing the cost. That includes bumping up the memory of the base configuration to 16GB, improving the webcam,

Discover how the M4 Max MacBook Pro 16 outperforms desktop CPUs in creative benchmarks, offering unmatched power and portability for professionals