Can the Apple MacBook Pro get any better?
There was a time when work and personal time used to be very distinct silos for us. But then the Covid pandemic and the resultant lifestyle changes impacted all of us like never before. But when work beckons you wherever you are — be it on a Vande Bharat train dissecting the Indian peninsula or a cozy courtyard overlooking the Kochi backwaters — you have to be sure the devices you have are able to take on the task at hand. Work is no longer an endeavour confined to the office environment. The new 14-inch Apple MacBook Pro powered by the M4 chip is made just for those times when you have to quickly work on a video edit wherever your passions take you.
On the design front, the Apple MacBook Pro M4 does not come with any changes; it has the same look and feel, keyboard layout, and weight as the previous generation. However, I found the Space Black very stylish and practical for Indian conditions. It will also set you apart in a cafe where everyone else has older Silver Macs. The Magic Keyboard is well laid out like always and offers good feedback while typing; the trackpad is responsive to even the slightest of touches when you are trying to flick away a screen.
That screen
The 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is exactly what you need if working under the bright Kerala sun and it offers the right colour reproduction for you to ensure your photos and videos have the right hues in the final edit.
The newly unveiled MacBook Pro comes in 14- and 16-inch screen sizes. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
The videos I shot on the iPhone 15 Pro Max as well as the Fujifilm X-S20 shone up on this stunning screen, even though I was not working under the best conditions at the resort we had for a family get-together near the backwaters in Kochi. The extreme dynamic range seen in most of the iPhone photos with my fascination for clouds comes out perfectly on this screen.
And when the clouds give way to unseasonal November rains, the six-speaker sound system with four force-cancelling woofers and two tweeters makes you feel like you are listening to the new Pushpa 2 song drop on a Bluetooth speaker from some specialist European brand.
Even more power
The M4 has pushed the efficiencies of the M series even further. It is hard to figure out how much faster the new processor has made the MacBook Pro, given that even the M3 was more powerful than what most workflows demanded. But if you are among those working on the most power-sapping tasks, you will find everything happening a tad faster than before. And for those who have just these grueling workflows every day, this will make a huge difference.
The base variant of the new MacBook Pro features the M4 chip, which has an 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU and 16GB RAM. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
I airdropped about 16 4K clips from the iPhone and tried to merge them into one long video file. And it took about 40 seconds for a 4-minute-20-second clip to be exported from this. Anything faster would, of course, be faster but won't make much sense to most users. Remember, you can maybe do this on a MacBook Air too these days, but if you push on video editing you need the fans and cooling of the MacBook Pro.
The Apple MacBook Pro M4 has the same look and feel, keyboard layout, and weight as the previous generation. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
For those already working on AI models or 3D graphics, it might still make sense to opt for the models with M4 Pro or Max. Once Apple Intelligence rolls out to all users we should be able to see the power of the M4 to help solve problems on the device.
New software features
With macOS Sequoia 15, I loved how you can mirror the iPhone onto the MacBook Pro and get to see notifications or apps directly on the large screen. Just to underline, I have done these with some Android phones almost a decade back. Apple could have done much more here, like letting you drag and drop photos from the iPhone to the MacBook. Now you can open the photos app and airdrop the iPhone photos. Also, the ability to get apps to go full-screen would be a great feature to have.
macOS Sequoia 15 lets you mirror your iPhone on a Macbook Pro. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
One reason I have been using a MacBook Pro for the past few years is the ability to connect to a TV for meetings using the HDMI cable. This port stays with the new MacBook Pro along with the first Thunderbolt 5, offering transfer speeds of up to 120Gb/s. This means you can connect to high-resolution displays easily. Plus, you have a card reader and three Thunderbolt (USB-C) ports.
All new MacBook Pros now include a 12MP Center Stage camera. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
For those on video conferencing all the time, Centrestage comes to the MacBook Pro and does a great job of keeping you in the middle of the frame at all times. This is great for people like me who have trouble sitting straight during calls, especially when the meeting is wandering off from its agenda. However, I thought the 12MP could have done better in low light.
Better power management, more power
With all the improvements in processing power on the M4, the real achievement has been how the MacBook Pro manages over 24 hours on a full charge. Remember, this is with a better, brighter display. It is fascinating how even four generations since the M series launched the rest of the computing world is playing catchup on battery life.
The Space Black Macbook Pro M4 stands out stylishly. (Image: Nandagopal Rajan/The Indian Express)
Should you buy it?
Every year when a new MacBook comes out I get questions from regular users, much like me, asking if it is time for them to upgrade. My answers have started changing over the past couple of years. With the MacBook Pro powered by the new M4, I am not sure if this makes sense for the average user, especially now when MacBook Airs too are powered by M series chips. But if you do anything creative that needs a lot of processing like video editing, 3D modeling, or even top-end gaming, there is nothing better out there. And given how much stress you are planning to offload on the device, you have the option of choosing the chipset that can manage your workload.
With prices starting at Rs 1,69,900, the MacBook Pro M4 now stands tall as the most powerful laptop you can own. If you are on a MacBook that is still running on Intel chips, it is a no-brainer to upgrade now, since the promise of AI is closer than ever before.
| Apple Macbook Pro M4 | |
| Pros | Cons |
| Superb processing power | The camera is not great in low light |
| 24-hour battery life | Design is same as before |
| Stunning display and audio | Could have done more with iPhone mirroring |
| Sleek design |
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