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Much like the 13-inch model before it, the 14-inch MacBook Pro has often been defined by compromise. You either paid a lot for the privilege (the M1 Pro and M2 Pro versions started at $1,999) or had to accept serious memory and port limitations if you bought the entry-level configuration. That sometimes made it a hard sell versus a well-specced MacBook Air, especially when the starter M3 chip wasn’t overwhelmingly faster than the M2 it replaced.
In 2024, it’s a different story. Apple has released an entry MacBook Pro that appears to tick all the right checkboxes: 16GB of minimum RAM, three Thunderbolt ports, and of course an M4 chip that offers a significant performance boost. And as we’ve found out in our review of the base model 14-inch MacBook Pro M4, it’s now a much better buy that competes well against the latest Windows laptops.
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14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Design: Extra Port Makes a Big Difference
The 14-inch MacBook Pro hasn’t changed much on the outside with the M4 version, but that’s mostly a good thing. It’s a handsome aluminum-clad machine that’s reasonably lightweight (3.4 lbs) and thin (0.61 in). You won’t find any significant chassis or display flex. It exudes quality, while MagSafe 3 ensures you won’t drag your laptop to the ground if you trip on the power cable. And yes, you can finally get the starter 14-inch in the attractive, if somewhat fingerprint-prone, Space Black color instead of having to “settle” for Space Gray.
That does leave the M4 model dealing with some of the same problems. It’s not the lightest 14-inch performance laptop you’ll find (ASUS’ ROG Zephyrus G14 is 3.3lbs, for example), and it’s neither sloped nor extra-thin. Your wrists probably won’t rub against the edge, but there’s a greater chance of it than there would be with other thin-and-lights.
However, all might be forgiven with the connectivity. Apple finally offers a $1,599 14-inch MacBook Pro with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, one of which is on the right-hand side. They’re not Thunderbolt 5 like on the M4 Pro and M4 Max models, but few people currently have peripherals fast enough to require the newer connector (think fast SSDs in RAID arrays). You can finally plug in a wired mouse without running the cord around the back or attach two Thunderbolt displays (up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz) while leaving HDMI and another Thunderbolt port free. If you’re a media editor or simply a power user, the base model is now a much better buy for this reason alone.
Other helpful expansion remains intact, including native HDMI 2.1 (4K at up to 144Hz) and an SDXC card reader. You won’t need adapters to connect to your TV or load photos from most dedicated cameras. Both the HDMI and SDXC slots are reasonably futureproof, but it’s worth noting that SDUC will eventually come allowing cards with more than 2TB of storage.
14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Display, Webcam, Audio, and Input
Just as the basic 14-inch MacBook Pro design hasn’t changed much with the M4, the audiovisual experience largely remains the same — with one key difference.
The 14-inch mini-LED screen still has a wonderfully crisp 3,024 x 1,964 resolution with full DCI-P3 color coverage, but it now outputs standard dynamic range (SDR) content at a much brighter 1,000 nits versus the M3’s 600 nits. High dynamic range (HDR) material still reaches 1,000 nits sustained and 1,600 nits peak. Even so, the SDR performance will make a huge difference if you’re working outside or in a sunlit room; I never had significant glare issues. I certainly enjoy the pixel count, which, at the maximum “more space” scaling, makes this feel more like a 15-inch laptop in terms of usable screen area.
There’s also a $150 option for a nano-texture display that eliminates most glare. The price is much more reasonable than what you’d pay with an Apple Studio Display ($300) or Studio Display XDR ($1,000). It could be vital if you’re editing photos or videos in uncontrolled lighting conditions. Just know that the black levels and overall vividness won’t be as pronounced as they are with the standard display.
And some of the quirks remain. While Apple has thankfully upgraded the webcam to a 12-megapixel sensor with very useful Center Stage auto-tracking and a crafter-friendly Desk View, the notch it sits in is still oddly large when there’s no Face ID or other sensors to justify the size. You’ll get used to the notch over time — it’s not just as elegant as the slight bumps or bezel-integrated cameras you tend to find elsewhere. While the Mini-LED display produces good contrast, it’s not as stark as the OLED on a laptop like the Zenbook S14. It’s occasionally susceptible to blooming, where a bright object on a dark background might have a surrounding glow.
The sound, at least, remains best in class. There’s a surprising amount of bass and overall warmth from the built-in audio, to the point where you might not rush to connect your earbuds or external speakers. It sounds great whether you’re playing The Smile’s latest alt-rock album or some bumping dance music from Nicky Elisabeth. No, you won’t mistake the three built-in microphones for the “studio quality” input Apple claims, but they’re great in a pinch for a Zoom meeting or impromptu podcast recording.
It’s certainly hard to top the keyboard and trackpad on the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4. The keys are well-spaced, with a comfortable feel and a healthy amount of travel. And the trackpad is frankly superb. As much as the Surface Laptop 7 and similar machines have done to step up the game for Windows portables, Apple still delivers overall smoother, more accurate input with intuitive multi-touch gestures. Just remember that there’s no touchscreen if you prefer one — that’s an edge some Windows machines will continue to have over Macs, at least for a while.
14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Performance: This Is Why You’re Here
The standard M4 chip in the base model 14-inch MacBook Pro might not be as exciting as the M4 Pro or M4 Max, but in some ways, it’s the more meaningful upgrade. Apple has jumped from eight cores to 10 (still four performance cores, but now six efficiency cores), boosted the memory bandwidth by 20%, added more power-efficient graphics, and upgraded the AI-oriented Neural Engine with more than twice as many operations per second (38 TOPS versus 18). Given that the M3 was a relatively modest improvement over the M2, this is heartening if you push your system at times but can’t rationalize a more expensive computer.
And then there’s the memory. Apple is finally delivering even its starter 14-inch laptop with 16GB of RAM after years of shipping entry-level MacBook Pros (and even some higher-end configurations) with 8GB. There’s no secret as to why: on-device AI like Apple Intelligence, even in its early form, uses a lot of memory. That 16GB is virtually essential for delivering reasonable speed in the long term. I just wish Apple’s upgrade costs for the memory and storage weren’t quite so steep, as the system price can quickly get out of hand if you want more than what the starter 16GB RAM/512GB SSD trim has to offer. You can’t upgrade either after the fact.
The combination of the M4 with extra RAM translates to dramatic speed-ups in both synthetic tests and the real world. My configuration with 24GB of RAM (this doesn’t affect benchmarks, based on comparisons) was the clear leader in its power class in synthetic tests. In Geekbench 6’s CPU test, it had one of the best single-core results I’ve ever seen at 3,821, and its 15,062 multi-core score roughly matched the comparable AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 970 (15,000) — it was still comfortably ahead in one-core tests versus the Ryzen’s 2,850. It’s clearly dominating Intel’s Core Ultra 7 258V, found in systems like the ASUS Zenbook S 14 (2,731 single-core, 11,088 multi-core), as well as the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite seen in Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7 (2,115 single-core, 13,122 multi-core).
| Device / CPU | Single-Core Score | Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro M4 | 3,821 | 15,062 |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 970 | 2,850 | 15,000 |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 258V | 2,731 | 11,088 |
| Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite | 2,115 | 13,122 |
Cinebench R24 tells a similar story. The 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 manages a 173-point single-core score that handily beats Apple’s own M3 (137), let alone the Core Ultra 7 258V (121) and Ryzen AI 9 HX 970 (124). In multi-core, the results are mixed. The M4’s 1,008 score trails AMD’s 1,130, but it’s far ahead of the 495 from Intel’s CPU.
| Device / CPU | Single-Core Score | Multi-Core Score |
|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro M4 | 173 | 1,008 |
| Apple M3 | 137 | — |
| Intel Core Ultra 7 258V | 121 | 495 |
| AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 970 | 124 | 1,130 |
Artificial tests don’t directly indicate how a system performs in the real world, of course, but in my experience, the MacBook Pro holds up very well. In a workload that includes Photoshop 2025, Slack, many browser tabs, and companion apps like Messages and Music, the M4 didn’t even flinch. I could perform moderately intensive 4K video editing with numerous transitions, color correction, multiple audio tracks, and gobs of visual effects. While I wouldn’t use the base M4 for heavy-duty audiovisual work, it’s good in most other circumstances — there’s always the M4 Pro and M4 Max versions if you need more. And remember, performance is identical whether you’re on battery or plugged in.
Gaming is a challenge for testing. There still aren’t many Apple Silicon-native Mac games, and those that exist are sometimes too old to be relevant (are you going to play Shadow of the Tomb Raider?) or undemanding (Balatro isn’t going to tax any semi-recent Mac).
With that said, there are positive signs for would-be Mac gamers. You can typically get over 60 frames per second in Death Stranding: Director’s Cut at 1080p with Very High detail and MetalFX set to Quality, although it can dip below that mark under stress. Baldur’s Gate 3 only hovers over 30FPS at 1080p with medium details, but it’s also a more taxing game and doesn’t use MetalFX. And you can expect a solid 60FPS at 1080p in No Man’s Sky with high detail and MetalFX set to Balanced.
More interesting tests might come in the future. Cyberpunk 2077 is finally coming to the Mac in early 2025, complete with ray tracing and spatial audio. Titles like that will be a much better demonstration of what the M4 can do, and I’m hoping that other big-name releases follow suit. Don’t forget, Apple only opened the door to ray tracing in November 2023 with the M3, and not every Mac got that chip; I’d expect the situation to improve with the more ubiquitous M4 and additional development time.
Just be prepared for a bit of fan noise on occasion. While the MacBook Pro is silent almost all of the time, even with computationally intensive tasks like photo and video editing, the active cooling ramps up under particularly demanding conditions. It can be noisy enough that you’ll reach for earbuds if you expect to hear the fan system for a while. If you’re cross-shopping with the eventual MacBook Air M4, though, that fan might be a plus — the Air is likely to go without a fan and might throttle back under sustained heavy use.
14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Battery Life and Charging: the Longest-Lasting Model Yet
Apple claims 24 hours of battery life for the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4, two hours more than before, and a record for any portable Mac. The company uses selective tests that include browsing 25 popular websites and streaming 1080p videos in Safari, so consider that the best-case scenario. Real longevity is bound to be shorter.
My practical experience shows that the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 is a true battery life champion. I could go through two eight-hour workdays without babysitting the computer, and that’s with the previously mentioned workflow that centers around Photoshop, Slack, and the web at a very reasonable seven-tick display brightness. Your runtime will certainly vary (I’d expect much less with hours-long media editing or gaming sessions), but this is slightly better than what I saw from the larger, slower 15-inch Surface Laptop 7.
The charging situation remains unchanged. You’ll normally get a 70W MagSafe charger in the box, although you can configure any 14-inch MacBook Pro with a 96W charger if you want to reach a 50% charge in as quickly as 30 minutes. I’d recommend that power brick upgrade if you’re the sort who has very long work days, or just can’t afford any extended downtime.
Software on the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4: Apple Intelligence Isn’t a Reason to Upgrade So Far
If you looked only at Apple’s marketing material for M4 Macs, you’d think Apple Intelligence would be the main reason to upgrade to the latest MacBook Pro apart from a must-have third-party app.
But it’s not at the moment. Apple Intelligence works on Macs from the M1 era onward, and it should run reasonably well on any compatible Mac so long as you have adequate memory (8GB is required, 16GB of RAM is again ideal). Some features are at least partly reliant on the cloud, not just on-device processing, so you won’t gain much in those areas with a faster CPU.
As it stands, the first two waves of AI features are nice, but not essential. In macOS Sequoia 15.1, Writing Tools help you summarize text or change the tone of a message. Siri is now better at understanding fumbled requests, and you can type those requests instead of speaking them. You can search in Photos using natural language. The most practical additions are notification summaries and Priority Messages — it’s much easier to get back to the task at hand when you know what really needs your attention.
The features in Sequoia 15.2, expected in December 2024, add the option of ChatGPT as well a slew of image generation features (such as Image Playground) and access to Apple Intelligence while using non-US English. Some of the largest improvements aren’t expected until 2025, when you should get priority notifications, personal context in Siri, and support in other languages.
For now, the biggest draw is Sonoma itself. It’s going to be extremely familiar if you’ve used a Mac in the past few years, but there are a few very good reasons to use it. iPhone Mirroring is a major hook — I found it wonderful to dive into a mobile-only authenticator app or receive my phone notifications without reaching for the iPhone itself.
There’s also much, much improved window tiling that’s overdue when Windows has had it for years. You can now snap windows to given sides or corners by dragging them to the relevant edge of your desktop, and use shortcuts to quickly arrange a tiled layout. On a smaller laptop like the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4, that’s crucial to maximizing limited screen real estate.
After that, it mostly comes down to small but useful quality-of-life improvements. A dedicated Passwords app breaks out logins for services and networks that were previously buried in settings. If you frequently participate in video meetings, you can preview your screen before sharing it and replace the background without relying on a third-party app. Notes gets math expressions and quick audio recording. Safari now has both a distraction-free video viewer and an automatic picture-in-picture mode.
No, these probably won’t convince you to switch to a Mac by themselves. But they do reduce some of the friction of switching, and Apple Silicon-only features like iPhone Mirroring might tip the balance if you’re still hanging on to an Intel-based Mac.
Final Verdict: Should You Buy the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4?
I’ll be direct: if you have an M2- or M3-based MacBook model of any kind, you have very little reason to upgrade to the 14-inch Pro with the base M4. The new chip is definitely faster, but not so much faster that you’ll usually notice. And that’s not a criticism of Apple as such — it’s more a testament to how quickly the company caught up in performance after switching from Intel to custom ARM processors.
If you have an M1-based Mac, it’s a tougher call. While many apps and features continue to run very well, including Apple Intelligence, even the ‘starter’ M4 can substantially outperform the fastest M1 chips. That’s worth considering if you regularly edit videos, produce many-track audio, or otherwise handle duties where every minute of processing time matters. There’s also been enough feature creep that you might want to upgrade if you’re coming from a 13-inch MacBook Air or Pro.
But that’s not really who Apple is catering to at this stage. Rather, it’s courting people like me who are coming from Intel-powered Macs and just can’t keep up. I’m upgrading from a 2019 13-inch MacBook Pro that sometimes struggles with my apps even though it has a 2.8GHz Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and an adequately fast SSD. The display feels cramped; the fans engage often; the battery wasn’t nearly as strong even when the system was brand new. And that’s not including headaches like the fragile butterfly keyboard.
If that sounds familiar, don’t even hesitate. You’ll enjoy the MacBook Pro M4 on practically every level, and you might not even have to consider the M4 Pro or M4 Max unless your work is more dependent on a robust CPU than memory. I’d only look at those models if you’re determined to wring the longest useful lifespan out of your computer or are under time-sensitive conditions at work (such as editing videos that need to be published the same day).
It’s a different situation if you’re coming from a Windows laptop. I’d generally think carefully if you’re coming from a fairly capable laptop released in recent years, such as a semi-recent ASUS Zenbook or Dell XPS 13. However, this is an easy choice if you’re frustrated with Windows, think you’d benefit from specific features or are just leaving a too-slow PC and know the software you want is Mac-compatible. The 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 is well-built, lasts ages on battery, and is blazingly fast even compared to the best equivalents on the Windows side. It’s not a gaming laptop; it is, however, great for just about everything else.
And it’s a relief to say that. This is the first entry-level MacBook Pro in the past several years that I can unambiguously recommend to many people, not just a small subset of creatives and Mac enthusiasts. It’s consistently wonderful if you want a fast-but-portable machine that isn’t wildly expensive and knows that the apps you like are available on the Mac. AMD, Intel, and Qualcomm should feel a little nervous until their next-generation chips arrive.
FAQs
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References
- MacBook Pro Announcement – October 30 (YouTube)
