Hes a video producer and wanted something that would be his mainstay Mac for many years.
Now, I get to see if I am right.
Whats more, the base M4 version doesnt come with many new features.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
It doesnt get the Thunderbolt 5 support as the M4 Pro or M4 Max.
The only real upgrade besides the chip was a brighter screen at SDR.
The new 14-inch comes in Space Black, and I prefer that to the silver of previous MacBooks.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Its the same as it ever was, including that bloody notch spearing through the center of the display.
Well, in your case, youll be perfectly happy with the new MacBook Pro 14.
It is faster than the MacBook Pro 14 with M3.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Apple promised and delivered on that point.
Apple is still winning in battery life.
Its best-in-class, but the strain on the current chassis is starting to show.
© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
Performance and screen brightness improvements are welcome, especially if you havent jumped on M-series chips.
If this latest M4 doesnt do it for you, then nothing will.
The extra SSD space necessitates dropping an extra $200.
© Photo: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo
If you want to use this machine for years, youll want the extra drive space.
With the base specs, I saw excellent benchmark results across the board.
That said, itsdifficult to find the highest-end chipsfrom Intel or AMD out in the wild.
© Photo: Adriano Contreras / Gizmodo
Apple said you should get a boost in speed for rendering purposes.
The question now becomes whether users can expect better graphics performance for GPU-intensive tasks.
I tried the MacBook Pro 14 with several games, includingResident Evil 4andDeath Stranding: Directors Cut.
Both games defaulted to a lower-than-native resolution.
I can get between 70 and 80 FPS on mid-to-high options with both games.
Its a similar story withBaldurs Gate III.
Overall, you wont get much better for the price point.
It can do a lot in a small package at $1,600 (though likely $1,800).
The new MacBook Pro 14 has a brighter display for watching content in direct light.
You wont notice much difference side by side except when sitting under the blinding rays near a window.
My 14 also included a nano-texture display, which reduces glare and reflections.
In reality, it diffuses the light rather than directly reflecting it.
Nano-texture can indeed reduce reflections from indirect light, but for the extra $100, its not necessary.
I held the MacBook Pro 16 without nano-texture up to direct sunlight and could barely spot a difference.
Thanks to the brighter screen, the M4 MacBook Pro 14 is already better off in that regard.
This week, Bloombergs Mark Gurmanreportedthe OLED MacBook got pushed until 2026 at the earliest.
Thats more than disappointing; its practically rage-inducing.
Mini-LED with Apples regular Liquid Rentina XDR has deep blacks and looks colorful.
It works well enough.
The camera also allows for desk view.
This splits the image up between your face and your desk.
Again, I feel like a scratched record, repeating old, tired lines over and over.
The MacBook Pro 14 is still stuck with the same old Magic keyboard and trackpad.
Otherwise, its passable, though its certainly not my favorite laptop keyboard for typing.
Thats slightly worse than the MacBook Pro 16 with M4 Pro, but its a good outcome nonetheless.
Its also no surprise.
As usual, Apples blend of efficient chips and hardware helps it stand out in terms of battery life.
The latest Intel Core Ultra and Qualcomm Snapdragon chips promise obscene battery life.
The other small changes to Safari and Control Center are all nice.
You get Sequoia if youre using any MacBook Pro from 2018 or later.
You only get the latest 15.1 andupcoming 15.2 Apple Intelligencefeatures if you happen to have an M-Series MacBook.
15.1 is nothing to write home about, literally.
Text summaries often leave out important details in emails or messages.
I have no use for a writing tool that will confidently lie about anything it does not know.
While 15.1 is blase, 15.2 gets weird.
It finally implements ChatGPT into Siri and gives you access to the Image Playground AI art generator.
Even then, Siri doesnt always use ChatGPT.
you’re able to choose whether or not to use ChatGPT for every request, at least.
The chatbot is occasionally helpful, but not any more than a typical Google search already is.
You also dont have easy access to your ChatGPT log if you decide to click away.
Image Playground, as it stands in beta, is worse than pointless.
It only exists to generate cartoonish-looking headshots.
Then again, it still needs work even for that.
So whats keeping me from foaming at the mouth over Apples next-gen laptop?
Its just that I fear Ill have to say all the same things again next year.
Apple Intelligence is coming to every M-series Mac.
I would tell my friend hes safe enough on M3.
Hes safe enough on M4.
The only thing hes not safe from is the disturbing Image Playground-generated images.
Their dead eyes will haunt me in my sleep.
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