A new level of grunt is available for content producers, designers, engineers, musicians, animators, and the like, as the M4 gains Pro and Max siblings.
One of the most common uses for any computer is that of “work”, and while selling drain pipes and dancing isn’t likely to be your work of choice (unless you’re a talking family of dogs), the choice of work can determine the type of computer you use.
If your work involves computers in general, that could be any computer, but if you work in content or data heavy areas, you probably need something with more heft, more power, and more ability to lift and deal with those processing requirements and loads. Workstation class is likely where you want to be, and there’s a good chance that news of a new chip gets you excited.
That was the feeling when Apple first unveiled the M4 earlier in the year, launching it first on the 2024 iPad Pro, a surprising device for a chip launch to be sure.
We waited with baited breath to find out what else would get the chips for several months, and now at the end of the year, we’re seeing it: new Macs.
First an M4 iMac, and then an M4 Mac Mini. You know what’s next? An M4 MacBook Pro, but before we get there, we need some faster M4 variants made for workstation-class machines.
And in this week’s chip announcements, that’s precisely what we have.
New to the M4 line-up is the M4 Pro and M4 Max, higher-end variations on a theme that bring performance upgrades aplenty, plus support for Thunderbolt 5, the latest high speed wired connection technology that can effectively double the speed of its predecessor Thunderbolt 4.
The M4 Pro continues from the base M4, which already us no slouch, boosting the 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU to a maximum of 14 and 20 respectively, delivering speed and graphics render time improvements.
Apple suggests there’s nearly twice the graphical performance as the standard M4, while the CPU boasts nearly twice the performance of the M1 Pro from a few years ago, more or less suggesting who this upgrade is aimed at.
Up to 64GB RAM is supported by the chip, an upgrade on the 32GB maximum of the standard M4.
But if you need more power again, you may want to look to the M4 Max.
While we expect an M4 Ultra will occur soon to accommodate a Mac Pro and Mac Studio, the M4 Ultra is officially Apple’s new “best in class” chip. And what a chip.
More chip performance across the board, with nearly twice the grunt of the M1 Max, up to 16 cores of CPU, up to 40 for the graphics in the GPU, and up to 128GB RAM, too..
They all support AI with neural processing, as you’d well expect these days. Just like the latest Intel Core Ultra series 2 hardware popping out, AI is on the cards in the M4 range, with Apple Intelligence rolling out to users in America first and Australia expected in December.
Understandably, there’s a lot here, but the focus is primarily on those who need extreme levels of power. For the engineers and scientists and animators and film editors and developers and in general, those where a standard MacBook Air just won’t cut it. These chips are on their way out and ready for the latest compatible Mac systems Apple has to offer.
