14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Review – The MacBook Pro For the Masses

Unboxing the MacBook Pro M4

Kicking off the Apple MacBook Pro M4 review with the unboxing, the packaging itself is pretty much your standard Apple affair, with it being sleek and minimalistic in nature, so don’t expect to see a single feature being highlighted around the box. If you’re curious about the exact specifications and color, you will have to go look at the tag on the back of the box. In case you’re wondering, we got ourselves the Space Black variant. It’s also worth noting that the packaging is entirely fiber-based as part of their goal to remove plastics from all packaging by 2025.

Inside the box, we found the following items:

• 70W USB-C power adapter
• 2-meter USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable
• Documentations
• The Apple MacBook Pro M4 itself

Specifications

CPU	Apple M4 Chip 10-core CPU (4P/6E) 16-core Neural Engine
GPU	10-core GPU Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
Memory	16GB LPDDR5 Unified Memory Configurable up to 32GB
Storage	1TB NVMe SSD Configurable up to 2TB
Display	14.2-inch (3024 x 1964) Liquid Retina XDR display, 120Hz ProMotion, 254 PPI Up to 1,600 nits peak brightness, 1,000 nits SDR, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 1 billion colours, Wide colour (P3), True Tone technology Nano-texture optional
Audio	High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers Wide stereo sound Support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos on built-in speakers Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking when using AirPods (3rd generation), AirPods 4, AirPods Pro, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Max Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming 3.5mm headphone jack with advanced support for high-impedance headphones HDMI port supports multi-channel audio output
Camera	12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View 1080p HD video recording Advanced image signal processor with computational video
Connectivity	Wireless Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax) Bluetooth 5.3 Wired 3 x USB-C ports (supports charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4, and USB 4) MagSafe 3 1 x 3.5mm headphone jack 1 x HDMI 1 x SDXC card slot
Software	macOS Sequoia
Battery	72.4 WHr lithium-polymer battery 70W USB-C Power Adapter USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 meters) Supports up to 96W fast charging
Dimensions	312.6 x 221.2 x 15.5 mm
Weight	1.55kg

Performance

Starting off our benchmark suite with Cinebench 2024, the MacBook Pro M4 had a very strong showing, outperforming the likes of the Snapdragon X Elite, Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 and the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H. Interestingly, we can see that the Apple M4 chip powering this practically demolished the M3 chip on the MacBook Air that we reviewed previously. While it’s natural to expect it to be better, I was surprised to see such a big difference in both single core and multi core scores.

While we can’t run Steel Nomad on this MacBook Pro M4, we are able to run Steel Nomad Light on 3DMark, and it runs surprisingly well. While it might not mean much going against the Snapdragon chips as those were lacking in GPU performance anyway but to beat the Arc 140V and the Radeon 890M shows that the 10-core GPU in the Apple M4 isn’t a slouch. I mean, you can’t expect it to run super realistic games in 4K resolution with ray tracing but it’s still strong for what it is.

Lastly in Novabench, the MacBook Pro M4 had a pretty strong showing as it had a pretty strong showing on an overall level. We can also see that its weakest point, which shouldn’t be a surprise, is the GPU. Storage speed isn’t the best but for most people, you won’t notice a difference between this and the two laptops that surpassed its Storage score in most cases. The one area I didn’t expect it to completely beat every other machine here is its Unified Memory, as it had the best Memory score here.

For those of you wondering about battery life, the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 had an excellent showing as it managed to play a 4K video non-stop for about 15 hours by the time it reaches 20%. In theory, it can last almost 19 hours and that is insanely long. It’s not just a matter of playing a 4K video for that long but the fact that the screen-on-time can be that long is amazing and you can easily go out with this without a charger unless you forgot to fully charge it prior.

The new 3nm Apple M4 chip is certainly quite an efficient chip, though we can’t directly compare it to the MacBook Air M3 given the difference in screen size and battery capacity. If it matters to you, the MacBook Pro M4 does last a good few hours longer.

As for charging speed, this is what I managed to get using the included 70W charger via MagSafe 3 starting from 0%:

• 15 minutes = 14%
• 30 minutes = 40%
• 45 minutes = 76%
• 60 minutes = 88%
• 75 minutes = 96%
• 80 minutes = 100%

Keep in mind that it supports up to 96W of fast charging, which should be at least a little bit faster than what we got here.

Gaming

Resident Evil 4 Remake

Given how well Resident Evil 4 Remake ran on the MacBook Air M3, it’s no surprise that it’s the same case here. If anything, it generally runs a lot smoother as it hits 60FPS more consistently. This is of course with the default resolution that the game boots up in, which is likely done intentionally as it starts to get really choppy as you bump up the resolution. Of course, the graphics settings are on the lower end but even so, it still looks pretty great. Plug in a DualSense controller and it will be like having a thin game console on the go.

Borderlands 3

Borderlands 3 on the other hand is a completely different story. It’s one of the few games that work on a Mac and it runs on an average of about 50FPS at the lowest settings, and it drops to about 30-ish FPS when you bump up the resolution to the highest possible one. 50FPS average might not sound too bad but with the game’s FPS dipping often, it’s not going to be a good experience, especially in larger areas with more enemies trying to gun you down.

Apple Arcade

As many of you know, Apple Arcade is a subscription service that gives you access to a ton of games. While it would be hard to go through the entire library, I did try a few games. I played Asphalt 8+, FANTASIAN, Alto’s Adventure Remaster and all of them ran buttery smooth for the most part, with occasional drops to 40-ish FPS at worst. Sure, these games can run on most iPhones and iPads but it looks absolutely amazing on the MacBook Pro M4. Furthermore, a number of these games are able to push to 120FPS, letting you take full advantage of its ProMotion 120Hz display.

What you need to know is that not every game can run at 120FPS, and I don’t mean that the there isn’t enough firepower for it. A lot of games are simply locked at 60FPS max so if you’re particular about this, you will need to research on the games that support ProMotion like Thumper+. At the very least, all the games that I’ve played thus far can run smoothly at 60FPS even at higher resolutions. With its vast library of games and a good chunk of them have controller support, it is very much possible to play a lot of games on this machine.

If you’re looking for an iPhone with good value proposition, check out our iPhone 16 review by clicking right here.

Webcam

The MacBook Pro M4 comes with the new 12MP 12MP Center Stage camera and as a result, we had to give it a try. With just a basic room lighting and no studio kits whatsoever, the video quality is quite pleasing as it manages to capture quite a bit of detail with decent dynamic range. It’s not DSLR video quality footage by any means but it certainly puts a lot of standalone USB webcams out there to shame. It also has some interesting features like Center Stage, which focuses and follows the subject as if it’s those fancy webcams with a gimbal that can do face tracking. Some features may be tacky but overall, it can be useful.

As for audio, the built-in microphone sounds absolutely amazing. It can capture such vocal clarity and depth as if I’m using a standalone condenser microphone. The only catch here is that it’s a bit soft and it’s quite prone to environmental noise so if you can record audio in a quiet room, you can make some high quality voiceovers without carrying around a standalone microphone. In the case of the volume, you can either talk closer or louder. The audio recording above is raw, unedited, and recorded straight from the MacBook Pro M4.

The Good

There are a number of good reasons to consider a 14-inch MacBook Pro M4. For starters, you get 16GB of Unified Memory, otherwise known as the RAM, at minimum. While Apple has done a good job to make macOS work really well with 8GB alone, 16GB is when it can truly shine for avid multitaskers and medium-to-heavy users. Just so you know, having a browser with many tabs open alone tend to take up so much memory so this ensures that the machine will not choke up so easily.

Further adding to its multitasking capabilities is the support for two external displays. You can use the HDMI port along with one of the Thunderbolt 4 ports to transmit to an external display each. Combine that together with the MacBook Pro M4’s own display and you can enjoy a triple monitor setup with ease. This is especially useful for photo and video editors as it’s easy to cross-reference and keep your workflow tidy without having to switch between apps so often.

Speaking of Thunderbolt 4, the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 has a decent array of ports. It got bumped up from two Thunderbolt 4 ports to three which is a good improvement, and this comes together with the HDMI port, SDXC card slot, headphone jack, and MagSafe 3 port. Thunderbolt 5 does exist for this generation but you will need to go for the M4 Pro at the very least to enjoy it but personally to me, Thunderbolt 4 already provides plenty of bandwidth for most consumers today.

To me, this 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 display isn’t vastly different from its predecessor but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it’s already great to begin with. It’s a 120Hz mini-LED backlit ProMotion display, and it looks phenomenal. To sweeten the deal, Apple has made the display brighter than before as the SDR peak brightness got bumped up from 600 nits peak to 1,000 nits peak. That figure is really bright, so much so that you wouldn’t have an issue using this outdoors on a bright sunny day.

HDR peak brightness may be unchanged but most of us will end up sticking to SDR for the most part anyway. Apple does offer an optional nano-texture display upgrade, which is essentially an anti-glare matte finishing for RM640. This makes it even easier to see when using it outdoors but I’d say it’s not a must-have unless you’re very particular about glare, which I personally am and why I opted for this optional upgrade. Without a doubt, this Liquid Retina XDR screen is the best display I have ever experienced on a laptop thus far.

While this shouldn’t be a surprise if you’re familiar with recent MacBooks, the 6-speaker system sounds absolutely amazing. It’s positioned at the keyboard and right below where the display is, which allows the audio to be directed towards the user for a more immersive experience. The audio produced by it is quite loud at max volume, which surprisingly doesn’t distort or crack, and it can produce quite a boomy bass akin to high quality portable speakers. The mids and highs were very pronounced and at no point sounded muddy.

The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience as it feels tactile and responsive. Even for a 14-inch variant, it doesn’t feel at all small for larger hands like mine. Additionally, the use of Touch ID allows for quick powering on of the MacBook and seamless login with just a fingerprint scan. I found the touchpad to be smooth and responsive, consistently registering my swipes and clicks without fail but what really makes it amazing is gestures. While it takes a bit of time to learn and remember, you’d be surprised how happy you’d be to not have a mouse with this.

Lastly, the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 hits the right spot for portability. It’s small but not too small that would make it hard to use, it’s thin at 15.5mm but not as thin as the Air models, and it’s rather light at 1.55kg. It’s small enough to fit in a good number of sling bags out there but if you opted for a hand carry sleeve, it would be far from cumbersome to hold.

If you want to compare this to the MacBook Pro M3 Max, click right here.

The Bad

Of course, it has its share of drawbacks. For starters, while I did praise its array of ports, particularly on the addition of another Thunderbolt 4 port, I do wish they made room for one USB-A port for general use. External storage devices like flash drives still have USB-A as the norm, and this would make it easier for those who prefer using a mouse without an adapter. Like before, a USB-C dock that adds additional ports like RJ45 LAN and USB ports would be a good investment if you want to make the most out of it.

For my unit, I got it in the Space Black colorway and with the anodized coating, it’s said to be more resistant to fingerprint smudges. Like in the previous generation however, it still does catch smudges to some degree. On the plus side, it does make the smudges look less obvious but it is certainly still there so if you have some level of OCD, be sure to keep a microfiber cloth nearby. Apple did graciously include one inside the box, which is great.

While Touch ID works great and is convenient to have, I have been spoiled by my iPhone with Face ID. There have been times where I stare blankly into my MacBook Pro M4 waiting for it to log me in until it was awkward enough for me to realize it’s Touch ID. I hope to see it eventually arrive to MacBooks sooner rather than later since it would be quite natural to use as you’d be facing the front camera as soon as you open the lid anyway.

Lastly, while I do believe that this 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 is priced well given what you’re getting, you would likely find yourself clamoring for the M4 Pro variant as a result. This particular model, sans the nano texture display, starts out at RM6,999 whereas the M4 Pro variant starts out at RM8,499. Basically for an extra RM1,500, you get a stronger chip with 2 extra CPU cores and 4 extra GPU cores, Thunderbolt 5, and an extra 8GB of Unified Memory. Don’t get me wrong, this is still THE MacBook Pro for the masses, but the Pro model is the better buy unless you’re a light user.

14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Verdict

The 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 offers great performance at a good price point. The CPU performance is absolutely amazing and the battery life is insanely long. It’s one key weakness is clearly its GPU performance, which makes it even more enticing to move up to the M4 Pro variant given the pricing. However, if you’re not looking to do anything too heavy, this one will serve you well as is.

At the end of our 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 review, I award this MacBook with our coveted Gold Pokdeward.

Big thanks to Super Daddy for sponsoring my second ever MacBook.