Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) review: Record-breaking performance
This beastly 16-inch MacBook Pro, packed with Apple’s new herculean M4 Pro chip, is not designed for amateurs like myself — people who think “intensive” means opening 100 Google Chrome tabs and praying one’s laptop doesn’t self combust.
No ma’am.
This mammoth of a laptop is, instead, for professional power users. I’m talkin’ 3D designers, seasoned animators, skilled video editors, and veteran music producers — folks who need a powerhouse that can handle heavy workloads without a single stutter.
However, thanks to the 16-inch MacBook Pro’s eye-popping power efficiency, I’d argue that normies can splurge on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, particularly if they prefer laptops with Energizer Bunny-like endurance. (And I mean, who doesn’t?)
You won’t believe how long the 16-inch MacBook Pro lasted on a charge. It doesn’t quite beat the record-breaking Microsoft Surface Laptop 7, but it’s pretty darn impressive.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) price and specs
The 16-inch MacBook Pro in this review costs a whopping $ 3,649, and it comes with the following:
M4 Pro chip
14-core CPU
20-core GPU
48GB of RAM
2TB of storage
Nano-texture display
Ouch! My wallet is screaming just looking at that price tag. Luckily, the cheapest 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro has a more palatable cost of $ 2,499. Although it’s still pricey, there’s less sticker shock. This configuration comes with the same M4 Pro chip, but knocks you back down to 24GB of memory and 512GB of SSD storage.
If you’re a video editor, or any other professional handling massive files, you might need to bite the bullet and upgrade to at least 1TB of storage.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) design
I mean, it’s a 16-inch laptop, so don’t expect it to be a featherweight. It weighs nearly five pounds and it’s 0.66 inches thick.
Compared to its last-generation counterpart (i.e., 16-inch M3 Pro MacBook Pro), the new model is pretty much the same when it comes to design. It still sports a 100% recycled aluminum enclosure and that shiny, tell-tale logo on the lid that yells, “Yes, I’m an Apple laptop!”
It comes in Space Black and Silver.
My review unit sports the Space Black colorway. With a name like that, I was expecting the deepest, darkest black — think inky, onyx, obsidian vibes. After all, isn’t space, as in the vast, empty void beyond Earth, pitch dark? Apparently, I was wrong. Not to get all nerdy, but NASA says that “space isn’t absolutely black; the universe has a faint, suffused glimmer.”
Space Black is quite dark to the naked eye, but under bright lighting, it has a deep gray hue.
This colorway diminishes fingerprints, but it doesn’t completely fend them off. Keep a microfiber cloth handy.
Other than that, the M4 Pro shares the same design as its predecessor. In fact, it’s got the same design as far back as the 2021 model, But I can’t blame Apple; consumers love it. The MacBook Pro continues to be a solid and sturdy dream machine.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) display
This configuration comes with a new nano-texture display option.
This doesn’t come with the laptop. You have to pay an extra $ 150 to snag one. Is it worth it? It depends. Do you work in a sun-drenched office? Are you always working outdoors? If you answered yes to either of those questions, you’d benefit from a nano-texture display, as it’s designed to handle challenging lighting situations while still providing decent visibility for users.
I couldn’t wait to take the MacBook Pro outside in my backyard to test the nano-texture display, and I must say, I’m impressed!
The Apple laptop remained crystal clear, even as dappled sunlight attempted to wash out the screen. I didn’t have to squint, adjust angles, nor play hide-and-seek with shadows — the display stood its ground, refusing to surrender to the sun’s relentless glare.
If you’re someone who spends a lot of time working in bright, unpredictable lighting, this nano-texture display might just be the unsung hero you didn’t know you needed.
Plus, compared to the last generation, the M4 Pro MacBook Pro’s screen is brighter. It can hit a peak SDR brightness of 1,000 nits, up from 600 nits. The HDR brightness score continues to be 1,600 nits.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro, like the previous model, features a 16.2-inch, 3,456 x 2,234-pixel resolution display with ProMotion technology (i.e., up to 120Hz refresh rate). As expected, the display looked gorgeous while I feasted my eyes on the new Squid Game 2 trailer. It’s rich, vibrant, and pure visual eye candy.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) ports
The M4 Pro MacBook Pro now has Thunderbolt 5 ports, an upgrade from the previous generation’s trio of Thunderbolt 4 ports. Thunderbolt 5 offers double the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 at 120Gb/s, which means faster data transfer speeds for your peripherals.
Over Thunderbolt, the 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro supports up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz.
You’ll also get an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a MagSafe 3 port.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) audio
If music were a dish, the 16-inch MacBook Pro would be a gourmet apple pie, straight out of grandma’s oven — piping hot, golden, and worth every sinful calorie.
Packed with a high-fidelity, six-speaker sound system (with fore-cancelling woofers), Era Istrefi’s “Bonbon” sounded delicious to my ears. Yum!
The MacBook Pro is one of the most recommended laptops for music producers — and I see why. The laptop perfectly captured the gritty, exotic undertones and the pulsating, driving beat.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) keyboard and trackpad
I’d describe my typing experience on the 16-inch MacBook Pro in two words: snappy and responsive. Plus, it’s got enough key travel to make typing comfortable over long periods of time.
Just make sure you’re not sitting next to someone who prefers piece and quiet. The keyboard emits some loud clacks.
Apple’s glass-covered Force Touch trackpad is, as always, a pleasure to use. It’s spacious, responsive, and perfectly balanced between smoothness and resistance. Every swipe and click feel effortless.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) benchmarks and performance
Somebody call the coroner because the M4 Pro chip inside the 16-inch MacBook Pro has obliterated the competition.
On Geekbench 6, which tests CPU prowess, the 16-inch MacBook Pro delivered a multi-core score of 22,758. For reference, the entry-level M4 MacBook Pro notched a score of 15,199 on the same test.
This is the best Geekbench 6 score we’ve seen at Mashable for a laptop. Coming in close second is the Razer Blade 18, which sports an Intel Core i9-14900HX. So yeah, the MacBook Pro just torched a gaming laptop.
Here are some other scores:
Cinebench R3 – 23,336 (multi-core)
Blender GPU test – 2,533.57
Once again, for reference, the entry-level M4 chip notched scores of 13,891 and 1,065, respectively, for Cinebench R3 and Blender. The M4 Pro chip is fast!
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) webcam
The M4 Pro MacBook Pro’s 12MP webcam is a step up, delivering sharper video quality with less artifacting in various lighting conditions. FaceTime calls looked great, and my fiancé was quick to notice the improvement in clarity.
Desk View is the real star, allowing a top-down perspective of your desk setup using only the built-in webcam. I assumed I’d need a secondary camera, but the 12MP webcam handles it all on its own. Whether you’re presenting or demoing, Desk View is a clever addition that’s both fun and functional.
The updated webcam also supports Center Stage, which may be familiar to those who own iPads. For the uninitiated, Center Stage ensures that you’re kept in frame at all times, even if you lean a little bit to the left or shuffle over to the right.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) battery life
The 16-inch MacBook Pro lasted an eye-popping 20 hours and 51 minutes in our video rundown test. In other words, this laptop nearly lasts 21 hours on a single charge.
As mentioned at the outset, it doesn’t quite beat our reigning champ (i.e., Microsoft Surface Laptop 7), but it’s nipping at its heels.
Is the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro, 2024) worth it?
The 16-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro didn’t come to play. With jaw-dropping performance, impressive battery life, and a gorgeous nano-texture display option, this laptop is geared for professionals who need powerhouse specs and are willing to pay for them. If you’re a video editor, a 3D designer, or someone who needs serious firepower, this MacBook is as good as it gets.
Even if you’re just an internet surfer and a Netflix browser, get it for the 20-hour+ battery life — if you have the money to blow, of course.
Either way, the M4 Pro is a future-proof machine that won’t leave you disappointed, as long as you’ve got the budget for it.
