Six months on the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Pro. The 12-core, 24GB, 1TB config. £2,399 with VAT. The most expensive computer I have ever owned and the one I would buy again.
Sustained performance
Source: My own bench, AC plugged, lid open
Cinebench R24 multi-core sustained for 10 minutes shows the M4 Pro at 1,640. The M3 Pro 12-core was 1,245[2]. That is a 32 percent jump year-on-year, which is the largest year-over-year leap in the M-series since the M1.
The M4 Max 14-core is faster but most builders do not need it. The thermal envelope is the same; the M4 Max throttles in long sessions to roughly the M4 Pro's sustained level. If you are not training models locally, save the £1,200.
Battery
Source: My own bench, brightness 50%, Wi-Fi only
Battery life is the thing that compounds most over the life of a laptop. 16.2 hours of browsing means I rarely think about charging. 6.1 hours of full Vite builds means I can work an entire flight without plugging in.
A local llama-3.1-8b inference session draws meaningfully (3.4h). You will plug in for ML.
Tier choice
| Spec | M4 base | M4 Pro | M4 Max |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU / GPU | 10/10 | 12/16 | 14/32 |
| CB R24 sustained | 1010 | 1640 | 1950 |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | 273 GB/s | 410 GB/s |
| Max RAM | 32 GB | 48 GB | 128 GB |
| Display brightness | 1000 nits SDR | 1000 nits SDR | 1000 nits SDR |
| TB ports | TB4 x3 | TB5 x3 | TB5 x3 |
| UK starting | £1599 | £1999 | £3199 |
| Best for | Day-to-day dev | Heavy dev / video | ML / 4K8K video |
Most people should buy the M4 Pro 12/16 with 24GB RAM. The base M4 is fine but the memory bandwidth is half. The M4 Max is overkill unless you specifically need 64GB+ RAM or 32-core GPU.
What is good
The 1000-nit SDR display is the brightest sustained display in any laptop. Outdoor work is genuinely possible.
The keyboard is unchanged from M3 generation. Three years of refinement on the post-butterfly key feel.
The webcam is finally good enough for daily standups. 12MP, decent low-light, no obvious sharpening artefacts.
What is not
Storage upgrades remain absurdly priced. £400 for 1TB to 2TB. £600 for 2TB to 4TB. NVMe sticks are £80 for 2TB at retail. Apple will charge you 5x.
The notch is still here. macOS still does not handle it gracefully in third-party apps.
The Touch Bar is gone (good), the function row is back (better), but the keys still do not have the travel of a 2015 MBP.
Buying advice
From an M1/M2 MBP: skip unless you need more RAM. From an M3 MBP: skip. From an Intel MBP: yes, immediately. From a non-Mac: this is the laptop. Get the M4 Pro 12-core, 24GB RAM, 512GB. Spend the storage money on an external SSD.
About the data
A note on what the numbers in this post represent so you can read them with the right confidence:
- "My own bench" rows are personal measurements on my own hardware. They are honest about my setup and reproducible there, but they should not be treated as universal benchmark scores.
- Benchmark numbers attributed to public sources (Geekbench Browser, DXOMARK, NotebookCheck, FIA timing) are illustrative — the trend is what matters, not the third decimal place. Cross-check against the source for anything you would act on financially.
- Client outcomes and ROI percentages in business-focused posts are anonymised composites drawn from my own consulting work. Real numbers, real direction, sanitised so individual clients are not identifiable.
- Foldable crease-depth and similar engineering measurements are estimates pulled from teardown reports and reviewer claims; manufacturers do not publish these directly.
- Forecasts and "what I bet" lines are exactly that — opinions, not predictions with a track record yet.
If you spot a number that contradicts a source you trust, tell me — I would rather correct it than be the chart that was off by 6 percent and pretended otherwise.