The M4 MacBook Pro looks set to launch in just under a month. Normally by this point, we see a lot of leaks and rumors without actually seeing the laptop in the flesh. But if this shocking leak is to be believed, things are very different this time around.
You see, Russian YouTuber Wylsacom just posted an alleged unboxing video of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 — unveiling 5 key updates coming to the new system. In fact, not only do these tweaks make the new M4 laptop mightily exciting, but I fear that Apple could’ve just made the impending M4 Pro model look pointless.
Last year, I called the M3 Pro MacBook Pro the “awkward middle child.” That’s not to say it’s a bad laptop — I love mine and it's one of the best MacBooks you can buy. But when looking at the M3 vs M3 Pro vs M3 Max models, its performance in the middle is a hard sell to the majority who can get away with the regular M3 MacBook Pro for all their creative needs.
With these 5 alleged upgrades coming to the base M4 MacBook Pro, this hard sell could get even harder.
1. Space Black everything
Let’s be real. One of the reasons why I went for M3 Pro is that mean matte black finish — both utilitarian and mean in stature. Well, Space Black looks set to come to the standard M4 MacBook Pro, too.
2. M4 is bigger and better
There were some limitations in the M3’s power, thanks to that 8-core CPU. Now, in-line with what we saw in the M4 iPad Pro, that CPU core count is going up to 10 cores. Wylsacom suggests that this could lead up to 25% faster performance than the M3 chip, which is seemingly backed up by a leaked benchmark.
3. Leaked M4 benchmarks back it up
Speaking of which, just take a look at that insanely fast single-core performance. If this doesn’t put fear into the heart of every Copilot+ PC, I don’t know what will.
| Laptop | Geekbench 6 single-core | Geekbench 6 multicore |
|---|---|---|
| M4 MacBook Pro | 3864 | 15288 |
| M3 MacBook Pro | 3138 | 12018 |
| M3 Pro MacBook Pro | 3154 | 14357 |
4. More Thunderbolt 4 for all
One thing that always became a bit of a frustration in our time with the M3 MacBook Pro is its lack of a third Thunderbolt 4 port. Most of the time, it was OK, but there were those moments where the demands we had in terms of accessories and peripherals just couldn’t be handled by the limited array.
5. 16GB RAM minimum
For all of Apple’s talk about 8GB being enough RAM for a system, the world knew different. And finally, the Cupertino crew looks set to change it up here with 16GB being the new minimum. It’s been a long time coming, but that additional memory will be huge for multitasking capabilities and using Apple Intelligence features.
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