https://arstechnica.com/apple/2024/10/apples-m4-m4-pro-and-m4-max-compared-to-past-generations-and-to-each-other/ Skip to content Ars Technica home Sections Forum Subscribe * AI * Biz & IT * Cars * Culture * Gaming * Health * Policy * Science * Security * Space * Tech * Feature * Reviews * Store * AI * Biz & IT * Cars * Culture * Gaming * Health * Policy * Science * Security * Space * Tech Forum Subscribe Story text Size [Standard] Width * [Standard] Links [Standard] * Subscribers only Learn more Pin to story Theme * Light * Dark * System Search dialog... Sign In Sign in dialog... Sign in compare and contrast Apple's M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max compared to past generations, and to each other M4 and M4 Pro get core count bumps; M4 Max relies on architectural improvements. Andrew Cunningham - Oct 30, 2024 4:17 pm | 234 [m4-series] Credit: Apple Credit: Apple Text settings Story text Size [Standard] Width * [Standard] Links [Standard] * Subscribers only Learn more Minimize to nav Apple's week of Mac announcements has wrapped up this morning with the launch of the new M4 MacBook Pros, and we now have a full picture of the M4 chip lineup that will drive the Mac for the next year or so (excepting the M4 Ultra, if we end up getting one). Because Apple staggered its product and chip announcements, we've gathered some basic specs from all versions of the M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max to help compare them to the outgoing M2 and M3 chip families, including the slightly cut-down versions that Apple sells in the cheaper new Macs. We've also rounded up some of Apple's performance claims, so people with older Macs can see exactly what they're getting if they upgrade (Apple still likes to use the M1 as a baseline, acknowledging that the year-over-year gains are sometimes minor and that many people are still getting by just fine with some version of the M1 chip). Comparing all the M4 chips +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | | | Display | | | | |CPU P/ | GPU | RAM | support | Memory | Available in | | |E-cores|cores|options|(including |bandwidth| | | | | | | internal) | | | |------+-------+-----+-------+-----------+---------+----------------| |Apple | | | | | | | |M4 |4/4 |8 |16/24GB|Up to two |120GB/s |$1,299 iMac | |(low) | | | | | | | |------+-------+-----+-------+-----------+---------+----------------| |Apple | | | | | |$1,499 iMac, | |M4 |4/6 |10 |16/24/ |Up to three|120GB/s |$599 Mac mini, | |(high)| | |32GB | | |$1,599 MacBook | | | | | | | |Pro | |------+-------+-----+-------+-----------+---------+----------------| |Apple | | |24/48/ | | |$1,399 Mac mini,| |M4 Pro|8/4 |16 |64GB |Up to three|273GB/s |$1,999 14-inch | |(low) | | | | | |MBP | |------+-------+-----+-------+-----------+---------+----------------| |Apple | | | | | |$1,599 Mac mini,| |M4 Pro|10/4 |20 |24/48/ |Up to three|273GB/s |$2,199 14-inch | |(high)| | |64GB | | |MBP, $2,499 | | | | | | | |16-inch MBP | |------+-------+-----+-------+-----------+---------+----------------| |Apple | | | | | |$3,199 14-inch | |M4 Max|10/4 |32 |36GB |Up to five |410GB/s |MBP, $3,499 | |(low) | | | | | |16-inch MBP | |------+-------+-----+-------+-----------+---------+----------------| |Apple | | |48/64/ | | |$3,699 14-inch | |M4 Max|12/4 |40 |128GB |Up to five |546GB/s |MBP, $3,999 | |(high)| | | | | |16-inch MBP | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ At least as far as the Mac is concerned, Apple has technically released six different chips this week under three different brand names. The M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max all have one slightly cut-down entry-level version with fewer CPU and GPU cores and one more-expensive, fully enabled version. Generally, in the places where Apple offers both versions of each chip, you can upgrade to the better CPU/GPU without also having to pay for more RAM or anything else. But the M4 Max is an exception--buying the fully enabled M3 Max also requires you to pay for a jump from 36GB to 48GB of memory, making the total cost an additional $500. Apple's site lists it, somewhat misleadingly, as a $300 addition, but toggling the selection also automatically selects the $200 RAM upgrade. The M4 Max is also the only chip where memory bandwidth and RAM support changes between the low- and high-end versions. The low-end M4 Max offers 410GB/s of memory bandwidth, while the fully enabled M4 Max offers 546GB/s. For completeness' sake, there is a third version of the M4 that Apple ships, with nine CPU cores, 10 GPU cores, and 8GB of RAM. But the company is only shipping that version of the chip in M4 iPad Pros with 256GB or 512GB of storage, so we haven't included it in the tables here. Compared to the M2 and M3 +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | CPU P/ | GPU | RAM | Display support | Memory | | |E-cores |cores |options| (including internal) |bandwidth | |---------+--------+------+-------+----------------------+----------| |Apple M4 |4/4 |8 |16/24GB|Up to two |120GB/s | |(low) | | | | | | |---------+--------+------+-------+----------------------+----------| |Apple M4 |4/6 |10 |16/24/ |Up to three |120GB/s | |(high) | | |32GB | | | |---------+--------+------+-------+----------------------+----------| |Apple M3 |4/4 |10 |8/16/ |Up to two |102.4GB/s | |(high) | | |24GB | | | |---------+--------+------+-------+----------------------+----------| |Apple M2 |4/4 |10 |8/16/ |Up to two |102.4GB/s | |(high) | | |24GB | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ One interesting thing about the M4: This is the first time that the low-end Apple Silicon CPU has increased its maximum core count. The M1, M2, and M3 all used a 4+4 split that divided evenly between performance and efficiency cores, but the M4 can include six efficiency cores instead. That's not a game-changing development performance-wise (the "E" in "E-core" does not stand for "exciting"), but we've seen over and over again in chips from Apple, Intel, and others that adding more efficiency cores does meaningfully improve CPU performance in heavily multithreaded tasks. +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | CPU P/ | GPU | RAM | Display support | Memory | | |E-cores |cores|options|(including internal) |bandwidth | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M4 |8/4 |16 |24/48/ |Up to three |273GB/s | |Pro (low) | | |64GB | | | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M4 |10/4 |20 |24/48/ |Up to three |273GB/s | |Pro (high) | | |64GB | | | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M3 |6/6 |18 |18/36GB|Up to three |153.6GB/s | |Pro (high) | | | | | | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M2 |8/4 |19 |16/32GB|Up to three |204.8GB/s | |Pro (high) | | | | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ The M4 Pro is the most interesting year-over-year upgrade, though this says more about the M3 Pro than anything else. As we noted last year, it was a bit of an outlier, the only one of the M3-generation chips with fewer transistors than its predecessor. A small decrease in GPU cores and a large decrease in high-performance CPU cores explains most of the difference. The result was a very power-efficient chip, but also one that was more of a sidestep from the M2 Pro than a real upgrade. The M4 Pro's CPU core counts and memory bandwidth make it look like a more straightforward update to the older M2 Pro, with four E-cores but more P-cores, a substantial bump to memory bandwidth, and one additional GPU core. RAM capacity has also increased quite a bit--it now comes with 24GB at a minimum and can be configured with up to 64GB (though note that the M4 Pro MacBook Pros don't actually seem to offer this configuration--I could only match the M4 Pro with 64GB of RAM in the Mac mini on Apple's store page). +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | CPU P/ | GPU | RAM | Display support | Memory | | |E-cores |cores|options|(including internal) |bandwidth | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M4 |10/4 |32 |36GB |Up to five |410GB/s | |Max (low) | | | | | | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M4 |12/4 |40 |48/64/ |Up to five |546GB/s | |Max (high) | | |128GB | | | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M3 |12/4 |40 |48/64/ |Up to five |409.6GB/s | |Max (high) | | |128GB | | | |-----------+--------+-----+-------+---------------------+----------| |Apple M2 |8/4 |38 |64/96GB|Up to five |409.6GB/s | |Max (high) | | | | | | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ The M4 Max is the one place where core counts haven't really improved over the last generation. This implies a less-impressive year-over-year jump, but it's worth noting that we still don't know the clock speeds for any of these cores or how the extra memory bandwidth might improve performance. Especially when it comes to integrated GPUs that share their memory pool with the rest of the system, increases in system memory bandwidth tend to have disproportionately large effects on graphics performance, but we'll need to do some testing to know for sure. The M4 Max still looks like a good upgrade compared with the M2 Max, with up to four additional high-performance CPU cores, a higher maximum RAM capacity, and two additional GPU cores. But again, it looks like the increased memory bandwidth could drive most of the GPU performance increases. Photo of Andrew Cunningham Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 234 Comments Comments Forum view Loading Loading comments... Prev story Next story Most Read 1. Listing image for first story in Most Read: Thousands of hacked TP-Link routers used in years-long account takeover attacks 1. Thousands of hacked TP-Link routers used in years-long account takeover attacks 2. 2. What is happening with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft? 3. 3. iPod fans evade Apple's DRM to preserve 54 lost clickwheel-era games 4. 4. US Space Force warns of "mind-boggling" build-up of Chinese capabilities 5. 5. 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