Comprehensive upgrade of the Mac product line: Apple releases new MacBook Pro and high-performance M4 Max chip

According to Zhitong Finance APP, on Wednesday, Apple (AAPL.US) expanded its Mac product line again, launching the latest MacBook Pro laptops and the high-end M4 Max chip. Pre-orders in the Chinese market will begin at 9 AM on November 1, with sales starting on November 8. This news follows Apple's release of the new Mac mini desktop and M4 Pro chip on Tuesday, and the launch of the new iMac desktop on Monday.

Apple is fully updating its Mac product line ahead of the holiday shopping season, and after experiencing a surge in sales during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, global PC sales are slowly recovering from a decline. In 2024, Apple's Mac series is expected to perform well, with revenue reaching $22.2 billion in the first three quarters of this year, a year-on-year increase from $21.7 billion in 2023.

The new Mac series also features the debut of Apple's first batch of Apple Intelligence functions, which are applicable to iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, including new features such as notification summaries, text summarization, rewriting tools, and photo editing options. The MacBook Pro is designed for users who need to handle high-load tasks such as video editing and 3D modeling, and Apple promises that its latest product line can excel in meeting these demands.

The newly released Pro series includes 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The 14-inch version starts at $1,599 (RMB 16,999) and is equipped with the M4 chip and 16GB of memory. The 16-inch version starts at $2,499 (RMB 19,999) and comes with the M4 Pro chip and 24GB of memory.

Apple first launched the M4 chip in April this year, applying it to the latest iPad Pro. On Tuesday, Apple introduced the more powerful M4 Pro chip, which debuted in the Mac mini. The M4 Pro features a 14-core central processing unit (CPU), a 20-core graphics processing unit (GPU), and a 16-core neural engine, specifically designed for AI tasks. Apple stated that the CPU speed of the M4 Pro is 1.8 times faster than the M4, and the GPU speed has increased to 2.2 times. Overall, the performance of the 16-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M4 Pro chip is three times better than that of the M1 Pro chip version, while the M4 Max further breaks performance boundaries.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 Max chip has memory expandable to 128GB, featuring a 16-core CPU, a 40-core GPU, and a 16-core neural engine, providing extremely strong performance. According to Apple, this MacBook Pro is 3.5 times faster than the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Max chip.

Despite the significant performance improvements, Apple stated that the MacBook Pro's battery life can still reach 24 hours.

In addition to performance enhancements, Apple also announced that both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro now come with three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. If users choose the M4 Pro or M4 Max, these ports will be upgraded to Thunderbolt 5 Thunderbolt 5 is a version of the USB-C interface, with data transfer speeds of up to 120 Gbps, which means multiple high-resolution displays can be connected simultaneously while achieving faster data transfer.

The new MacBook Pro is also equipped with an upgraded 12-megapixel Center Stage camera, capable of automatically tracking the user's movements to ensure that every participant remains in the frame during video calls. Additionally, the display has added a nano-texture coating option to reduce glare in bright environments.

In addition to the upgrades to the Pro series and the M4 chip, Apple also announced an increase in the base memory of the M2 and M3 powered MacBook Air from 8GB to 16GB. This move may be aimed at enhancing the performance of M2 and M3 powered Mac devices when running the Apple Intelligence platform and its native AI features