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MacBook Pro 14 inch M4 - The best time to upgrade

I nearly revived this thread yesterday to say I love this computer. I still wish I could have afforded 24 GB/M4 Pro, but I’m running DeepSeek locally now, the 8b version, because I can. (The fan kicks in, but not too hard.) Stable Diffusion flux.1 – runs fine. Not exactly fast, either of those, but reasonably rather than ‘I think there is a helicopter in the room and also my SSD just wore out from swapping’. I love the colour, the screen, the speed, still getting used to the keyboard, but my typing speed is unchanged, I just preferred the M1 MBA feel. If I could transplant that keyboard, the M4 MBP would be perfect. Okay, and if I could downgrade to Sonoma, but that’s not the laptop problem, that’s an Apple QC problem.

Loving my flush enclosure + a microSD card, too. Finally a way to expand Apple’s storage for 1/4 the price :)
 
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elmoss said:
Thinking of doing the same, would be good if studio display was 120hz to match the MacBook.

Did you sell your iMac?
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elmoss said:
Thinking of doing the same, would be good if studio display was 120hz to match the MacBook.

Did you sell your iMac?
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No, just trade, I had it for very close to 4 years, so well depreciated. The iMac and nothing else is involved. I have a LG 27” 144hz QHD gaming monitor to the right next to it with gaming PC. Could say another reason to immediately go trade route and not store the older Mac. :)
 
Realityck said:
No, just trade, I had it for very close to 4 years, so well depreciated. The iMac and nothing else is involved. I have a LG 27” 144hz QHD gaming monitor to the right next to it with gaming PC. Could say another reason to immediately go trade route and not store the older Mac. :)
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Ok, mine is 3.5 years old still good though.
 
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Well ... yesterday I ordered a base M4 MacBook Pro (4 to 9 weeks to arrive).
A local store was doing a 15% discount, so the price was 1656€ instead of 1949€. (Quite a good deal IMO).
I'm coming from a trustworthy M1 air that was my best computer purchase until now.
I know that the new Air is coming but since the launch the M4 pro was under my eye. M4, slightly bigger and way better screen, improved webcam, better battery life, better speakers... all summed made my decision easy to take.
 
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familychoice said:
Wow, I hadn't seen this. Glad I went for the M4 Pro now, didn't realise there was such a big jump from the base M4.
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Yes but also it’s 600$ Cad more and you lose 2h of battery. So yes it’s a good deal but doesn’t mean the base m4 is bad.
 
Astuces iOS said:
Yes but also it’s 600$ Cad more and you lose 2h of battery. So yes it’s a good deal but doesn’t mean the base m4 is bad.
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www.notebookcheck.net

Apple MacBook Pro 14 2024 M4 Pro entry laptop review - Who needs the M4 Pro?

Extensive tests and benchmarks of the MacBook Pro 14 with the M4 Pro 12-core SoC
www.notebookcheck.net www.notebookcheck.net
For absolutely the definitive technical write up about usable battery life and performance with both configurations.

Battery Live - Do you really need more?​

In terms of battery life, we don't see any difference to the more powerful M4 Pro with 14 cores. On the other hand, the M4 base model offers a slightly longer battery life at reduced brightness, as advertised. With reduced load, the battery life should definitely be sufficient for a whole day of work, though.
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Astuces iOS said:
Yes but also it’s 600$ Cad more and you lose 2h of battery. So yes it’s a good deal but doesn’t mean the base m4 is bad.
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Didn't say it was, I was going to get the base M4 model, but Amazon had a deal where the M4 Pro was just £180 more. Since it includes an extra 8GB RAM - which is a very useful upgrade to have - it actually worked out £20 cheaper than upgrading the base M4. The extra speed and other features are a bonus.

As for battery life - I'm using my 2020 Intel MBP for work related stuff, and still getting a day's use from the battery, so I reckon I'll be ok wth 'just 22 hours' on the new one!
 
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familychoice said:
Didn't say it was, I was going to get the base M4 model, but Amazon had a deal where the M4 Pro was just £180 more. Since it includes an extra 8GB RAM - which is a very useful upgrade to have - it actually worked out £20 cheaper than upgrading the base M4. The extra speed and other features are a bonus.

As for battery life - I'm using my 2020 Intel MBP for work related stuff, and still getting a day's use from the battery, so I reckon I'll be ok wth 'just 22 hours' on the new one!
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Yeah it was just an advice for people who might upgrade.
 
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familychoice said:
Didn't say it was, I was going to get the base M4 model, but Amazon had a deal where the M4 Pro was just £180 more.
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In my case the difference was €700 :( I got a €160 discount on the 16/1TB one, the discount would have been €260 with M4 Pro, but this is how Apple sucks you into their price vortex and suddenly you’re there using your new supercomputer to doom-scroll trying not to think about your new second mortgage ;)
 
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navaira said:
In my case the difference was €700 :( I got a €160 discount on the 16/1TB one, the discount would have been €260 with M4 Pro, but this is how Apple sucks you into their price vortex and suddenly you’re there using your new supercomputer to doom-scroll trying not to think about your new second mortgage ;)
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Also sales are localized, not available there vs here. :confused:
 
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navaira said:
In my case the difference was €700 :( I got a €160 discount on the 16/1TB one, the discount would have been €260 with M4 Pro, but this is how Apple sucks you into their price vortex and suddenly you’re there using your new supercomputer to doom-scroll trying not to think about your new second mortgage ;)
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Wow. I was going to buy the base M4 14", which was £1600, but as I'd literally just made my mind up to hit the buy button, an offer from Amazon popped up for the M4 Pro, for £1780 (I think...might have been £1799, but still a good deal).

It was more than I wanted to spend (I'd actually been hoping for a sale on the base M4), but it made sense as it'd give me a year or two extra use, as the Pro's tend to hold their own for a bit longer - plus the extra RAM would come in handy.

I wouldn't normally buy a laptop from a reseller (particlarly Amazon), but the saving meant I could afford AppleCare, and not have to deal with Amazon support if anything goes wrong.
 
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I bought mine from a reseller too, hence the discount (from Apple’s €2130 to €1999) and then of course I spent that money on AppleCare+ :)

Before that, I found a discount to €1979 on German Amazon and it wasn’t until I was opening the box that it dawned on me a laptop from Germany can possibly have German keyboard. I tried to live with it for a few hours but ß (which I call the scheisse key) was shining into my eyes like a torch, and I realised there is no way I can live with the scheisse key for the next four years or longer. Normally we don’t get any Macbook Air/Pro discounts here, so that €1999 was a very nice surprise – I told myself I am only buying up to €2k.

So I guess I’m glad Amazon Germany didn’t offer me M4 Pro for €200 more or I WOULD be living with the scheisse key – there is no freaking way I’d find it here with such deep discount. Congratulations, you scored well :)
 
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Came from Desktop PC 3900x/64gb ram and 1080Ti to my first MBP, specced up decently, 16" M4 Max MBP, 64GB//1TB.
slapped on nano texture display without delay. really loving it within 2 days of use; its so SPEEDY for a laptop and I held off buying laptops because they either overheat, were slow and/or too loud in fans and poor batt life.

With the M4 Max even under basic forum scrolling I dropped 10% in 2 hours of normal everyday use which is insane. its also SUPER smooth [windows can never get this right] and the trackpad experience is A grade.... making me almost want to buy one externally lol but I will resist :p

huge improvement by a massive leap forward even for simple tasks, it's ridiculously responsive even on webpages and the trackpad is a godsend. im usually not trackpad guy but damn this MBP make me not want to use my external mouse. (MX Master 3S).

Also the fan never kicked on with me in use on M4 Max, based on my current workflow. I know it does ramp up fans but that's a situation I'll never get into and even by the time that happens; the exporting/rendering is complete by the time the fans even got to put up some noise. Rendering is at least 4x faster, and the fans spin just a wee bit before it stops running the processor.

also got the m4 max cheap. its even cheaper than M3 Max, the m3 max here costed way. more than the m4 max, its the equivalent of m4 max 64gb 1tb 16" equalling a m3 max 48gb 1tb 16". I skipped m3 max despite all the hype around it knowing I could hold on more but my pc was crumbling lol so I sprinted for a M4 Max asap with edu disc. managed to shave 850$ off initially which is nice as I am aware apple isn't cheap.
 
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I have no clue how Windows laptop manufacturers STILL fail to catch up with the quality of Apple’s 10-year old trackpad. I used a €2k Yoga C930 I hackintoshed for a few years and boy did I hate that trackpad with my entire being. I’ve read that Surface has trackpads of comparable quality, but the closest I ever got to a Microsoft Surface was when I was picking my AW10 in store. I didn’t *shudders* approach that thing, obviously.
 
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navaira said:
I’ve read that Surface has trackpads of comparable quality, the closest I ever got to a Microsoft Surface was when I was picking my AW10 in store. I didn’t *shudders* approach that thing
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I have a Surface Laptop. The trackpad is very similar to the Apple trackpad. Until you have used the Surface Laptop trackpad your assessment of the quality of the trackpad is flawed and not based on reality. The Surface Laptop is comparable to the M2 Air in design, usability, speed and quality. And the Surface has a better selection of ports.
navaira said:
I didn’t *shudders* approach that thing, obviously
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Such a shame. You might have been surprised, and impressed, with what the Surface Laptop has to offer. The laptop, not the Surface Pro. For much less than the Apple products.
 
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navaira said:
It has Windows on it. That’s the problem…
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I have used MacOS and Windows, and continue to use both. I don’t find either to be superior, or inferior, to the other. Both have strengths, both have problems. Both have good points, both have bad points. The only real point where Apple shines is the interlocking between the iPhone, iPad, and watch. The only real point where Windows shines is that it is not tied to Apple hardware, and the Windows hardware upgrades are significantly cheaper.
 
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I had Helpful Software on my Yoga that adjusted screen colours every time I switched between apps and disabling that required changing a registry entry after every Windows update, so, all the time. Also, Creative Suite programs scaled differently, each of them, for the 4k screen. That was admittedly seven years ago, but W10 wasn’t exactly new any more, neither were 4k screens. macOS has its quirks, but it doesn’t require registry editor to disable Helpful Software (because it doesn’t have that). Using Windows for a few months cured me forever from wanting to give it another chance in the future. I hackintoshed that Yoga C930 because that was easier and saved my time.

But now we’re far, far away from the original topic ;)
 
raythompsontn said:
I have used MacOS and Windows, and continue to use both. I don’t find either to be superior, or inferior, to the other. Both have strengths, both have problems. Both have good points, both have bad points. The only real point where Apple shines is the interlocking between the iPhone, iPad, and watch. The only real point where Windows shines is that it is not tied to Apple hardware, and the Windows hardware upgrades are significantly cheaper.
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I feel the advantage of Apple is much lower power consumption yet similar performance which is what caught my eye.
Windows seems to churn way too much power these days unless you go mid-tier. Not to mention they get very loud under basic of basic tasks which made zero sense.
 
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