On Monday, Bloomberg reported on Apple's plans to overhaul its laptop product line. That's exactly the kind of rumor you don't want to hear in the week leading up to the new MacBook Pro's announcement and release. A closer look reveals that the planned revamp will take place sometime in 2026.
It's still quite a rumor/initial report, which means it might not happen within that time frame, if it actually happens. A lot can change in a year and a half, especially in this world of consumer electronics. But not much has changed since Apple's premium laptops launched around this time last year.
In fact, the release of the MacBook Pro went more or less like clockwork. It's an annual ritual built around the arrival of new chipsets, similar to the iPhone release schedule. There's no guarantee that Apple will continue the current pace of releasing M-series chips, but things seem to be working well for the company so far.
If, as the report states, Apple plans to offer iPhones and MacBooks that are “the thinnest and lightest in their category across the tech industry,” the effort is essential. The M series brings a long-awaited shot to the line, making the past few generations of MacBooks not only the most powerful, but also the best overall the company has offered.
The efficiency provided by Apple Silicon is at the heart of the entire new Mac Mini, allowing the company to significantly reduce the size of its desktop. The question isn't whether the M series literally thins the lines; That seems obvious. But it's less clear whether sacrifices are necessary.
First, given the processing power of the Pro series, Apple has previously had to include a fan, which the Air doesn't have. Another is that battery life is now a distinctive feature. I'm old enough to remember when I had to carry around an external battery to liveblog an event. These days, you don't even have to think about connecting your MacBook Air on a cross-border flight. This is great. Because Delta's seat-back power outlets have always been terrible.
Apple rates the new Pro with 24-hour charging. If Apple wants to sacrifice literally an entire day of battery life to make a laptop thinner, they're going to have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
The question of whether to buy now or wait for the next upgrade forever haunts major home appliance purchases. That's the nature of the annual release cycle. That said, early rumors of a major upgrade coming sometime in 2026 shouldn't move people who are wondering whether or not to pull the trigger today. This time next year, it might be a different story.
MacBook Pro and Air
Image credit: Brian Heater
For now, the buying advice remains largely unchanged from the past few years. If you're on a budget for a MacBook Pro, now is the perfect time to buy one. As the line continues to evolve and improve, the refreshed M4 chip delivers significant performance improvements over last year.
MacBook Air remains the best choice for the majority of users. It's more affordable and lightweight, and the performance difference is almost negligible for most non-professional tasks. Air's base RAM has been increased to 16GB, but otherwise unchanged.
They still have the M3 chip and it's very unlikely that will change this year. If Apple Intelligence is central to your purchasing decision, know that the new feature will now be compatible with all M-series Macs, covering four years of laptops.
There's a reason so much of the press material about Pros revolves around things like 3D animation, music production, and resource-intensive STEM pursuits. At some point, increased high-end performance will have little effect on most users. Of course, that's not to say that such updates aren't welcome. For example, for people involved in video editing or science, such breakthroughs could significantly reduce the time needed to perform such tasks.
Apple's site suggests, “There's never been a better time to upgrade.” Perhaps that's true in the sense that these devices are continually being improved. But less so when assessing how dramatically this lineage has changed from generation to generation. From that perspective, the transition from Intel to M1 was much more significant.
It's also true that laptops typically have longer upgrade cycles than smartphones, averaging five and three years, respectively. Of course, like every other hardware company, Apple would like you to upgrade more often, but you're worried about e-waste and you're running on money. Not a good person.
M4 victory
Image credit: Apple
By default, Apple compares the new M4's performance to the previous generation Mac Intel processors released in 2019 and displays a dropdown that also includes the M1 model. While this is entirely reasonable given the typical lifespan of a laptop, it may actually be too optimistic on Apple's part.
The company says its new M4 line is up to 9.8x faster than Intel models and up to 3.5x faster than M1 Pro and M1 Max. Apple used the M4 chip with a 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and 32 GB of RAM for its own purposes. This test used Adobe Premier 2024's scene edit detection feature on a 3.5 minute clip. Results will almost certainly vary based on hardware configuration, system settings, and specific task.
The model Apple sent TechCrunch for review is a 16-inch M4 Pro with a 14-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 48GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage. The laptop runs as configured for $3,649. That's $1,150 more than the base 16-inch M4 Pro and $2,050 more than the base 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro. Still, our review model falls in the middle in terms of price. If you really want to go all out, you can buy the M4 Max with a 16-inch Pro with nanotexture display, 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU, 128GB of memory, and 8TB for $7,379.
There are several things to keep in mind when specifying your system. First, the 14-inch MacBook Pro comes in M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max. The 16-inch only comes in M4 Pro and M4 Max flavors. These are the only MacBooks with the M4 chip at this time. The iPad Pro was the first model with this processor, and the MacBook Air won't be upgraded until 2024, and probably never will.
A complete overview of the differences between M4 models can be found here. What matters is the number of CPU and GPU cores available (the AI-focused Neural Engine has 16 cores in all modes) and the speed of memory bandwidth. Memory bandwidth is literally the speed at which a processor can read and write data on memory. The range here is from 120GB/s up to 410GB/s.
Another key difference between the chips is their Thunderbolt support. M4 supports Thunderbolt 4, with speeds up to 40GB/s. M4 Pro and Max are the first Apple chips to support Thunderbolt 5 at up to 3x faster speeds. In most cases, this will prepare you for the future. The simple fact is that if you don't know which Thunderbolt generation your cables and accessories support, it's almost certainly not 5.
All three chips are more than capable of doing everything most of us put into our systems on a daily basis. Aside from better graphics processing for gaming, the increased price tag that comes with the Pro and Max models makes it difficult to recommend to most users. In fact, for most of us, it's hard to even recommend a MacBook Pro over the Air. Even without upgrading to the M4, the Air is still the best MacBook for most people.
One upgrade option, and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned much before, is the addition of a nanotexture display for the first time on a MacBook. Apple notes:
The new MacBook Pro introduces an all-new NanoTexture display option that significantly reduces glare and distractions from reflections. Under bright lighting conditions, the new MacBook Pro can now display SDR content at up to 1,000 nits and HDR content at peak brightness of up to 1,600 nits. Taken together, this is a game-changing experience for users working outdoors.
Simply put, if you buy a new Pro and plan on taking it out a lot, spend the extra $150. I currently have two Studio displays on my desktop. One is nanotextured and the other is not nanotextured. It also makes a big difference indoors. In fact, at one point we repositioned two screens to minimize glare from one window in the room.
The Mac's glossy display is one of the things we complained about years ago, but at some point many of us realized that over the years Apple has refused to offer a replacement. I was exhausted. I gave up on that idea years ago. Now that it's available, I plan on implementing it on every MacBook I get from now on. Working outside a few times a week is a great way to break up the monotony of working in an office.
MacBook tank
Image credit: Brian Heater
Maybe it's the fact that I've been carrying a 15-inch Air since I reviewed it in March, but the 16-inch Pro is one hell of a tank. It weighs 4.7 pounds, which is 1.3 pounds heavier than the 14-inch Pro and 1.4 pounds heavier than the 15-inch Air. The difference in screen size naturally means a larger overall footprint, but the 16-incher is noticeably thicker at 0.66 inches, 0.05 inches thicker than the 14-inch Pro and 0.21 inches thicker than the 15-inch Air. .
This last part is due in no small part to the Air's lack of cooling fans. This reduces Air performance. Some people may find that the fan turns on while gaming. Otherwise, it won't make much of a difference for most users.
After all, the 16-inch Pro is aligned in spirit with what was once commonly referred to as a “desktop replacement.” If you often work outside of the office, carrying it around can be a pain. However, if you're looking for something with near-desktop specs and a bit of flexibility, the Pro is closer to that sweet spot.
Ports will continue to be the differentiating factor between each tier. The Pro has three Thunderbolt/USB-C ports, an HDMI port, and an SD slot, while the Air only has two USB-C. More ports are generally better, and it's great to see Apple continue to include SD readers in their laptops.
Both the M4 and M4 Pro chips support up to two external displays at 6K/60Hz, or one 8K at 60Hz or one 4K at 240Hz. Upgrading to M4 Max supports up to three 6K displays at 60Hz, or one 6K at 60Hz and one 4K display at 240Hz.
What is the upgrade time?
Image credit: Brian Heater
In the annual MacBook upgrade cycle, there's almost no sunset between this year's model and last year's model. If you have one of the M-series models, there's little reason to use FOMO. The models released over the past four years are some of the best laptops Apple has ever released due to a combination of first-party silicon, product design, and general responsiveness to consumer requests and complaints. It was.
It's unclear what the 2026 line refresh will look like, but as it stands, the M3 Air remains the best MacBook for most people. But if money and back pain aren't an issue, the M4 series and Pro are great products.