M4 MacBooks may fix my biggest Mac complaint, but at what cost?
Apple’s M4 Macs are just around the corner. Thanks to the Apple iPad Pro M4 model that launched earlier this summer, we have some estimates of the new chipset’s performance, but the fall launch should include multiple chip models and possibly a new base configuration for the MacBook Pro.
In its Power On newsletter last week, Bloomberg wroteMark Gurman confirmed that Apple is already testing a quartet of M4 MacBooks. According to his sources, there are three MacBooks with a total of ten cores in their CPUs and GPUs, while a base model has eight cores in its CPU and GPU.
The specifications of the 10-core M4 CPU and 10-core M4 GPU for three of the MacBook Pro models tested match those of the M4 processor in the iPad Pro, including the core split into four performance cores and six efficiency cores. The lower-spec model of the final MacBook tested has only eight cores, with an even 4:4 split between performance and efficiency cores.
While that all sounds great, the key takeaway from the report is that “they all have either 16 or 32 gigabytes of memory.” That means MacBooks with 8GB of RAM should finally go away, but that comes with a potential downside.
More storage can come with higher costs
The current Apple MacBook Pro with M3 chipset only has 8GB of memory, but upgrades are available for up to 64GB of RAM. While 8GB isn’t completely impossible, a $1,000+ laptop in 2024 should have at least 16GB of RAM.
A laptop with only 8GB of memory may struggle to keep up with the average workload, especially in today’s hybrid and remote work landscape, as video calling programs and even web browsers can be memory hogs.
Of course, you can upgrade the MacBook Pro’s RAM to 16GB, 24GB, 36GB, or even up to 128GB. With the base M3 chip, a RAM upgrade from 8GB to 16GB costs an additional $200. So Apple could easily use the base chip’s RAM upgrade to increase the price of the base MacBook Pro 14 from $1,599 to $1,799 or more.
A jump in memory will help the base MacBook Pro stand out from its Qualcomm Snapdragon X Copilot+ PC and AMD Ryzen AI rivals. And with Intel planning to launch its Lunar Lake AI PC chips in September, Apple has more reason than ever to change up the base MacBook Pro, even if that means the starting price is closer to $1,799.
More Macs expected this year
Bloomberg News also confirmed that Apple will refresh its entire lineup with M4 AI processors, including a smaller Mac mini, new MacBook Pro models, MacBook Air models and updated iMacs.
The first of the new Mac models are expected about a month after Apple’s annual iPhone launch. The iPhone 16 and its variants are expected during Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” stream event on September 9, 2024.
