Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M4 Pro / M4 Max, 2024)

The 16-inch MacBook Pro introduced in October 2024 is the biggest and most capable laptop in Apple's M4 generation. It is sold only with the M4 Pro or the M4 Max chip, which separates it from the 14-inch model that also offers the plain M4. Apple announced it on 30 October 2024, began taking pre-orders the same day and started delivery on 8 November. The US starting price is 2,499 dollars, or 2,299 dollars with education pricing. This page walks through what the machine contains, how Apple's own figures should be read, and who is likely to get value from a portable workstation of this size.

The chips: M4 Pro and M4 Max

Both chips are built on Apple's second-generation 3-nanometre process and share a unified memory design in which the CPU, GPU and Neural Engine draw from the same pool. Apple's support documentation lists the base 16-inch configuration with the M4 Pro: a 14-core CPU made of 10 performance and 4 efficiency cores, a 20-core GPU, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a 16-core Neural Engine and 273GB/s of memory bandwidth. From there you can move to two M4 Max options. One has a 14-core CPU with 10 performance and 4 efficiency cores plus a 32-core GPU at 410GB/s. The top option has a 16-core CPU with 12 performance and 4 efficiency cores plus a 40-core GPU at 546GB/s.

Memory starts at 24GB with the M4 Pro and 36GB with the M4 Max. It is configurable to 48GB, 64GB and, on the fully specified M4 Max only, 128GB. Because the memory is part of the chip package it cannot be upgraded later, so the amount you order is the amount you keep. Storage starts at 512GB with the M4 Pro (up to 4TB) and at 1TB with the M4 Max (up to 8TB). The Media Engine also differs: the M4 Pro has one video encode engine and one ProRes engine, while the M4 Max has two of each, which matters mainly to people who edit high-bitrate ProRes footage all day.

Apple's launch release makes several performance claims that are worth reading carefully, because they are all comparisons with older Apple machines rather than with rivals. For the M4 Pro, Apple says the machine is up to 3x faster than models with the M1 Pro in workflows such as geo mapping, structural engineering and data modelling. For the M4 Max it claims up to 3.5x the performance of the M1 Max in heavy creative work, and it says that 128GB of memory lets developers work with language models of nearly 200 billion parameters on the device. These are manufacturer figures measured on specific applications, and the release attaches footnotes with the test conditions. Treat them as an upper bound for the named workloads, not as a promise for every task.

Display: XDR, 120Hz and a nano-texture option

The panel is a 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with a native resolution of 3456 by 2234 pixels at 254 pixels per inch. Apple specifies a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 1000 nits of sustained full-screen brightness for HDR content and 1600 nits at peak. What is new in this generation is that SDR content can reach up to 1000 nits, which Apple positions as helpful outdoors. ProMotion provides adaptive refresh up to 120Hz, and the panel covers the wide P3 colour gamut with True Tone.

The genuinely new option is the nano-texture finish. Apple says it reduces glare and reflections dramatically in bright rooms. It is a configure-to-order extra, and the box then includes a polishing cloth for cleaning the etched surface. If you regularly work near windows or outdoors it is worth considering; if you work in controlled light it is an added cost with no obvious payoff.

The camera also improves. Apple calls out a new 12-megapixel Center Stage camera that keeps you in frame as you move and supports Desk View, which shows your desk surface to the person on the call. A six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers and a studio-quality three-microphone array complete the media hardware.

Ports, wireless and displays

The machine carries three Thunderbolt 5 ports, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, a headphone jack with support for high-impedance headphones and the MagSafe 3 charging connector. Thunderbolt 5 supports up to 120Gb/s and native DisplayPort 2.1 output, which Apple says more than doubles the transfer speed of the previous Thunderbolt generation. That matters for fast external SSDs, expansion chassis and single-cable docks. Wireless is Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.

The number of external screens depends on the chip. With the M4 Pro you can drive two external displays at up to 6K and 60Hz over Thunderbolt, or one 6K display plus one 4K display at 144Hz over HDMI, or a single 8K60 or 4K240 monitor through HDMI. The M4 Max supports up to four external displays in the listed combinations. If your desk plan involves three or more monitors, that alone can decide the chip.

Battery and charging: reconciling the numbers

Apple's launch headline says up to 24 hours of battery life, described as the longest ever in a Mac. The technical specifications are more nuanced, and they resolve the apparent conflict. Every configuration has a 100-watt-hour battery. The M4 Pro model is rated at up to 24 hours of video streaming and up to 17 hours of wireless web browsing. The M4 Max model is rated at up to 21 hours of streaming and up to 14 hours of web use. So the 24-hour figure applies to the M4 Pro streaming test, and buyers of the M4 Max should plan on the lower numbers. Both are Apple lab results with the display at a set brightness, and real use with heavy CPU or GPU work will drain the battery far faster.

Charging uses a 140-watt USB-C power adapter with a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable, and Apple states the machine supports fast charge with the included adapter. Because MagSafe is a dedicated port, the three Thunderbolt ports stay free while charging.

Design, weight and materials

The body measures 1.68 cm high, 35.57 cm wide and 24.81 cm deep. Apple lists the weight at 2.14 kg with the M4 Pro and 2.15 kg with the M4 Max. It comes in space black and silver. Apple's release says the enclosure uses a custom alloy with 100 percent recycled aluminium, that all magnets use recycled rare earth elements and that the packaging is fibre-based. Those are corporate environmental claims that Apple supports in its product report; they are not a substitute for judging long-term repairability.

The keyboard is the backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, with full-height function keys, and there is a Force Touch trackpad. There is no touch screen and no detachable form factor. This is a traditional clamshell that leans on macOS rather than on tablet features.

Who it is for and how it compares

This is a machine for people who need the screen and battery of a big laptop without giving up desktop-class performance: video editors, 3D and motion artists, music producers, developers who compile large projects or run local language models, and data scientists. Apple's own examples of M4 Max workloads include visual effects, 3D animation and film scoring. The 16-inch chassis also gives the chips more thermal room than the 14-inch body, though Apple does not publish sustained-performance figures, so I would not put a number on that difference.

If you are choosing inside the range, the sensible steps are these. Decide first whether you need more than two external displays, which points to the M4 Max. Then decide how much memory your largest project or model needs, since memory cannot be added later. The 14-inch model, covered in our page on the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M4, is the easier choice if portability matters more than screen area, and the direct comparison of the 16-inch and 14-inch models lists the specification differences side by side.

For readers weighing this against non-Apple designs, our guide to the best laptops for content creators explains what to look for in a display and a workflow, and the piece on NPU and AI acceleration in laptops puts Apple's Neural Engine claims into context. Because the battery figure is the number most likely to disappoint, the deep dive on laptop battery life and thermal throttling is worth reading before you rely on a manufacturer estimate. You can browse the full range on our laptops page.

Bottom line

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro or M4 Max is a large, heavy, expensive laptop, and it makes sense only if you use what it offers: the biggest XDR screen in Apple's laptop range, Thunderbolt 5, a 100Wh battery and up to 128GB of unified memory. Its weaknesses are the ones Apple's specification sheet reveals without comment: Wi-Fi 6E rather than Wi-Fi 7, memory and storage that cannot be upgraded after purchase and a price that climbs steeply with each memory and storage step. Later Apple announced an M5 Pro and M5 Max generation, which is covered separately, so anyone shopping today should compare this model against that successor before deciding.