Together with new MacBook Pro Apple also introduced new M4 Pro and M4 Max processors M4 chip debuted earlier this year in the new iPad.
All three processors are based on the second-generation 3 nm process technology, which improves performance and energy efficiency compared to their predecessors. The embedded GPUs are based on the architecture introduced in the previous generation.
The M4 Pro and M4 Max processors support Thunderbolt 5 for the first time, with a 75% increase in unified memory bandwidth. According to Apple, the new NPU Neural Engine built into them is almost twice as fast as the previous one.
The M4 Pro chip is equipped with up to 14 computing cores, including up to 10 performance cores and 4 energy-efficient cores. Apple says it’s 1.9 times faster than the M1 Pro, and up to 2.1 times faster, «than the latest AI PC» chip. The video chip has up to 20 cores, its performance is twice that of the M4 GPU and up to 2.4 times faster than the latest AI PC chip».
«This massive performance boost lets you build and test apps across multiple simulators in Xcode faster than ever. And with the M4 GPU family’s advanced hardware ray tracing acceleration engine, games like Control look more attractive and professional 3D renderers can produce stunning images in even less time».
M4 Pro supports up to 64GB of fast unified memory and 273GB/s of memory bandwidth — 75% more than M3 Pro and «twice the bandwidth of any AI PC chip». The M4 Pro supports Thunderbolt 5 on Mac with data rates up to 120 Gbps.
The M4 Max has up to 16 computing cores: up to 12 productive and 4 efficient. The manufacturer claims that it is 2.2 times faster than the M1 Max and up to 2.5 times faster than the same abstract PC with artificial intelligence. The video chip has up to 40 cores, is 1.9 times faster than the M1 Max, and up to 4 times «faster than the latest AI PC» chip.
«Thus, large workloads such as removing noise from raw video footage can now be performed in real time in DaVinci Resolve Studio».
The M4 Max supports up to 128GB of unified storage and up to 546GB/s of bandwidth. Apple notes that this «allows developers to easily interact with large language models that have nearly 200 billion parameters». The advanced media chip in the M4 Max has two video encoding engines and two ProRes accelerators. Like the M4 Pro, the M4 Max supports Thunderbolt 5 with speeds up to 120 Gbps.
The company emphasizes that M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max are designed for Apple Intelligence. Artificial intelligence is available in English starting with macOS Sequoia 15.1.
«With the newly redesigned Siri, users can seamlessly switch between voice and typed queries to speed up tasks throughout the day, and Siri can answer thousands of questions about Macs and other Apple products».
New Apple Intelligence features, such as ChatGPT integration into Siri and Writing Tools, will be available in December. Additional features will be available in the coming months.
Source: Apple