MacBook Pro M4 Pro 14": six months in, the right Mac for most builders

Six months on the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 Pro. The 12-core, 24GB, 1TB config. £2,399 with VAT. The most expensive computer I have ever owned and the one I would buy again.

Sustained performance

```chart::bench ```

Cinebench R24 multi-core sustained for 10 minutes shows the M4 Pro at 1,640. The M3 Pro 12-core was 1,245[^2]. That is a 32 percent jump year-on-year, which is the largest year-over-year leap in the M-series since the M1.

The M4 Max 14-core is faster but most builders do not need it. The thermal envelope is the same; the M4 Max throttles in long sessions to roughly the M4 Pro's sustained level. If you are not training models locally, save the £1,200.

Battery

```chart::battery ```

Battery life is the thing that compounds most over the life of a laptop. 16.2 hours of browsing means I rarely think about charging. 6.1 hours of full Vite builds means I can work an entire flight without plugging in.

A local llama-3.1-8b inference session draws meaningfully (3.4h). You will plug in for ML.

Tier choice

```table::tier ```

Most people should buy the M4 Pro 12/16 with 24GB RAM. The base M4 is fine but the memory bandwidth is half. The M4 Max is overkill unless you specifically need 64GB+ RAM or 32-core GPU.

What is good

The 1000-nit SDR display is the brightest sustained display in any laptop. Outdoor work is genuinely possible.

The keyboard is unchanged from M3 generation. Three years of refinement on the post-butterfly key feel.

The webcam is finally good enough for daily standups. 12MP, decent low-light, no obvious sharpening artefacts.

What is not

Storage upgrades remain absurdly priced. £400 for 1TB to 2TB. £600 for 2TB to 4TB. NVMe sticks are £80 for 2TB at retail. Apple will charge you 5x.

The notch is still here. macOS still does not handle it gracefully in third-party apps.

The Touch Bar is gone (good), the function row is back (better), but the keys still do not have the travel of a 2015 MBP.

Buying advice

From an M1/M2 MBP: skip unless you need more RAM. From an M3 MBP: skip. From an Intel MBP: yes, immediately. From a non-Mac: this is the laptop. Get the M4 Pro 12-core, 24GB RAM, 512GB. Spend the storage money on an external SSD.