The MacBook Pro M4 isn’t quite as ‘pro’ in the performance stakes as the M4 Pro and M4 Max models, but by offering several improvements over the MacBook Air M3 – including a seriously better display and far more ports – this is easily the best all-round MacBook option on the market in 2025 and the easiest to recommend entry-level MacBook Pro in years.
Pros
- Nano-texture screen is a great option
- Healthy port selection
- Strong everyday performance
- Screen gets very bright
Cons
- You get to M4 Pro prices when you start upgrading the internals
- The Space Black is a bit smudgy
- Nano-texture display is an additional cost
Key Features
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Review Price: £1599
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High-spec screen Fast ProMotion Mini LED panel with high brightness
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Multiple ports 3x Thunderbolt 4, HDMI and SD card slot
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Latest Apple silicon Powered by the M4 chip
Introduction
Apple’s MacBook line is a little confusing. There are two distinct lines in the Air and Pro, but the MacBook Pro M4 I have could almost be described as the ‘Pro Light’.
The entry-level MacBook Pro has been hard to recommend previously, as it lacked numerous features available on the pricier models, but this isn’t the case for this year.
If I were deciding on which new MacBook to buy it would be this one – here’s why.
Design and Keyboard
- Space Black colour option
- Huge trackpad and a great keyboard
- Strong selection of ports
The MacBook Pro M4 is a lovely machine to look at, and it’s equally as nice to use day-to-day. The design hasn’t changed much in recent years but that’s not a bad thing.
It comes in either a Space Black or a Silver hue, with the previous Space Grey ditched completely. I’ve got the Space Black here, and this is the first time the base MacBook Pro has had this colour. It’s a nice colour too – even if it’s more dark grey than pure black. My first MacBook was the iconic black polycarbonate model from the 2000s and this certainly has shades of that.
It is prone to smudges though, especially if you’re moving it around a lot. A cloth to wipe it down is essential if smudges bother you. The Silver is the more classic MacBook look and is much better at hiding dings and staying fingerprint-free.
This entry-level model now has three USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 ports (the previous iteration had two) plus an SDXC card slot. There’s a MagSafe port for charging and an HDMI. If you’re upgrading from one of those MacBook Pros that had four USB-C ports then the choice available here will be welcome.
The healthy port selection is also a very good reason to choose this model over the cheaper MacBook Air. This has just two USB-C ports and MagSafe and ditches both HDMI and SD. As I value the variety and don’t want to be beholden to a dongle, the port selection is a huge benefit.
The MacBook Pro M4 remains one the best laptops when it comes to keyboard and trackpad quality and performance. The large glass trackpad has haptic responses rather than physically moving, so it can be pressed anywhere. The amount of vibration can be tweaked to personal preference.
Apple went back to basics on the MacBook Pro keyboard a few years ago, and this will be another notable upgrade if you’re coming from any machine sold between 2015 and 2019 with the maligned flat butterfly design. Here, the keys are large, well-spaced and have enough travel to make for a pleasing typing experience.
There’s a full-sized row of function keys on the top and a good backlight for when light is poor. I also really like how the keyboard remains black – offering a nice contrast that’s easier on the eyes.
You’ll certainly be able to find smaller, lighter laptops on the market.This isn’t a heavy laptop to carry about. Although as the shell is designed for models running far more powerful components you will still have to put up with that extra bulk. For example, the MacBook Pro M4 is 310g heavier than the current MacBook Air M3, and 0.42 cm taller.
Display
- Nano-texture option has a lovely finish
- Exceedingly bright in daily use
- No sign of OLED yet
This version of the MacBook Pro only comes with a single screen option: 14-inches. If a bigger screen is important, there’s the MacBook Air 15-inch or the 16-inch Pro with either the Pro or Max chips. I’d love to see a 16-inch Pro with the cheaper chip at some point.
The good news is that even the base MacBook Pro M4 has all the high-end screen specs available on the pricier models. The big new feature this year is an optional nano-texture display. Apple has offered this screen type on the iPad Pro and Studio Display before, and it’s there to reduce glare and reflections in particularly bright places.
I work in a very bright room and the difference between the default screen and the nano-texture alternative is huge. The reduction in glare gives me the freedom to work comfortably in more environments and I find the matte finish easier to look at for longer periods, especially when I am reading – it feels more like paper, rather than a screen.
Now, there are downsides. Contrast isn’t as good and videos and images look very slightly washed out as a result. The difference is minimal though, and the only misgiving I have towards choosing the nano-texture option is the £150/$150 price difference.
The rest of the screen specs are the same as the few previous MacBook Pro models. There’s ProMotion for adjusting the refresh rate, pushing it up to 120Hz, and this gives everything a smoother finish and is great for games running at higher frame rates.
Rumours of OLED panels arriving on the MacBook line haven’t yet turned into anything more than internet chatter. This laptop uses the same Mini LED panel as the prior generation. It’s a great screen, that is now able to hit up to 900 nits of SDR brightness in outdoor conditions. This is up from around 500 nits. There are apps available that can push the last-gen modes up to that level, but here it’s available by default. If you’re editing or watching content then HDR video brightness levels can hit 1600 nits
Compared to the MacBook Air M3, the screen on the MacBook Pro M4 is a step up in just every possible way. It’s slightly roomier, packs a higher-resolution, 120Hz and comes with a superior panel. It’s probably worth paying the premium in price for the better display alone.
Performance
- The M4 is a very capable chip
- No more 8GB memory option
- Base 512GB of storage
There are three distinct versions of the MacBook Pro. They range in price drastically from £1599/$1599 to around £7349/$7500 depending on chip, SSD and memory options.
I’m looking at the low-end model here. It has an M4 chip comprised of a 10-core GPU, 10-core CPU, 16-core neural engine for AI tasks. There’s also 16GB of unified memory. The 8GB memory option is no longer available, which is great.
If you’re after more grunt for professional tasks, the M4 Pro model (starting at £1999) ups the memory to 24GB and comes with a 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU. Above that is the M4 Max variant (from £3199/$3199) which starts with 36GB memory, 14-core CPU, 32-core GPU and a 1TB SSD.
While the M4 model has some customisation options, they are far more limited than those of the M4 Pro/Max. The M4 model supports memory up to 32GB, while the M4 Max can be specced up to 128GB. The M4 Max can also take an 8TB SSD, whereas the M4 maxes out at 2TB.
Any customisations need to be made at the time of purchase as they can’t be done afterwards. And when you do start making upgrades, the M4 creeps up to a price not far off the M4 Pro. Move to 24GB memory and the price is less than £200/$200 cheaper – at that point, I’d just spend the extra cash to go up a model. This machine is best in its default spec, with the nano display if the benefits of that appeal.
There are many options here, and it comes back to my feeling that Apple’s MacBook Pro line is quite confusing. This machine I have here has the same chip as the Mac Mini M4, and while it’s supremely capable for lots of tasks, I wouldn’t call it Pro in the same way the M4 Pro and M4 Max are.
The MacBook Pro M4 is a great choice for someone who needs a little bit of luxury in the screen, design and port departments. Though maybe not so much in the performance stakes. That said, the MacBook Pro M4 is a seriously capable machine for everyday tasks, even in its base state.
In our usual suite of benchmarking tests, the MacBook Pro M4 pips machines running the M3 – although the results are only marginally higher. In both Geekbench 6 and CineBench R23 (two reliable general tests) there are slight gains in performance, more in the multi-core tests.
Where the bigger changes and improvements are felt is when the results are compared to older M-series chips, even the once flagship models from just a few years ago. The M4 comes out on top in Geekbench 6 single core tests, and again in Cinebench R23. Although, multi core workflows are still much better on the Pro and Max systems – where the M2 Ultra and M3 Max still clean up. If you’re really going to be pushing this machine, you’re still better off with either a Pro or Max chip, or looking at an older high-end M-series.
You can see the full breakdown of scores in the graph, and further results in the Test Data box at the bottom of the page.
MacBooks have never been gaming beasts. The hardware hasn’t been designed for it, and the games weren’t available. Things have been changing somewhat and Apple is focusing more on it, with the M-series boasting good graphics performance. There are more games available on the App Store too, with the fantastic Control coming soon.
This M4 MacBook Pro can run Shadow of the Tomb Rader and Rise of the Tomb Raider at a stable 30fps and both are perfectly playable.
There is a fan inside the MacBook Pro M4 although it’s very rarely heard. In my tests, the fan only made itself known on a few occasions. Most of those, notably benchmarking tests, are not something anyone is going to run every day. I couldn’t get the fans to spin even with over 100 tabs open in Chrome, playing a couple of test games and exporting 4K video from Final Cut.
Housed in the notch at the top of the display is a 12MP webcam. This is a very good webcam for a laptop, producing good skin tones and plenty of detail. I still prefer an external webcam for a wider shot – the one here is very punched into the face – but for most casual situations the camera is great. It also has a nifty Desk View trick that shows both your face and what’s on your desk in a single view (handy for basic tutorials).
When the M1 first arrived, app compatibility was an issue. While Apple’s translation layer ensured many apps designed for Intel ran fine on Apple Silicon, the best experience came from native services designed for M-series. With the MacBook Pro M4, I haven’t had issues with apps not functioning as they should. There are also many more native apps built for the chip, including Office, Creative Cloud and lots of games.
Finally, the speakers on the MacBook Pro M4 deserve some praise. The audio is loud and surprisingly immersive for a small machine. The microphones are crisp and clear, too.
Battery Life
- Really strong endurance
- 70w charger included
- Any of the USB-C ports can charge
The MacBook Pro M4 has very good battery life, but how impressive it feels will depend on what sort of machine you’re coming from. Upgrading from any of the previous standard M-series chips? Yes, there’s a little more endurance here – a few hours more video playback and a little more work per day.
The big upgrades will be felt when coming from an Intel Mac, something I’m sure a lot of people will be doing as we’re now reaching the stage where M-series chips have matured and even the final Intel-based MacBooks are hitting the end of life.
Apple claims the MacBook Pro M4 can last for 16 hours of web browsing and 24 hours of video playback. I put these claims to the test and my results just about matched up. A looped video, downloaded into the Apple TV app, ran for just shy of 23 hours – that’s a welcome jump over the MacBook Air M3.
These numbers are only really useful for Apple, as there aren’t many situations where you’d be streaming downloaded video for that long or solely using the web browsing. In real-world tests, the MacBook Pro M4 can still last. I am comfortable forgetting my charger if I am heading to the office, and 12 hours of battery life with multiple apps running is more than doable.
Included is a 70w brick with a USB-C to MagSafe cable for charging. However, to benefit from faster charging you’ll need to get the 96w plug instead. Any of the USB-C ports can be used for charging too.
Should you buy it?
You should buy if you value an excellent screen and ports
If you’re deciding between this and an Air, the Pro M4 makes sense for someone who really appreciates a quality display with HDR skills, and a needs quick access to SD and HDMI.
You should look at the M4 Pro/Max versions if performance is key
This is a Pro in name, but closer to the M3 Air in terms of performance. Go for the M4 Pro/Max versions if strong multi core performance is key.
Final Thoughts
Apple’s MacBook Pro line might be a little confusing, but this is the best base model to arrive in the series in a long time. I’d even go as far as saying it is the overall best MacBook available right now for many people – combining a fantastic screen, good port selection, impressive battery life and a price that should make many think twice about simply going for the MacBook Air.
For those true ‘professionals’ who want the beefiest CPU and GPU plus extended memory and SSD choices the M4 Max and M4 Pro are the MacBook Pro options to plump for.
The M4 Pro option might also be a better choice if you plan on upping the memory/storage as once those costs are factored in, the prices creep up to the £1999/$1999 M4 Pro version which has 24GB of memory as standard.
If you just want great everyday performance, plus a top-tier screen then this entry-level model is hard to resist – and I like it even more with the nano-texture option too. Is it the best laptop? There are thinner and lighter machines, like the MacBook Air M3, but when everything is considered it’s the MacBook Pro M4 that ticks just about all the boxes.
Trusted Score
How we test
Every laptop we review goes through a series of uniform checks designed to gauge key things including build quality, performance, screen quality and battery life.
These include formal synthetic benchmarks and scripted tests, plus a series of real-world checks, such as how well it runs popular apps.
- Tested for two months
- Performance judged on benchmark and real world data
FAQs
There is a charger in the MacBook Pro box. It’s a 70w brick with a USB-C to MagSafe cable. However, to benefit from faster charging you’ll need to get the 96w plug instead.
Test Data
| Review Template |
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Full Specs
| Apple MacBook Pro M4 Review | |
|---|---|
| CPU | Apple M4 |
| Manufacturer | Apple |
| Screen Size | 14.2 inches |
| Storage Capacity | 512GB, 1TB, 2TB |
| Front Camera | 12MP |
| Battery | 72.4 Whr |
| Battery Hours | 24 00 |
| Size (Dimensions) | 31.26 x 22.12 x 1.55 CM |
| Weight | 1.55 KG |
| Operating System | MacOS Sonoma |
| Release Date | 2024 |
| First Reviewed Date | 06/02/2025 |
| Resolution | 3024 x 1964 |
| HDR | No |
| Refresh Rate | 120 Hz |
| Ports | Thunderbolt 4 x 3, MagSafe, HDMI and SD |
| GPU | Apple M4 |
| RAM | 16GB, 32GB |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Colours | Space Black, Silver |
| Display Technology | Mini LED |
| Screen Technology | IPS |
| Touch Screen | No |
| Convertible? | No |