Apple has a Mac week
An M4 Upgrade of the Apple Mac Pro Xseries: Announcement, Accessories, and a Preliminary Appraisal
Apple appears to have wrapped up its week of Mac announcements — and it had a lot to share. Along with updating several devices across its Mac lineup with a more powerful M4 chip, Apple showed off some revamped accessories, too.
Apple will be giving its MacBook Pro a huge upgrade along with new options that feature a standard M4 chip, an M4 Pro, and its highest performing M4 Max processor. The same display option as the iMac is available in both 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The entry level model starts with 16 gigabytes of RAM.
Remember when Apple said that the Apple Watch Series 10 had an all-new design, and it still looked the same as the other Apple Watches? The small changes made the Series 10 more comfortable and nicer to wear, but the new design is a bit far off. That’s kind of like the Mac Mini. It has not received a major redesign since 2010.
The M4 iMac and M4 Pro Mac Mini are both 6-inch taller than a metallic cube with a 10-core processor
The already small desktop computer is now even smaller—coming in at 5 x 5 inches. It’s a little taller and has better air flow thanks to the vents on its base. For all intents and purposes, it’s still a metallic cube.
Apple has finally added ports to the front, making them easier to access. Two USB-C ports support the USB 3.0, and there’s a 3.5-mm headphone jack. On the back, the M4-powered Mac Mini includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports while the M4 Pro version has three Thunderbolt 5 USB-C ports (another first—Thunderbolt 5 is the latest standard that supports up to 80 Gbps data transfer speeds and it’s only available in very few devices at the moment). Both models have a port for the power cable and an option of connecting an external display with an Ethernet connection. The Apple model does not have the usb-a ports.
There’s a 10-core M4 chip in the new iMac, which comes with up to a 10-coreProcessor and a 10-coreGPU. It comes with a 24-inch display with an optional “nano-texture glass” to help reduce glare, along with a base 16GB of RAM.
The 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro costs $1,599, while the 16-inch costs $2,499. The laptops are available in space black and silver finishes.
The MacBook Air didn’t get a full update this time around, but Apple is increasing the base amount of ram that comes with the M2 and M3-equipped versions of the laptops, which may be for Apple Intelligence.
John Ternus: Mac Hardware and Intelligence Launches Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard, and Magnetic Keyboard
The Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and the Magic Keyboard are now supported by Apple’s Mac accessories. While this is great and all, Apple still hasn’t changed the location of the charging port on the Magic Mouse, leaving it on the underside of the device.
Apple highlighted the rollout of Apple Intelligence during each of its announcements. The launch introduces AI-powered writing tools and a redesigned Siri on the Mac, iPhone, and iPad, but Apple plans to add other features, like an integration with ChatGPT, in December. You can sign up once your device is updated, but there’s still a waitlist to access the features.
Like the iMac and Mac Mini videos, the new MacBook Pro video is available to watch on Apple’s website by clicking the “watch the announcement” link on the product page or over on the company’s YouTube channel. John Ternus is the Apple SVP of engineering who is doing the hardware reveal honors. He reckons it has pro features, and Apple Intelligence, that are more powerful than ever before. Then he opens his new notebook, and the wind blows his hair back.
