Apple last week replaced the M3 Max MacBook Pro with the new M4 Max MacBook Pro, and we picked up one of the new high-end MacBook Pro machines to see how it compares to the prior model with both benchmarks and real-world tests.
We tested an M4 Max with a 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, and 48GB RAM against an M3 Max MacBook Pro with similar specs. The two machines look similar, but the display on the M4 version did get some improvements and it's a little bit brighter. There's an option for nano-texture too, which makes a big difference if you ever work outside.
Thunderbolt 5 ports instead of Thunderbolt 4 ports allow you to connect more displays (up to three 6K displays) and get faster transfer speeds. Unsurprisingly, the M4 Max performed better across the board on benchmarks, and those higher numbers did indeed translate to actual improvements in day-to-day performance.
Creating a slow motion clip from a standard clip in Topaz Labs AI took the M3 Max MacBook Pro a little over six minutes, while the M4 Max MacBook Pro was done in under five minutes.
Exporting a 6 minute 4K video with effects, plugins, LUTs, Roto AI masks, Motion VFX, and more from Final Cut Pro took the M3 Max 1:17, while the M4 Max did it in 1:07. It's only a 10 second savings, but that adds up with longer videos and over time.
Obviously you're not going to be upgrading to the M4 Max MacBook Pro if you have an M3 Max machine, but it is interesting to see the year-over-year improvements. If you have something like an M1 Pro or an M1 Max and do a lot of CPU/GPU heavy tasks, upgrading to the M4 Max could end up saving you a good amount of time.
Let us know what you think of the M4 Max MacBook Pro's performance in the comments below.
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