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Apple M4 Max: everything we know

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The Apple M4 Max chip is official now that Apple has announced the new Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch and Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch.

The powerful new chip is the flagship of the current Apple M4 chip lineup, following on the heels of yesterday’s Apple M4 Pro announcement. The new Apple M4 Max promises a CPU and GPU core-count boost for those who need maximum performance for their MacBook Pro for whatever your creative project needs.

Since the Apple M4 Max is very much the mainstream enthusiast option for Apple fans out there, this might not be the most popular option for those looking to get a new MacBook Pro, especially as it’ll be the most expensive.

But, enthusiasts aren’t known for fretting about price tags when it comes to getting the most performance out of the latest MacBook models, so for those who want the very best, here’s everything we know about the new Apple M4 Max.

Apple M4 Max chip: Cut to the chase

  • What is it? The follow-up to Apple’s M3 Max chip
  • When is it available? Available with select Mac products, shipping November 8, 2024
  • What does it cost? It won’t sell on its own, but will come installed on the new Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch models.

Apple M4 Max chip: Release date

MacBook Pro M4

(Image credit: Apple)

The Apple M4 Max chip won’t sell on its own, but will instead come as an optional upgrade for the new MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch models announced alongside the new M4 Max chip.

While you can pre-order the new MacBook Pro models with Apple M4 Max now, deliveries don’t start until November 8th, the same day you’ll be able to pick up the new laptop models in stores.

Apple M4 Max chip: Price

The Apple M4 Max chip comes preinstalled on new MacBook Pro models, so the price will depend on the laptop configuration you choose.

Apple M4 Max chip: Specs & performance

The new Apple M4 Max has some noticeable improvements over last year’s Apple M3 Max, at least on paper.

The processor core speeds are faster on the Apple M4 Max compared to the previous M3 Max, and it will feature up to twice the ray-tracing performance as its predecessor.

The second-generation 3nm architecture will also feature support for Thunderbolt 5 for the first time, as well as 75% improved memory bandwidth, which will be essential for Apple Intelligence to effectively run on the platform.

Speaking of Apple Intelligence, the M4 Max’s 16-core neural engine (Apple’s version of an NPU), will get up to 38 TOPS, compared to the M3 Max’s 18 TOPS. This should greatly accelerate AI workloads, which is undoubtedly something that M4 Max MacBook Pro users will be very interested in over the next year or two as new AI tools for professional work roll out.

Of course, all of this remains to be seen until we get our hands on some Apple hardware with the new M4 Max chip in it, but expectations are high that Apple keeps itself in the pole position when it comes to the best laptops thanks to this latest high-end silicon.

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