Apple M4 Processor Series

Understanding the Apple M4 Series processors

Apple M4
Apple announced the M4 chip on May 7, 2024, along with the new seventh-generation iPad Pro models. The M4 is based on the N3E process rather than the N3B process used by the M3, and contains 28 billion transistors. It has three or four performance cores, six efficiency cores and ten GPU cores. Apple claims the M4 has up to 1.5x faster CPU performance compared to the M2.

Apple M4 Pro
The M4 Pro is a more powerful version of the M4, with eight or ten performance cores, four efficiency cores, 16 to 20 GPU cores, 16 Neural Engine cores, and up to 64 GB unified RAM with 273 GB/s memory bandwidth. It is used in the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro as well as the Mac Mini. Apple claims the CPU performance is 1.9x faster than the M1 Pro and the GPU is 2x faster than the M1 Pro.

Apple M4 Max
The M4 Max is a larger version of the M4 Pro, with ten or twelve performance cores, four efficiency cores, 32 to 40 GPU cores, 16 Neural Engine cores, and up to 128 GB unified RAM with up to 546 GB/s memory bandwidth. It is used in the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro. Apple claims the CPU performance is 2.2x faster than the M1 Max and the GPU is 1.9x faster than the M1 Max.

Apple M4 Ultra (Unannounced)

Wikipedia 

The M4 Series is built on the N3E 3nm process.

Beyond the N3E (M4 Series) and N3P (M5 Series), TSMC who manufactures these chips for Apple, is also working on 2nm chips. Additionally, TSMC is also working on 1.6nm or 16 angstrom (angstroms are 10 times smaller than nanometer) or A16 chips, expected as soon as 2027. Even farther out, there are plans for 1nm or 10 angstrom or A10 chips.

We must be getting closer to the limit of how far we can shrink these chips. A human hair is 80,000-100,000 nanometers wide. A single gold atom is about a third of a nanometer, so you would think a 1nm process must be awfully close to the limit.

The M4 Ultra

I really doubt there will ever be an M4 Ultra. I fully expect the next Max/Ultra upgrade to be a matched pair of the M5 Max and the M5 Ultra in 2026. It was really weird for Apple to pair the M4 Max and the M3 Ultra, but I do not think they will do it again. Time will tell. I’ve been wrong before, ha!

Yehuda’s Apple M4 Processor Series YouTube Channel

The brilliance of Apple silicon is the components of each one are the same. There are just more or less of them in each type.

Performance of the various M4 processors, just like their predecessors really will boil down to the base M4 processor performance.

** If you are browsing this page from a phone, you may want to view the following chart in landscape mode.

Component	M4	M4 Pro	M4 Max
Efficiency CPU Cores	4 or 6	4	4
Efficiency Clock	2.59GHz	2.59GHz	2.59GHz
Performance CPU Cores	3 or 4	8 or 10	10 or 12
Performance Clock	4.52GHz	4.52GHz	4.52GHz
Neural Engine Cores	16	16	16
GPU Cores options	8 or 10	16 or 20	32 or 40
Unified Memory options	16GB 24GB 32GB	24GB 48GB 64GB	36GB 48GB 64GB 128GB
Memory Bandwidth	120GB/s	273GB/s	410GB/s or 546GB/s
Video Decode Engines	1	1	1
Video Encode Engines	1	1	2
ProRes Encode-Decode Engines	1	1	2

Assuming a 2 year processor life cycle, before the end of 2026 the M4 Series should be history and fully replaced by the Apple M5 Processor Series in newly released products.

CPU & GPU Performance Benchmarks

Buying an Apple M4 Series computer

Any Apple M4 Series computer will be an incredible experience compared to music and video production on Intel hardware. However it is highly recommended to get at least 16GB of memory (or more) and 512GB storage (or more) if you select an M4 Series system.

There are 8 basic form factors of Apple macOS systems with M4 Series processors, 5 laptops and 3 desktops.

• 13″ MacBook Air M4
• 15″ MacBook Air M4
• 14″ MacBook Pro M4
• 14″ MacBook Pro M4 Pro & M4 Max
• 16″ MacBook Pro M4 Pro & M4 Max
• 24″ iMac M4
• Mac mini M4 & M4 Pro
• Mac Studio M4 Max

Thanks!
-Yehuda

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