Apple’s recently launched MacBook Pro with the new M4 chips apparently come with a previously unannounced display upgrade. According to Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants, the M4 MacBook Pro models have a quantum dot (QD) film in their display, replacing the red KSF phosphor film used in previous versions.
This upgraded quantum dot screen delivers better colour accuracy and smoother motion while also being cadmium-free, a key factor in Apple’s decision to adopt the technology. Moreover, the upgrade applies across all new MacBook Pro models, including those with and without the nano-texture finish. While these displays are still LCD at their core and not on par with QD-OLED screens, the QD film does mark a subtle but meaningful improvement.
Both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros retain their Liquid Retina XDR mini-LED displays but now feature an option for a nano-texture finish to reduce glare. Apple has also increased the SDR brightness to 1,000 nits. All in all, it seems the 2024 models are packing a lot more upgrades compared to their predecessor, and because Apple hasn’t bumped up the prices—at least at the base level—the value proposition seems up a notch in this generation.
Under the hood, the base 14-inch MacBook Pro comes with the M4 chip, offering a 10-core CPU and GPU. Apple claims it is up to 1.8x faster than the previous 13-inch M1 model. It includes three Thunderbolt 4 ports for enhanced connectivity.
The M4 Pro chip, available on higher end models, boosts the CPU to 14 cores and the GPU to 20 cores, delivering 3x the speed of the M1 Pro. This chip also supports 75 percent more memory bandwidth.
At the top of the range, the M4 Max chip has 16 CPU cores and up to 40 GPU cores, making it a powerhouse for professional workloads. It supports up to 128GB of unified memory and offers Thunderbolt 5 ports, providing lightning-fast data transfer speeds of up to 120 Gb/s.
The new MacBook Pros also feature upgraded HDMI ports supporting 8K resolution, Wi-Fi 6E, and improved battery life, now up to 24 hours. The M4 MacBook Pro starts at Rs 1,69,900 in India.
