With the launch of the M4iPad Pro, everyone has been asking 1 important question: When can I get the M4MacBook? 

It seems a bit strange that the new silicon has been dropped only for the tablet part of Apple's business, and I can't imagine that many people are too happy about the next-generation chip that has been announced when they bought the M3 MacBook Air just a few weeks ago.

Well, fortunately, we have the answer. Panel shipments of the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are expected to begin in 2024 Q3, pointing to a launch toward the end of the year, according to display analyst Ross Young. This means that the M4, M4Pro, and M4Max will drop around the same time as last year's MacBook Pro models.

We don't expect any dramatic design changes to the MacBook Pro hardware, as it's still a pretty practical beauty (especially the one I got for my M3Pro MacBook Pro

In the M4 test with up to 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, this machine will merge the MacBook Pro M3 quite a bit).

And while Neural Engine's (NPU for engineers) capabilities are technically capped at 15 trillion operations (TOPs), less than the 45TOPs X Elite can do with the Asus Vivobook S38, it wouldn't surprise to see this number increase a bit in the Pro and Max variants. As for M4Pro and M4Max, it's not much known, but that won't stop me from making some CPU predictions based on past trends.

GPUs are a bit harder to predict because the number of cores is everywhere. The current M4 is 10 cores and has enough power to be graphically more powerful than the Xbox Series S

But if you take a look at the m3Pro, the number of cores actually decreased, but the graphics were faster, while the M3Max rose. Tell me what, I just throw some numbers out there and we'll try to articulate it together, OK?

I expect m4Max to remain the same, but M4Pro specifically bumps up for a new wave of AI tasks coming to the Mac via Apple Intelligence.

As I said, elsewhere on the device, it doesn't seem like we'll see design overhauls or new technologies. The OLED MacBook Pro is not expected to arrive until 2026, and Apple is willing to continue riding the wave of aesthetics of this aluminum unibody until it's too tired.

If I could get the FaceID in that notch (i.e. there's enough space), that would be amazing, but I'm not holding my breath. These minor upgrades mean that owners of the M3, M3Pro, or M3Max MacBook Pro don't have to worry about saving. However, if you are using M1 or M2, pay close attention to what will be announced.