Week 394 was posted by Charanjit Chana on 2025-05-14.
It's been 6 months since I my MacBook Pro was delivered, replacing my 11 year-old MacBook Pro becoming my first Apple Silicon Mac.
The one thing with annual updates and the longevity of Apple hardware is that upgrades don't feel revolutionary. I was a few years out of support for newer OSs but my old MacBook Pro struggled along fine. Even now, my son uses it as his own for homework and while the battery seems close to giving up, it's still functioning pretty well. Good enough for web-based home work apps at least.
In truth, I've spent 5 months with it and I have enjoyed it just working. It's certainly faster, apps open quickly and I have no issues with software compatibility. The fans just do not come on. Well they came on once. Briefly. But it's otherwise silent.
The screen is beautiful. I had been debating an upgrade since the introduction of the M2-series chips but I'm glad I waited as the undocumented changes to the screen seem to have eliminated any blooming. I still tend to edit photos on my iPad with an Apple Pencil but I should spend more time in the Photos app on my Mac now. It flies in comparison to my Intel MacBook.
I didn't opt for the Nano-Texture display and don't regret it. I don't work with any problematic lighting or outside so there was no benefit for me really. I do like matte finishes for screens, but I prefer how sharp the display on this new MacBook Pro looks to me, especially with the additional brightness.
The notch makes no difference to me, I know it can obscure menu items but not a problem I've run into.
Xcode's inability to quickly diagnose a problem is my only real gripe.
Post-Intel battery life is noticeably better and so is the power efficiency.
I think I could have comfortably dropped down to the regular M4 but I didn't want to run into a situation where I might have to give up half my RAM to AI. The M4 Max was a step too far for me to justify. Any of the short videos I put together export more than fast enough for me.
For me, it's a no brainer recommending the M4-series of chips. I think most people would be fine with the MacBook Air. Anyone doing more than web surfing or word processing would benefit from the MacBook Pro form factor for increased thermal ceiling. Anyone doing app or web development might want to go for the M4 Pro but it's an option rather than a necessity.
After so many years with the previous MacBook Pro design, it's nice to have something fresher in my hands. I missed the bad keyboard era and have no real complaints I can make.
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