My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4

Posted by secure 5 days ago

My Impressions of the MacBook Pro M4(michael.stapelberg.ch)

251 points | 397 commentspage 3

proee 5 days ago|

I was on the fence for same reason - should I get the nano display? I opted for the 15" MBA, and the display has been great. Way better than my 2019 Macbook Pro. I've had zero issues with glare, but I'm also in an office environment during the day and use it at night when home.

weinzierl 5 days ago||

"My ideal MacBook would probably be a MacBook Air, but with the nano-texture display! :)"

Mine as well. What is the likelihood this will happen?

I have a hunch it will not and they will either scrap the nano texture completely or keep it as differentiator for the Pro line, but I am curious what others think.

raggi 5 days ago||

Mine too, and I bought an air in the last generation and I barely use it because I thought the 60hz display would be ok, but I've been living with 120's everywhere for long enough the 60hz is actually horrible to use now. First world problems for sure, but it's enough that I literally don't use the machine.

oofbey 5 days ago||

I’ve used MBP for many many years, but recently bought an MB Air. I slightly miss the extra ports. I love how much lighter it is. I never notice a speed difference. I’m always ssh’d into a Linux box if crunching any real data, and for UI stuff the CPU doesn’t need a fan at all. Definitely gonna stick with MB Air.

msephton 5 days ago||

I also went for the fantastic nano texture display on my M4, after having glossy my M1. Very happy with the decision as I use the laptop in brightly lit enviroments so appreciate fewer reflections. Going back to a glossy display is a shock.

mrcwinn 5 days ago||

Same experience. I cannot consider any screen that does not have the nano texture coating. It is exceptional and a huge improvement. To the point that I actually prefer a tester Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra over Apple’s own iPhone display.

tobi_bsf 4 days ago||

I do not like the Apple Nano Texture. 5% of the time it really helps but 100% of the time it just reduces the picture fidelity somehow. When doing visual tasks like video editing, it is just not good.

jsomedon 5 days ago||

Is it possible to install previous macOS version on newest macbook model? I see people having terrible experience with macOS Tahoe yet I am considering purchasing a macbook..

oscu0 3 days ago||

On M5 MacBook Pro: no, simply because no builds with drivers for it exist

On all others, including the M4 MacBook Air and the M4 Pro/Max MacBook Pro currently for sale: yes. At most you'll have to make a bootable USB if it's already got Tahoe installed, you can even install in place (but some things might break, of course)

inatreecrown2 4 days ago||

no this is not possible because apple stops signing older versions soon after they release the latest.

wtallis 4 days ago||

No, that's a separate issue. You can upgrade a M4 or earlier machine from 15.6 to 15.7 even today, despite 26.0 being out for a while, so Apple's still signing a 15.x release at the same time as they're offering 26.x releases. (You likely won't be able to downgrade from 15.7 back to 15.6.)

Downgrading a M5 machine to 15.x would be impossible not because of a signing issue but because Apple never released a 15.x build that supported M5 hardware.

treetalker 5 days ago||

> (When I chose the new laptop, Apple’s M4 chips were current. By now, they have released the first devices with M5 chips.)

Does anyone have any feedback on the new M5 models?

danielbln 5 days ago||

I upgraded from M4 to M5 MBP because I broke my M4's screen and so my company ordered a replacement M5 while the M4 is being repaired. I can't really notice a difference at all. It's an absolute work horse, but so was the M4. I _did_ spring for the nano texture display this time around, and that is definitely nice (but nothing to do with the M5)

j_bum 5 days ago||

Do you think you’ll have any regrets about the nano texture display?

I was torn between nano and regular glass, but opted for the regular glass.

ymyms 5 days ago|||

I have the nano-texture display on my M4. At this point, I don't think I can go back to standard glass. For text work, I find there are no downsides. If you work more with color and detailed art, I think that's the only case where you need to put extra thought into it. Otherwise get it

danaris 5 days ago||||

I got the nanotexture on my current work M4 MBP—it doesn't completely eliminate reflected light, but it diffuses it a lot. If I were in a dark room with a light source positioned perfectly to reflect off my screen in my face, I would probably still have trouble with it, but in general I don't need to reposition the screen to avoid glare nearly as much.

I would say it's worth the extra, what, $200 or so? on the price of the M4 MBP. If it were much more expensive, I would be less sure.

LTL_FTC 5 days ago||

It’s often much more than $200 as the base models can be had for huge discounts, like $450 off retail, but the second you check the nano texture option, you lose the discount and you tack on the extra $200. So it’s often closer to $700 in some cases.

danielbln 5 days ago||||

No, I love it. I had non-matte glass screens in my MacBooks since 2012 and I didn't realize how much better it is to no longer see lights reflected in there all the time.

pcdoodle 5 days ago|||

I hate to say it but it's totally worth it. Direct sunlight incredible.

Aloisius 5 days ago||

I just upgraded from an M1 to an M5 a couple days ago.

It is rather shocking how much faster everything feels given I didn't think my old macbook pro was slow. While I expected xcode builds to be faster (and they are), I was a bit shocked when opening a new firefox tab was instantaneous since I hadn't noticed it wasn't before.

Another thing I didn't expect is that the new speakers have noticeably more bass and can get quite a bit louder.

I didn't get the nano-textured display, because having to adjust the display angle to get colors to render correctly is more annoying than having to do it for glare (I don't work in a high-glare environment).

bdcravens 5 days ago||

I may have to check out the new nano display. The old matte display was really a superior choice to the glossy screens of the past several years.

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