My 2-Month Experience Using the MacBook Pro M4 for Coding as a Software Engineer

Introduction-MacBook Pro M4 For Coding

The latest Pro series by apple – MacBook Pro M4 has made a quiet splash in the market this time by launching with enhanced performance, sleek designs, great upgrade and impressive battery life. I have used this MacBook Pro M4 for coding, almost two months as my daily driver or you can say primary device.

I’m very much excited to share my personal insights on its performance, usability, how it performs as compared to the M1 Pro and even M2 Max chipset that my friend owns.

This review is not just a basic review, but it will walk you through how my daily typical day looks like as a software engineer using MacBook Pro M4 for coding, I’m also going to highlight some various aspects like how it performs under heavy loads, and most important the battery life that we get to see on a single charge.

MacBook Pro Specs – 14” vs 16” (Base Variant)

Specs	14″ Variant	16″ Variant
Display	14.2”	16.2”
CPU	M4 chip with 10-core CPU	M4 Pro chip with 14-core CPU
GPU	10-core GPU	20-core GPU
Neural Engine	16-core	16-core
RAM	16GB Unified RAM	24GB Unified RAM
SSD	512GB	512 GB
Power Brick	70W USB-C Power Adapter	140W USB-C Power Adapter
Ports	Thunderbolt 4 ports (3), HDMI, SDXC Card Slow, Headphone Jack and MagSage 3 port	Thunderbolt 4 ports (3), HDMI, SDXC Card Slow, Headphone Jack and MagSage 3 port
Other	Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID	Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID

Performance Overview

Comparing The M4 Chipset with M1 And M2 Chipset

When I compared the MacBook Pro M4 with other MacBook Pro’s powered by M1 and M2 chipset, it was clearly visible that there was a huge leap in terms of performance enhancement, especially when compared to the M1 Pro and the M2 Max powered MacBook Pro’s.

And I know you would also love to see various performance metrics that are critical for software developers like the single-core performance and the multi-core performance.

• Single-core Performance: Running benchmarks on the MacBook Pro M4 showed me a significant improvement. And you can easily judge with the metrics that it packs 30% more power as compared to the M2 Max chipset and 30% faster than the M1 Pro. Many users ignore the single-core performance but it’s crucial for software developers when it comes to tasks like compiling codes where single threaded performance matters a lot.
• Multi-core Performance: When we are working on multicore tasks like video editing in DaVinci Video editor, I observed that the MacBook Pro M4 maintains competitive rendering times by locking approximately around 60 FPS while the M1 pros was giving an output of maximum 45 FPS.

Comparing the single-core performance and multi-core performance we can directly judge that how powerful the M4 chipset’s architecture is. The M4 powered MacBook Pro can easily handle complex operations like compiling heavy codes, editing 4K quality long videos and many more.

 And the plus point of this MacBook Pro M4 is that it consumes less battery as compared to the previous models MacBook Pro which indirectly gives better battery life.

How Great Is MacBook Pro M4’s Battery?

As compared to the previous generations of MacBook’s this time the MacBook Pro M4’s battery life is the most appreciated feature. After using this device heavily for most of the time on daily basis, here are the important key metrics in terms of battery that I observed:

• When I was operating this device at full brightness, I noticed a significant battery drop of around 28% after using this device for nearly two hours even with light uses like just web browsing which means that battery percentage can significantly drop faster if you use this device on full brightness.
• However, I also noticed that during intensive works like editing 4K videos the battery depletion rate was very much minimal, and it continues to drop only 1% despite how intensive work you are doing.
• Even after using this device heavily for many things, I am happy to report that my battery health remains at 100% till date of writing this article.

This battery metrics of MacBook Pro M4 makes this device an ideal choice by professionals who constantly move from one place to another for their work, for meeting or users like to who loves to work from cafe most of the time. Which performs excellent in terms of battery life and can last easily around 18 to 20 hours on a single charge.

Let’s Talk About Performance: M4 Vs M2 Max Vs M1 Pro

MacBook Pro M4 comes in two screen sizes the 14-inch and the 16-inch display size. The one I have is the base variant of the 14-inch model so let’s discuss about the usability of the 14-inch model.

Whenever we discuss about laptops usability the size matters a lot I mean the display size. I replace my 16-inch M1 pro with the latest 14- inch M4 and the transition was just seamless.

• Portability: Compared to the 16-inch M1 Pro model, the 14-inch MacBook Pro was lighter and compact enough to fit in any bag which makes a great option for most of the peoples who keeps on traveling. The weight of the 16-inch MBP was quite noticeable especially when I was moving my device from one place to another on daily basis.
• Screen Quality: This time the MacBook Pro M4 has an enhanced brightness, and a superior display as compared to the previous models. I observed that the displays are brighter as compared to its predecessor, indirectly benefited me a lot during daylights or outdoor uses. The contrast and the color accuracy are now calibrated to enhance the viewing experience.

The design looks good and stunning, but I also noticed that a 14-inch model attracts fingerprints more than my friends MacBook Pro powered by M2 Max. However, the performance that comes with the M4 chipset compensates everything.

Why I Choose The 14-Inch Model and I Don’t Regret About It

I switched from 16-inch M1 Pro, and honestly let me tell you my shoulder does thanks me every day

• The 14-inch model is compact and portable, it’s lighter and as it doesn’t feel like a compromise either.
• The display of the MacBook Pro M4 is bright enough that I can even work near the windows or even in outdoors. The colors look popped, contrast is sharp, and my coding and video editing experience looks better than ever.

Optimizing My MacBook Pro M4

There are various settings that we can tweak to enhance the productivity in the macOS and some of the favorite adjustment that I follow most of the time includes:

• Maximizing screen space: I enable this option to allow more space on macOS. I can fit more contents on the screen which is crucial for coding and multitasking.
• Keyboard shortcuts: We can set up various types of keyboard shortcuts based on our requirement. I basically used to add keyboard shortcuts to change the font sizes in visual studio code, which helps me to improve my workflow as well as productivity.
• No Tune app installation: I don’t like unnecessary app launches during my workflows, so I used to install No Tunes application which prevents them and ensures I focus on the important task.

Work And Workflow

As a software developer, I used to work with a variety of apps on daily basis. The powerful performance that I experienced with docker containers as well as web development tools I can easily judge how powerful the latest MacBook Pro with M4 chipset is going to be.

As compared to MacBook Air M4 the Pro series comes with a fan-based architecture for active cooling and because of this the machine can handle resource intensive applications without any issues and provide you all time efficiency without any throttling issue or warming the surface of the MacBook Pro, it does all the powerful heavy-duty work without any lags and shutters.

And that’s what MacBook Pros are known for.

MacBook Pro M4 Benchmark

Here is the benchmark score of the latest MacBook Pro M4 base variant that comes with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU.

CPU Benchmark Scores

Single-Core Score	3750
Multi-Core Score	14703

GPU Benchmark Scores

OpenCL GPU Score	37812
Metal GPU Scoe	57498

Thermal Performance and Fan Noise

Based on my personal experience when using MacBook Pro M4 for coding, the fan-based active cooling system was doing well with 99% of the time with heavy usage. The Pro can handle heavy loads and applications without any issue for longer duration, without compromising the quality of the performance.

You can use your MacBook Pro M4 even in quite room, since the fans makes almost negligible noise and most of the time you wont even find your fan would be running due to the thermal mechanism that Apple uses to cool down your device.

Who Should Buy the MacBook Pro M4?

MacBook Pro M4 as well as other Pro series are designed to cater pro users who rely on heavy applications and tends to pull the performance to the full potential.

Developers

 If you’re into development and looking to upgrade to the latest MacBook Pro M4 for coding – then there are two options available in the market the Air as well as the Pro series. If you’re into light-weight to moderate level of development than you can go with the MacBook Air M4 which provides decent performance.

But if you are into heavy-duty development and works on heavy development and deployment all day long then the MacBook Pro M4 can be a better option because the Air somewhere throttles after a using it for specific duration due to fanless design (It only happens with heavy loads under normal work the Air performs good).

Video Editors

The MacBook Pro is always the first choice of video editors working with high resolution video footages and lots of layers and effects. The MacBook Air M4 can handle 4K video editing but not to the extreme level compared to the MacBook Pro M4 again due to the throttling issue. While 1080p video editing works seamlessly with MacBook Air M4

However the MacBook Pro M4 with upgrades to higher CPU and GPU core can provide you much better experience in terms of editing 4k or even 8K video and that also for a longer session without any lags or shutters.

Students

The MacBook Pro M4 is a power packed machine, and may be suitable for some students who work on heavy applications while the MacBook Air powered with the same M4 chipset can cater to most of the students without any issue and saving few dollars.

Casual Users

If you wish to upgrade your laptop only for entertainment and basic use and don’t rely on any professional applications than the MacBook Air M4 can be a great option for casual users and could fulful all your needs.

Conclusion

After using these powerful packed MacBook Pro M4 for coding, nearly two months, I can confidently say that this machine is designed for powerful users who love performance, portability and productivity. M4 chipset that comes with enhanced battery life and more processing capabilities I find myself more productive and effective in all my coding related daily task.

So, if you are planning to buy or upgrade to MacBook Pro M4 for coding, then it can be the best decision ever because this machine is engineered to meet the demands of the modern heavy duty software engineers and content creators.

If you are searching for a powerful laptop that caters both performance and portability, then the MacBook Pro M4 undoubtedly is worth your investment.

Whether you want to use your MacBook Pro M4 for coding, video editing sound production or anything this device is going to serve all heavy-duty users

FAQ’s – MacBook Pro M4 For Coding