Who Is This For?
The MacBook Pro 16 M4 Pro is the creator’s workhorse:
- Video editors — Final Cut Pro and DaVinci Resolve fly on the M4 Pro’s media engines
- Musicians and audio producers — Logic Pro runs hundreds of tracks with zero latency
- Developers — Xcode, Docker, and multi-language dev environments run simultaneously without throttling
- Photographers — the XDR display and Lightroom performance are outstanding
If you need Windows or CUDA-specific GPU compute, this isn’t for you. If you live in the Apple ecosystem, nothing else comes close.
Performance
The M4 Pro’s 14 CPU cores (10 performance + 4 efficiency) and 20 GPU cores deliver desktop-class performance in a laptop:
| Workload | MacBook Pro 16 M4 Pro | Dell XPS 16 (RTX 4070) |
|---|---|---|
| Final Cut Pro 4K export (10 min) | 4m 10s | N/A (macOS only) |
| DaVinci Resolve 4K H.265 export | 5m 30s | 8m 30s |
| Lightroom Classic (100 RAW export) | 1m 45s | 2m 45s |
| Xcode build (large Swift project) | 2m 15s | N/A (macOS only) |
The unified memory architecture means the GPU has direct access to all 24 GB of RAM — no separate VRAM bottleneck.
Display
The 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is the best panel on any laptop:
- 3456x2234 resolution (254 ppi)
- 1000 nits sustained, 1600 nits peak HDR
- 120Hz ProMotion adaptive refresh
- P3 wide color gamut
It makes the Dell XPS 16’s OLED look dim in HDR content, though the XPS has better blacks.
Battery Life
This is where the M4 Pro is untouchable. Apple’s efficiency advantage delivers:
- 18-20 hours of video playback
- 14-16 hours of web browsing
- 10-12 hours of sustained creative work (video editing, coding)
No Windows laptop comes close.
The Bottom Line
If you’re in the Apple ecosystem and do creative work, the MacBook Pro 16 M4 Pro is the obvious choice. The performance-per-watt, display, and battery life have no equal. The 512 GB base storage is the one real complaint — budget for the 1 TB upgrade.