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Liquid Retina Display: Which Size Is Best?
The most critical consideration between the two MacBook Pro models is how big of a laptop you’re looking for. The 14-incher measures 0.61 by 12.3 by 8.7 inches and weighs 3.4 pounds. It misses our 3-pound cutoff for how we define an ultraportable—think of it more as a lightweight mobile workstation—but it’s not a burden in your briefcase or backpack.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro, meanwhile, measures 0.66 by 14 by 9.8 inches and weighs 4.7 pounds—a reasonable weight and size penalty to pay if you can use the additional screen real estate. How much extra screen real estate? We’re talking about a 3,456-by-2,234-pixel mini LED Liquid Retina XDR panel that achieves almost 4K resolution, compared with a 14.2-inch display with a 3,024-by-1,964-pixel resolution.
(Credit: Joe Osborne)
Both have the same pixel density of 254 pixels per inch, and all of their other specs are identical, too: up to 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness (Apple calls this “XDR” brightness), up to 1,000 nits of SDR brightness, and variable refresh rates up to 120Hz. So, both screen sizes provide essentially equivalent quality, leaving the tiebreaker down to whether you want and need those extra two inches. If you’re answering emails and reviewing documents in coffee shops and conference rooms all day, you can probably stick with 14 inches, while video editors and other creative pros will appreciate the extra space.
Winner: Tie
Apple M4 Silicon: How Much Processing Power Do You Need?
Apple Silicon is extraordinarily efficient, with favorable power-consumption-to-performance ratios. The M4 continues this trend, and Apple claims to have achieved the fastest CPU cores of any processor with its M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. So, depending on your workflow, one of the M4 options in either of the two MacBook Pro sizes will be more than adequate. The question is, which one?
The 14-inch model provides every option, from the 10-core entry-level M4 to the blistering 16-core M4 Max. The 10-core chip delivers more than enough computing power for everyday computing tasks. Hence, it’s the one you should probably choose if you’re interested in the 14-inch MacBook Pro for more basic creation and data-crunching tasks. That’s unless you know you can take advantage of advanced features like twin ProRes encode/decode engines or 546GBps of memory bandwidth, which are only available on the M4 Max.
(Credit: Apple)
According to our testing, the M4 handily beats not only the previous M3 chip, but also excellent Intel options like the Core Ultra 7 processors. The entry-level M4 chip is not an option on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, however. You can only configure the larger model with the M4 Pro or M4 Max. That’s an unequivocal drawback for the tiny sliver of Mac users who have minimal processing needs but can benefit from the screen space—spreadsheet editing comes to mind here.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, the additional cooling space that the 16-inch chassis provides could lead, theoretically, to better performance from the top-of-the-line M4 Max configuration compared with the identical setup in the 14-incher. While we haven’t tested the M4 Max configuration, the M4 Pro-equipped 16-inch MacBook Pro is extraordinarily powerful, according to our benchmark results. It was a full minute faster than Intel Core i9- and AMD Ryzen AI 9-powered competitors on our HandBrake test, and it cleared the x86 competition by several thousand points in the multi-core Geekbench results.
Still, given that most buyers probably will be served well enough by the vanilla M4 chip, we wish Apple sold it in both screen sizes.
Winner: MacBook Pro 14-Inch
Battery Life: Either Way, All Day and All Night
Most high-end laptops last a long time away from a power outlet these days—usually long enough to get through an entire workday, assuming you take the breaks and lunch hour that you should anyway. However, like when looking at iPhone models’ battery life, not every MacBook Pro is created equal. Apple’s estimates range from 14 hours of web surfing with the M4 Pro-equipped 14-inch model to 24 hours of video streaming with the M4 14-incher and the M4 Pro 16-incher.
In between, battery life varies greatly depending on the configuration and your tasks. Our testing shows that the M4 Pro 16-inch model can handle just under 26 hours of video playback, and that the 14-inch M4 can handle more than 28 hours. The 16-inch MacBook Pro has the largest battery, at 100 watt-hours, but the bigger screen consumes more power, so that spec doesn’t lend itself to a straightforward calculation.
Still, we can make a generalization if battery life is essential to you: To maximize your unplugged time, go with the M4-equipped 14-inch laptop.
Winner: MacBook Pro 14-Inch
Storage and Memory: Do You Need an 8TB SSD?
Regarding SSDs and RAM, the showdown between the two MacBook Pro sizes is pretty dull. Both can be configured up to a maximum of 128GB of memory and 8TB of solid-state storage. You shouldn’t necessarily configure a MacBook Pro with those maximums unless you have 8TB of stuff to store and know your compute workflows can take advantage of that astronomical memory ceiling. (The 8TB upgrade, especially, is painfully pricey.) Most buyers would do better to stick with the entry-level configuration, since prices climb quickly once you start tacking on the gigabytes and terabytes. For the 14-inch MacBook Pro, that’s 16GB of memory and 512GB of storage, while it’s 24GB of memory and 512GB of storage for the 16-inch model.
Winner: Tie
Ports: You’ll Be Suprised
Larger laptops have more room on their chassis for ports, and nearly every laptop user could use more ports than most laptop designers tend to include. The MacBook Pro does reasonably well on this front, with input and output options that vary in function and quantity. You get three USB-C ports supporting Thunderbolt speeds, an HDMI connector for video output, and an SDXC card slot. Compare that with the MacBook Air, which has only two USB-C ports and no HDMI port or SD card slot.
(Credit: Joe Osborne)
The most surprising point here is that each laptop’s port situation is identical, apart from the exact version of Thunderbolt aboard: The M4 14-inch MacBook Pro is Thunderbolt 4, while the M4 Pro and M4 Max versions of both sizes of MacBook Pro support Thunderbolt 5. That’s wonderful for people who prefer a smaller laptop, and while we’d always love to see a manufacturer cram more ports into a chassis with room to do so, it’s not like the 16-incher is lacking in any meaningful way.
Winner: Tie
Pricing: If You Have to Ask…
The MacBook Pro is not cheap; the bigger you go, the more expensive it gets. Starting prices are $1,599 for the 14-incher and $2,499 for the 16-incher. And if you want to know how much a tricked-out M4 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro with 8TB of storage is, it’s best to look it up for yourself and not faint before you’ve finished reading this story. We’re not even going to bother declaring a winner here, but it’s especially painful that if you just want the bigger 16-inch screen and don’t care about anything else, you have to pay an additional $900 to get it.
Winner: Apple (ka-ching!)
Verdict: Different MacBooks for Different Folks
Screen size is far from the only differentiator between the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. If you plan to buy one, check out our in-depth reviews linked above, which will give you a better idea of how to choose the best one for your needs. In short: The winner definitely depends on your budget, your power needs, and your preference for a bigger or smaller screen.
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