Apple Announces New MacBook Pros, Mac mini, and iMacs

Just putting this out there for any readers of my blog that have been waiting to upgrade or buy a new Mac: this is the week to do it. Even if you were tempted by the low-end MacBook Air laptop, it even got a bump up to 16GB of RAM from 8GB for no additional charge.

I'll do a quick run down of interesting details from my perspective:

New iMac

• Updated to M4 Apple Silicon
• Better camera that supports Center Stage (it follows you if you're moving around the room) and Desk View (show what you're doing on your desk for tutorials and demos)
• Nano-texture display option for reduced glare
• Starts at $1,699CAD, but please upgrade the SSD to at least 512GB (~$200CAD)
• Pre-order now, available November 11th, 2024

I'm a sucker for the iMac format. My only wish is that they'd include some sort of port on the front or in the base so you didn't have to mess around with the screen so much to just plug in a keyboard or SD card reader.

New Mac mini

• Also updated to M4 Apple Silicon
• 16GB RAM standard
• Two USB-C ports in front!
• Starts at $799CAD, but the sweet spot is the $1,049CAD model with a 512GB SSD and 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU
• Pre-order now, available November 11th, 2024

If you've already got a decent monitor from a previous computer, the Mac mini is the one to go with. If I didn't already have a 2023 Mac Studio that is working just fine, I'd be very tempted by a mid to upper end Mac mini. They're just such nice computers that are even more "portable" in the sense that you could easily have a monitor, keyboard, and keyboard or trackpad in two or more locations and just carry the Mac mini with you and not have to sacrifice much.

New MacBook Pro

• Also updated to M4 Apple Silicon
• 14" and 16" models are available
• 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports instead of just 2
• Better display, camera, and battery life on the M4 Pro / M4 Max models
• Starting at $2,099CAD and the base model is a great machine. Personally I need to start with a 1TB SSD if I'm using a laptop for various client media I carry around so I'd look at the $2,349CAD model to start.
• Pre-order now, available (surprise!) November 11th, 2024

I love the 15" MacBook Pro (Intel) I used for a number of years, even if most of the time I was sitting in my home office. The ability to just pick up and go sit in the living room, on the deck, or at the cabin is worth the extra money you'll pay for a MacBook Pro instead of a desktop / monitor combo.

What About the MacBook Air?

For most regular Mac users who need portabilty, the MacBook Air is plenty powerful enough. Starting at $1,449CAD + the upgrade to a 512GB SSD for $250CAD, I don't think you can go too wrong if you're using it to browse the web, edit your photos, type out the occasional document, and go on a Zoom or Teams (yeck!) call.

My Ideal Setup

I haven't pulled the trigger on this yet because I still have my Intel MacBook Pro waiting to sell, but I think a powerful desktop like the Mac Studio paired with an iPad Air (11"?) would be my ideal work set up. Now that they've released Logic Pro and Final Cut Pro for iPadOS, technically I could do a lot of my work on an iPad.

But by the time I upgrade to 512GB storage and add an Apple Pencil Pro and Magic Keyboard for iPad, the total is $1,229CAD + tax which feels like I might as well look at the MacBook Air instead.

🤷‍♂️

We'll see where I'm at the next time I have any travel on my calendar. On our recent trip down south I just packed up my Intel MacBook Pro and it sat in my backpack the entire time, other than being used by my family to watch movies on the plane. Which definitely felt like a perfect use case for an iPad instead of a laptop.