Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Pro or M4 Max) vs Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)

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MacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Pro or M4 Max) compared with MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)

	AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M4 Pro or M4 Max)	AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)
Overview
Released
Released	November 2024	October 2008
Display
Screen size
Screen size	14.2″	15.4″
Resolution
Resolution	3024 × 1964 (better)	1440 × 900
Panel
Panel	Mini-LED	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	120 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	1,000 nits	–
HDR peak brightness
HDR peak brightness	1,600 nits	–
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Liquid Retina XDR display	Glossy LED-backlit widescreen LCD with millions of colours. Exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished in the maker sources read.
Pixel density
Pixel density	254 ppi	–
Colour range
Colour range	Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours	–
Screen finish
Screen finish	Standard, or nano-texture as an option	–
Display features
Display features	1,000,000:1 contrast; 1,000 nits sustained full-screen XDR brightness; ProMotion up to 120 Hz, with fixed 47.95, 48, 50, 59.94 and 60 Hz rates; True Tone	–
Performance
Processor
Processor	Apple M4 Pro or Apple M4 Max	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008), Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008) or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008)
CPU cores
CPU cores	12, 14 or 16	2
Graphics
Graphics	16-core GPU, 20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (256 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M or NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M
Memory
Memory	24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB or 128 GB (better)	2 GB or 4 GB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 8 TB (better)	128 GB to 320 GB
CPU
CPU	M4 Pro: 12-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, or 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores; M4 Max: 14-core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, or 16-core CPU with 12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores	Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz with 3 MB shared L2 cache or 2.53 GHz with 6 MB; 2.8 GHz with 6 MB is configurable only from the upper base, as confirmed by Ars Technica and SlashGear. 1066 MHz frontside bus; clock records avoid unverified Intel SKU assumptions.
GPU
GPU	16-core or 20-core (M4 Pro), 32-core or 40-core (M4 Max) GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode, with two video encode and two ProRes engines on M4 Max	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (256 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M; NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M. GPU memory varies with processor configuration. The integrated GeForce 9400M and discrete GeForce 9600M GT are selectable alternatives; changing GPU requires logout, as confirmed by Ars Technica and SlashGear.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory; M4 Pro takes 24GB or 48GB; M4 Max takes 36GB (14-core CPU) or 48GB, 64GB or 128GB (16-core CPU)	1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots, up to 4 GB. Lower base starts with 2 GB; higher has 4 GB.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	273 GB/s (M4 Pro), 410 GB/s (M4 Max with 32-core GPU) or 546 GB/s (M4 Max with 40-core GPU)	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD, configurable up to 4 TB (M4 Pro) or 8 TB (M4 Max)	Lower base has a 250 GB and higher a 320 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA drive. Maker configurable options include 250 GB or 320 GB 7200-rpm drives, or a 128 GB SSD. All 128 GB rows are SSD configurations; higher-base 250 GB rows represent the faster configurable hard drive. 8× SuperDrive with double-layer DVD writing.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 22 hours	–
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	72.4 Wh	–
Weight
Weight	1.6 kg (better)	2.49 kg
Thickness
Thickness	15.5 mm	–
Width × depth
Width × depth	312.6 × 221.2 mm	–
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	M4 Pro up to 22 hours video streaming and 14 hours wireless web; M4 Max up to 18 hours video streaming and 13 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery	Removable lithium-polymer battery; capacity and battery-life hours omitted because the surviving maker sources read do not publish them. Apple lists 5.5 lb; the main 2.49 kg reference weight is explicitly published by Ars Technica. Ars lists enclosure dimensions 14.35 × 9.82 × 0.95 inches; metric dimensions omitted.
Charger
Charger	70 W USB-C Power Adapter included with the 12-core-CPU M4 Pro; 96 W with the 14-core-CPU M4 Pro and M4 Max	85 W MagSafe Power Adapter
Fast charging
Fast charging	With the 96 W USB-C Power Adapter	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 35% recycled content overall	Aluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad
Colours
Colours	Space Black, Silver	Silver
Connections
Ports
Ports	3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam	12MP Center Stage	Built-in iSight camera
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	3 × Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) with charging, DisplayPort 2.1, Thunderbolt 5 and USB 4 (up to 120 Gb/s); HDMI (up to 8K 60 Hz or 4K 240 Hz) with multichannel audio output; SDXC card slot; MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support	2 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini DisplayPort, ExpressCard/34, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output, and Kensington lock slot. Display adapters sold separately.
External displays
External displays	M4 Pro up to two at 6K 60 Hz over Thunderbolt, or one at 6K 60 Hz over Thunderbolt and one at 4K 144 Hz over HDMI, or one at 8K 60 Hz or 4K 240 Hz over HDMI; M4 Max up to four (three at 6K 60 Hz over Thunderbolt and one at 4K 144 Hz over HDMI), or three (two at 6K 60 Hz plus one at 8K 60 Hz or 4K 240 Hz over HDMI); all alongside the built-in display	Mini DisplayPort supports an external display up to 30 inches; separate DVI, VGA or dual-link DVI adapters required. A numeric external resolution is omitted because it is not stated in the surviving maker sources read.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	Full-size backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with integrated button; scrolling, pinch, rotate and three-finger/four-finger swipes.
Speakers
Speakers	High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	Built-in stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming	Built-in microphone above the Escape key
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
In the box	14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W (12-core-CPU M4 Pro) or 96 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only)	MacBook Pro, removable battery, 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter with AC wall plug and power cord, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and iLife ’08; Apple Remote and display adapters sold separately. The former SP499 specification URL is no longer available; maker launch notice and exact user guide supply core facts.