Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M4) vs Apple MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M4) | AppleMacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | November 2024 | October 2012 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 14.2″ | 13.3″ |
| Resolution | 3024 × 1964 (better) | 2560 × 1600 |
| Panel | Mini-LED | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 1,000 nits | – |
| HDR peak brightness | 1,600 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina XDR display | Retina LED-backlit IPS display with millions of colours; native 2560 × 1600 and scaled modes of 1680 × 1050, 1440 × 900 and 1024 × 640. Refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple. |
| Pixel density | 254 ppi | 227 ppi |
| Colour range | Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours | – |
| Screen finish | Standard, or nano-texture as an option | – |
| 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 | Apple M4 | Intel Core i5-3210M or Intel Core i7-3520M |
| CPU cores | 10 | 2 |
| CPU threads | – | 4 |
| Graphics | 10-core GPU | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| AI engine (NPU) | 38 TOPS | – |
| Memory | 16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better) | 8 GB |
| Storage | 512 GB to 2 TB (better) | 128 GB to 768 GB |
| CPU | 10-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores | Dual-core Intel Core i5-3210M at 2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz and 3 MB shared L3 cache, or Core i7-3520M at 2.9 GHz with up to 3.6 GHz and 4 MB cache. Exact processor identities documented by Ars Technica. |
| GPU | 10-core GPU; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode | Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated graphics |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory | 8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L onboard memory; no higher memory option |
| Memory bandwidth | 120 GB/s | – |
| Storage type | SSD, configurable up to 2 TB | Flash storage; 128 GB base configurable to 256 GB, 512 GB or 768 GB, and 256 GB base configurable to 512 GB or 768 GB. Both bases offer the Core i7 upgrade. |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 24 hours | Up to 7 hours |
| Battery capacity | 72.4 Wh | 74 Wh (better) |
| Weight | 1.55 kg (better) | 1.62 kg |
| Thickness | 15.5 mm (better) | 19 mm |
| Width × depth | 312.6 × 221.2 mm | 314 × 219 mm |
| Battery life detail | Up to 16 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery | Built-in 74 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 7 hours wireless web or 30 days standby under Apple's test conditions. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. |
| Charger | 70 W USB-C Power Adapter included | 60 W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter with cable management |
| Materials | – | Aluminium enclosure |
| Fast charging | With the 96 W USB-C Power Adapter | – |
| Colours | Space Black, Silver | Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 3 × Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 2 × USB-A, 2 × Thunderbolt, MagSafe 2, headphone jack, SD card slot, HDMI |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6E | 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 4.0 |
| Webcam | 12MP Center Stage | 720p FaceTime HD |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | 3 × Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s); HDMI with multichannel audio output; SDXC card slot; MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support | Two USB 3 ports up to 5 Gb/s, two Thunderbolt ports up to 10 Gb/s with native Mini DisplayPort output, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe 2 and headphone/optical digital audio output. Supports Apple iPhone headset with microphone. Ethernet and FireWire require separate Thunderbolt adapters. |
| External displays | 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 up to 8K 60 Hz or 4K 240 Hz over HDMI; alongside the built-in display | Built-in screen plus up to two external displays at 2560 × 1600, with millions of colours; DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI adapters sold separately |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys | Full-size backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys, four arrow keys and ambient light sensor |
| Trackpad | Force Touch trackpad | Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap and drag |
| Speakers | Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos | Stereo speakers |
| Microphones | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming | Dual microphones |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | – |
| In the box | 14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only) | MacBook Pro with Retina display, MagSafe 2 Power Adapter, AC wall plug and power cord; OS X Mountain Lion and iLife apps |
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