Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) vs Apple MacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Pro or M4 Max)

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Better figure, where one is clearly better

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011) compared with MacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Pro or M4 Max)
AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2011)AppleMacBook Pro 16″ (M4 Pro or M4 Max)
Overview
ReleasedOctober 2011November 2024
Display
Screen size15.4″16.2″
Resolution1440 × 9003456 × 2234 (better)
Panel–Mini-LED
Refresh rate–120 Hz
Brightness–1,000 nits
HDR peak brightness–1,600 nits
TouchscreenNoNo
Display type15.4-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display, 1440 × 900 native resolution and millions of colours. Optional 1680 × 1050 high-resolution glossy or antiglare display. Panel technologies, refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple; higher-resolution screens remain in details rather than unverified panel variants.Liquid Retina XDR display
Pixel density–254 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
ProcessorIntel Core i7-2675QM, Intel Core i7-2760QM or Intel Core i7-2860QMApple M4 Pro or Apple M4 Max
CPU cores414 or 16
CPU threads8–
GraphicsAMD Radeon HD 6750M (512 MB) or AMD Radeon HD 6770M (1 GB)20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU
Memory4 GB or 8 GB24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB or 128 GB (better)
Storage128 GB to 750 GB512 GB to 8 TB (better)
CPUQuad-core Intel Core i7 at 2.2 GHz or 2.4 GHz with 6 MB L3 cache; optional 2.5 GHz with 8 MB L3 cache. Exact i7-2675QM and i7-2860QM identities confirmed by EveryMac; i7-2760QM by Notebookcheck’s tested upper model. Optional 2.5 GHz rows retain the upper AMD graphics combination; unproven lower-GPU pairings omitted.M4 Pro: 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
GPULower model: AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 512 MB GDDR5. Upper model: AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 1 GB GDDR5. Both also use Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384 MB DDR3 shared memory and automatic graphics switching.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
AI engine–16-core Neural Engine
Memory type4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 in two SO-DIMM slots; configurable to 8 GB.Unified memory; M4 Pro takes 24GB or 48GB; M4 Max takes 36GB (14-core CPU) or 48GB, 64GB or 128GB (16-core CPU)
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 typeLower base: 500 GB 5400-rpm hard drive; upper base: 750 GB 5400-rpm hard drive. Maker CTO options: 750 GB at 5400 or 7200 rpm, or 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. Configuration rows distinguish capacities and CPUs/GPUs; both 750 GB speeds share one capacity row. 8× slot-loading SuperDrive supports DVD±R DL, DVD±RW and CD-RW.SSD, configurable up to 4 TB (M4 Pro) or 8 TB (M4 Max)
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)Up to 7 hoursUp to 24 hours
Battery capacity77.5 Wh99.6 Wh (better)
Weight2.54 kg2.14 kg (better)
Thickness24.1 mm16.8 mm (better)
Width × depth364 × 249 mm355.7 × 248.1 mm
Battery life detailBuilt-in 77.5 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 7 hours wireless web in Apple’s test. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.M4 Pro up to 24 hours video streaming and 17 hours wireless web; M4 Max up to 21 hours video streaming and 14 hours wireless web; 100-watt-hour (99.6 Wh actual) lithium-polymer battery
Charger85 W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management140 W USB-C Power Adapter included
Fast charging–With the included 140 W USB-C Power Adapter
MaterialsAluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 40% recycled content overall
ColoursSilverSpace Black, Silver
Connections
Ports2 × USB-A, MagSafe, headphone jack, SD card slot, Ethernet, Thunderbolt3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/gWi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth2.1 + EDR5.3
WebcamFaceTime HD camera12MP Center Stage
Operating systemmacOSmacOS
Port detailOne Thunderbolt port up to 10 Gb/s, two USB 2.0 ports up to 480 Mb/s, one FireWire 800 port up to 800 Mb/s, Gigabit Ethernet, SDXC card slot, MagSafe, separate audio line-in and headphone/audio line-out ports, and Kensington lock slot. Thunderbolt provides native Mini DisplayPort output; DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI and HDMI require separate adapters.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
External displaysBuilt-in display plus one external display up to 2560 × 1600, both at millions of colours; dual display and video mirroring.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
KeyboardFull-size backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys.Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (US) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys
TrackpadMulti-Touch trackpad supports inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three- and four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap and drag.Force Touch trackpad
SpeakersStereo speakers with subwoofersHigh-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
MicrophonesOmnidirectional microphone under the left speaker grilleStudio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming
Biometrics–Touch ID
In the boxMacBook Pro, display cleaning cloth, 85 W MagSafe power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord and documentation; OS X Lion and iLife.16-inch MacBook Pro, 140 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only)

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