Mac
| Consumer | Professional | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laptop | Desktop | Laptop | Desktop | |
| Mac | MacBook Air | Mac Mini / iMac | MacBook Pro | Mac Studio / Mac Pro |
| Features | M4 chip; 13.6-inch / 15.3-inch Liquid Retina Display, TouchID Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, Air cooled design | Mac Mini: - M4 Chip, 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2x USB-C ports, HDMI, Ethernet (10G optional); Memory up to 32 GB, storage up to 2 TB; - M4 Pro Chip, 3x Thunderbolt 5 ports, 2x USB-C ports, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet (10G optional), Memory up to 64 GB, Storage up to 8 TB; iMac: M4 Chip, 4.5K 24" Monitor, 4x USB-C ports (2 or Thunderbolt), Ethernet | 14" and 16" Model
Entry level: 14" M4 with 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports; 16GB, or 24GB of memory. 512GB to 2TB of storage; Mid-Tier Level: 14"/16" M4 Pro with 3 Thunderbolt 5 Ports. 24GB, 48GB, or 64 of memory. 512GB to 4TB of storage; High-End Level: 14"/16" M4 Max with 3 Thunderbolt 5 Ports. 36Gb, 64GB, or 128GB of memory. 512 to 8TB of storage; | Mac Studio: M4 Max / M3 Ultra chip. Up to 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores on the M3 Ultra, 16 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores on the M4 Ultra. Up to 512 GB memory support on the M3 Ultra. Mac Pro: M2 Ultra. 24 compute cores: Upto 76 GPU cores, up to 192 GB RAM. Up to 8TB internal storage. 6x PCIe slots. |
| Launch Date | M4 13"/15" MacBook Air: March 2025 | October 2024 | M4/M4 Pro/M4 Max MacBook Pro: October 2024 | M4 Max / M3 Ultra Mac Studio: March 2025 M2 Ultra Mac Pro: Jun 2023 |
| Launch Price | From $999 for 13" MacBook Air; From $1199 for 15" MacBook Air | Mac Mini: From $599; iMac: From $1299 | 14" M4: From $1,599; 14" M4 Pro: $1,999; 16" M4 Pro: $2,499 | Mac Studio: From $1999; Mac Pro: From $6999 |
| Best Feature | MacBook Air: brand new design that is thinner, bigger screen, air cooled | iMac: Design. Will look good in your kitchen. Mac Mini: Cheapest Mac in the lineup, but the most capable Mac due to sheer possibility of putting accessories to the mix. For the power user, the $1,599 base Mac Mini M2 Pro is a lot of bang for your buck. | The performance crown in Apple's entire lineup is in the M4 Max MacBook Pro. Now all starting Mac has 16GB of memory. M4 MacBook Pro is actually a decent performer, and has 3 USB-C ports like their M4 Pro/M4 Max siblings. | As of March 2025, the Mac Studio is the most powerful Mac in Apple's lineup. It is aimed for power user or the ones have an expense account. With 512GB of maximum memory, 80 GPU cores, and 32 CPU cores, you have to be really someone special to fully utilize the Mac Studio. Mac Pro: Ultimate Mac. Customization. The people who are in the market for a $6999 Mac Pro are serious people with serious business. Pros have been begging for a Apple Silicon Mac Pro and Apple delivered. The only gripe is the upper memory limit is "only" 192 GB, but very few people need more than that much memory. Perhaps Apple will amp up the configuration with the need arises? |
| Verdict | MacBook Air: The best laptop ever made for the everyman. Unless you absolutely need a Linux / Windows laptop, this is the best laptop on the market. Period. | iMac is one solid all-in-one desktop. It's a no-worries computing solution. The Mac Mini is powerful enough to do anything and the beauty of it you can accessorize it to your liking | Standard work horse for professional on the go. Can't go wrong with this one. | Mac Studio: If the M2 Pro Mac Mini is limited, the M2 Ultra is the last word in performance for many. Mac Pro: For the true professional that is a part of a serious production house. If you think the entry price is too high, this one is not for you. |
Related: Overview of the desktop Mac lineup; MacBook Air vs MacBook Pro
Mac stands for Mouse Activated Computer and is one of the earliest Apple product. Continuously on sale since the 1980s, Apple together with Microsoft and Intel has been shaping the personal computing world and has not been stop doing ever since. The personal computer in Steve Jobs words is “bicycle for the mind”. You can certainly do more with Macs and other PCs and now supplement, and sometimes replaced, by other devices like iPhones, iPads and Apple Watch, you can certainly do more today than just 5-6 years ago.
Since re-taking over the Apple company in the late 1990s, Steve Jobs have trimmed the Mac line up into just 4 product categories. The only modification is there is two consumer desktop offerings: the iMac and the Mac Mini. Since then, the Mac product line up has not change much since early 2000.
| Usage vs Target Market | Consumer | Professional |
|---|---|---|
| Laptop | MacBook Air | MacBook Pro |
| Desktop | Mac Mini / iMac | Mac Studio / Mac Pro |
Laptops
MacBooks occupy at the premium segment of the laptop market. Contrary to popular belief, they are quite cost competitive compared to their peers. If you are looking something that is capable but at a lower budget, my advice is to look for iPad as a lot of the tasks that can be accomplish on the Mac can be done on the iPad. Software development, multi-user environment and enterprise software is one of the few domains that the Macs still have an edge over the iPads.
Since the introduction of the M1 chips, the MacBook has shown to be a good value proposition since they can match or even beat the best from Intel or even AMD. As of now, the major difference between the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro is sustained workload handling. While the MacBook Air has passive cooling, which means that under heavy workloads, the MacBook Air will thermal throttle itself after around 10 minutes of workload while the MacBook Pro will carry on.
Apple updated the MacBook Pro to an all new design featuring a 14" and 16" form factor. It introduce new M-series chips dubbed M1 Pro and M1 Max which rivals desktop class chip that is even more power efficient that the Intel own powerful chips. Truly a unique product in the market.
Update cycle
- MacBook Air (last update: Q1 2024, next expected update: Q1 2025)
- MacBook Pro (last update: Q4 2024, next expceted update: Q4 2025)
Where to buy?
Desktop
Desktop Mac runs from the gamut that is the basic $599 Mac Mini which does not comes with anything to the $50,000 Mac Pro that find its home in large production houses that makes $200 million movies. Both the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro are customizer’s delight. You can basically personalize the Mac to fit your needs. The iMac is an all-in-one desktop solution that is well made and capable.
Update Cycle
- Mac Mini (last update: Q4 2024, next expected update: ~Q4 2026)
- iMac 24" (last update: Q2 2021, next expected update: ~Q2 2022)
- Mac Studio (last update: Q3 2023, next expected update: ~Q3 2025)
- Mac Pro (last update: Q3 2023, next expected update: ~Q3 2025)
Where to buy?
- Mac Mini M1 - Buy at Amazon
- iMac 24" - Buy at Amazon
- Mac Studio - Buy at Amazon
- Mac Pro - Buy at Amazon
Mac Accessories
Except for the Mac Mini and Mac Pro, all the Macs can be use straight from the box without additional items. However, you can add accessories to increase your Mac capabilities and also personalize your Mac.
Starting with Apple Silicon, Apple release Magic Keyboard (that’s the name) with TouchID where you can unlock your supported Mac using your finger print. The TouchID can also be use to authenticate purchase and logins. iMac now come in shrunk keyboard that does not have a numpad. If your work environment requires you to punch in a lot of numbers, having a numpad can be extremely useful.
Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad are Apple pointing devise. The iMac comes with the Magic Mouse by default although you can spec your build to include a Magic Trackpad. There is numerous article talking about the design and comfort of those input device.
The Retina Pro Display XDR is a high end monitor from Apple. And it is the only monitor that is built and sold by Apple. It’s a 6K display monitor with HDR capabilities that meant to bridge the gap between color accurate monitor that cost around $3,000 to $4,000 to reference monitor used by studio that cost around $30,000 to $40,000. So far the review has been mixed that it is over priced for the $3,000 but not as good as the $30,000 reference monitor.
Since the PC is a very mature platform, there is a plethora of products that can and will work with the Mac. Macs and increasingly iPad Pro has been using industry standard connections like USB-C, ethernet, 3.5mm headphone jack, WiFi and Bluetooth standard to work with 3rd party devices. There’s no reason not to choose 3rd party products if they are useful to you.
- Magic Keyboard with Touch ID - Buy at Amazon
- Magic Mouse - Buy at Amazon
- Magic Trackpad - Buy at Amazon
Related Articles
Macbook Air M2
Apple has updated the best laptop in the world. Meet the new 2022 MacBook Air running on the new M2 SOC
Mac Lineup
Macs has been a foundation of Apple company since inception. This article explore the current offerings in 2020 and show the differences between each tier of Mac.
Apple Silicon Evolution (vs Top Competitors) over the years
Apple came a long way from a simple chip that powers the first iPad. Here a general look how Apple Silicon fare over the years