We all know that M4 MacBooks are set to launch by the end of the year, and the only remaining question is “when?” I made a bet on October being the time for a special event, but trust my luck for a new report to come out a day later going against that.
A reliable source has told MacRumors that Apple will launch these all-new Mac models in November — going against the launch cycle the Cupertino crew was spinning up by running its “Scary Fast” M3 MacBook event during Halloween.
Get ready for something big
So while I ponder whether to update my rumor hub from October to November, let’s go through our expectations for this event.
First, MacBook Pros. No significant design changes, but a bump up to the new M4 chip you see creating some real magic in the new iPad Pro. Improved CPU and graphics processing, alongside a far beefier Neural Engine for AI tasks are the order of the day for this 3nm chipset.
Second, a redesigned Mac Mini featuring either M4 or M4 Pro — it’s first redesign in 14 years. Think like the smaller puck design of the Apple TV 4K, but with a full-blown Mac inside. You do lose a USB-A port for the privilege, but I’m not crying about this loss. All the company’s other computers (outside of Mac Pro) have moved to USB-C, so chances are you don’t really have many accessories that require this aging standard.
And finally, another spec bump for the iMac to M4. I’d love to see a Pro version, but the rumor mill is not pointing towards this. Oh, and all of the machines above are believed to come with a base 16GB of RAM as standard, so sayonara 8GB!
Don’t count out an October launch just yet
MacRumors have been quick to say this doesn’t kill the chances of an October event. While this reliable source has said November, last year’s event did happen right at the end of October.
I highly doubt Apple will want to veer too hard into the noise of Black Friday (especially since we did see the company chop $100 off the list price of M3 MacBook Pro during this sales season), so the very first week of November at the absolute latest would be optimal to hoover up those full-price sales before blindsiding people with a price cut.
Plus, if you look at Mark Gurman’s report, M4 Mac Mini models are going to be shipped to warehouses this month, whereas the M4 Pro variant won’t begin to be stocked until October. This tracks with an early November release date.
That’s why I’m in two minds about it. In my mind, it’s going to take something more concrete to change my mind from this being an October event, but a later keynote is still a strong possibility — especially given these M4 Macs have already entered mass production.
