Macbooks with the M4 chip and more: Apple's 'New Product Week' starts today – what can we expect?

After debuting the M4 chip in the iPad Pro (test) in May, Apple marketing chief Greg “Joz” Joswiak promised a “week of announcements” on the X (formerly Twitter) with a focus on the new Macs. We can expect the update to macOS 15.1 Sequoia with Apple Intelligence, new Mac models with the M4 chip, and updated accessories in the week of October 28 to November 1.

According to inside information, there are expected to be new Macbook Pros and a completely revamped Mac Mini, among other things. This shouldn't be much larger than an Apple TV. The 24-inch iMac, which was last updated to the M3 chip in October 2023, could also receive an update next week.

New M4 chip variants for Macbook Pros

The new Macs will supposedly be released with the M4 chip. As in previous years, Apple will offer other types of the chip family in addition to the “base” model of the M4 that offers more performance. The “Pro” and “Max” versions will likely be installed in more expensive Macbook Pros, among other devices.

There's no specific information yet about the M4 Pro and Max chips, other than that they're based on TSMC's more efficient 3nm process, which Apple also uses for its A18 and M4 chips. In addition to the CPU and GPU performance, it can also get a boost in the NPU, which is responsible for Apple's AI tasks, among other things.

For AI: Macs and Macbooks with more RAM

New Macs and Macbooks should have more than just new processors. The next generation of Macs will reportedly finally have more standard RAM: instead of the previous eight gigabytes, there will be at least 16 gigabytes in the future. Apple is also testing 32GB models.

Apple's Macbook models with the M3 core chip previously had 24GB of RAM. It has long been desired that Apple would finally give Macbooks more core RAM, even if some Apple executives defended the relatively small amount of RAM.

Reason for a possible RAM upgrade: With the update to macOS Sequoia, including Apple Intelligence functionality, more RAM is simply required. Even Google's Pixel 9 smartphones come with at least 12GB of RAM to be able to handle tasks.

For entry-level models like the Macbok Air, eightGB is still acceptable as long as you use it for less demanding tasks. Based on our own experience, the RAM is sufficient for most tasks in an office environment.

WiF-i 7: Faster WLAN, at least for professionals?

Apple could also go one step further when it comes to WLAN, at least for the best Macbooks, and give them the new Wi-Fi 7 standard. This is currently only used on iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max (test).

Even the iPad Pro with the M4, like the regular iPhone 16, uses the slightly older Wi-Fi 6e standard. Wi-Fi 7 supports download speeds of up to 46 Gbps, which is five times faster than Wi-Fi 6E's 9 Gbps. Wi-Fi 7 also operates on 320MHz channels and supports the 6GHz band, which is intended to greatly reduce interference and signal congestion.

Accessories: Get rid of the legacy of lightning

It is also likely that there will be changes in the Magic series accessories: especially given the fact that Apple has to meet EU requirements to convert its products to USB-C by the end of 2024, the manufacturer will not have much time. So, it's pretty certain that Apple will release the Magic Mouse, external keyboards, and Magic Trackpad from Lightning keys.

It is uncertain whether Apple will redesign accessories that have remained virtually unchanged for years. However, the manufacturer could be tempted to move forward in the same way as with the Airpods Max: the over-ear headphones received only a USB-C port and new colors in September.

Anyone hoping to get an update for the Macbook Air will probably have to be patient. The Air models were last updated in March 2024 and are not expected to receive the new M4 processors until early 2025.