A YouTube channel has published an unboxing and brief hands-on featuring a purported MacBook Pro M4. If genuine, this ‘world premiere’ video from Wylsacom is an incredible scoop, as Apple is renowned for keeping its products tightly under wraps until they are officially launched.
According to an email bulletin circulated by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman this weekend, MacBook Pro laptops with M4 chips aren’t expected to be announced until “around the end of October.” Availability is scheduled to begin on Friday, November 1.
Above, you can see the unboxing video. It isn’t anything extraordinary—bar the fact that an Apple device has actually leaked ahead of its announcement and NDAs, etc. The video begins with the presenter thoughtfully using a Sharpie to obscure any telltale serial numbers/codes on the packaging lest the information reveal his source. It is noted that this sample is packing 16GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage—a new entry-level quota. Then he opens and picks through the meager contents of the box.
It isn’t until approaching halfway through the video (~5 mins 50 secs) that the MacBook Pro is on the desk, and its clamshell form factor is opened. Eventually, after a guided initial system setup, the host installs and runs Geekbench. He had previous-gen Apple Silicon MacBooks, so he shared some comparisons.
The new M4 chip in the freshly unboxed MacBook, featuring 10 CPU and 10 GPU cores, scores 3,864 and 15,228 in Geekbench’s single and multi-core tests. These results are a smidgeon faster than the current top-spec iPad Pro with Apple M4, which achieves 3,715 and 14,690 points in Geekbench. The Russian YouTuber also compares the new MacBook with machines packing various Apple M2 and M3 chips.
Overall, the new design is a minor update, but the presenter welcomed the improved performance levels, the new minimum RAM quota, and the entry-level model now sporting a Thunderbolt port on both sides of the chassis.
In line with Gurman’s news bulletin, the Russian YouTuber says that Apple will unveil these new MacBooks and other M4 devices on October 21-22, and they will be available starting November 1.
