Apple 2024 MacBook Pro Laptop with M4 Pro chip with 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU: Built for Apple Intelligence, 16.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR Display, 48GB Unified Memory; 512GB SSD Storage; Silver

Well constructed, handled the laptop the first time, gives that expensive & quality feel, it has meet my expectations. You are greeted with a HiFi sound, when you lift the lid!

Perfect service and laptop !

Works great so far.

This machine is a beast. Expensive but worth every penny. Even the most expensive windows machines with RTX graphics cards doesn't come close to this one

Outstanding delivery, always an Apple fan hasn’t disappointed

You don’t really need me to tell you just how good these M4 MacBooks are if you were not already thinking of buying one you would not be looking for them here. Take the plunge well worth it.

So far it’s been amazing. Don’t know why Amazon was 10% cheaper than Apple Store and next day delivery but I’ll take it.

I have been using Apple computers since 2014 (I originally bought a desktop iMac running ‘OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite’ and although there are a few niggling quirks in it, I have not had any really serious problems using it). I do a lot of landscape photography which means I move around a lot, so I needed something portable to take with me on my travels (instead of being tied to a desktop computer to do all my photo editing). Furthermore, I do not have Internet access in my home. In September 2025, I bought a new MacBook Pro from Amazon and I can tell you that this MacBook Pro is a nicely manufactured machine but it is seriously lacking many of the key features that made previous Macs good. After trying out this MacBook for about two weeks, I ended up being very disappointed and disillusioned with it considering I paid an arm and a leg for it (£2,600.00). Here are just some the ‘Pros’ and ‘Cons’ I found in using this machine: ‘Pros’: Nice, sleek, stylish design Excellent ‘Touch’ Fingerprint log-in feature Excellent crystal-clarity display with superb colour rendering with ‘Time and Date’ feature displayed on desktop at start-up. Reasonably long battery life. ‘Cons’: ‘Big Brother’ is in this machine and is hiding in plain sight! Almost everything you do now requires Internet access where everything is interconnected to everything else; this means compulsory divulgence of personal information in almost everything you do (in some cases even banking and payment information) which you must agree to or you don’t get to use any of the new features or software (which, by the way, you have already paid for because the price of these features have already been engineered into the purchase price of the computer), this is called ‘information harvesting’ and ‘business efficacy’ and is yet another way that Apple can use to wring even more money out of you). What this means is that Apple is demanding that you to pay twice for something you have already paid for! The interface is not user-friendly, particularly if you are only using the trackpad which can be quite slow, tedious, and tiresome, even if you set the tracking speed to maximum (you can buy a separate keyboard and mouse to use with the MacBook from a third-party source but this will cost you even more money). If you are used to using older desktop Macs (like I am), navigating your way through this MacBook Pro will drive you up the wall! Many of the features contained in previous Macs have either been stripped out completely or have been so re-arranged or moved to different menus and sub-menus as to be scattered all over the place, and you have to go hunting for them (even then, you may not find what you are looking for). I found this new arrangement extremely slow, irritating, and frustrating to use (in some instances I found myself getting really annoyed—even angry! This is NOT what I would expect from a machine costing more than two-and-a-half grand—especially when you’re only using the trackpad). Some of the usual features in previous Macs are still there (of course), but these have been whittled down to its bare-bones minimum (and will require internet access to use). There is no internal optical DVD drive built into this machine (you have to buy this from a third party as a separate plug-in external drive) so I used the external DVD Drive I bought for my desktop iMac and used that instead. For some strange reason, this MacBook Pro wouldn’t (or couldn’t) read my Nikon and Sony software disks that came with my cameras. There are no USB 3.0 ports on this machine. There are only Thunderbolt 5 (USB 5) ports so if you want to use your old existing USB memory sticks, etc., you have to buy extra convertible attachments that are USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt 5 compatible (again, from a third-party seller such as Amazon). One of the most annoying and recurring aspects of using this machine is that you must have Internet access before you can use most of its features. If you don’t have Internet access then you’ve had it, you will be reduced to just using the word processor (that doesn’t even have a built-in stand-alone English Dictionary and Thesaurus) and a couple of other minor programs that don’t require Internet access. From this point of view (and from a practical computing point of view) this machine is next to useless given the price you have to pay. If you don’t have Internet access and you are not prepared to divulge personal information at almost every step of the way then this is not the machine for you. Apart from the usual software programs needed to use your Mac, the ‘Applications’ directory is packed with ‘bloatware’ (mostly smaller or minor software programs that you would probably never use in everyday computing; these extras programs are more for novelty value rather than anything else). Microsoft is guilty of the same ploy with its ‘Windows’ platform. Desktop wallpaper is very limited; for additional wallpaper there is a gallery of images you can view but to use them you have to download them from the Apple store first (which, surprise, surprise, means you have to have Internet access and divulge more personal information). ‘Quick Time Player’ has been removed from the Applications directory. When playing music, or when trying to play music, a new program pops up (there is no ‘Loop’ feature in the View menu). To access ‘Quick Time Player’ you have to (...wait for it...) log on to the Internet and use the Safari web browser to access the ‘Quick Time Player’ website. The trouble with this feature is that the software you would download would take a look around your computer for other ‘Quick Time Player’ compatible programs (including any illegal music downloads you may have made) and report it back to Apple or the ‘Quick Time Player’ website without you knowing, so they’ve got you by the ‘buster browns’ here too! So much for your privacy. There is no ‘empty securely’ feature for the ‘trashcan’ (although you do get a message warning: ‘Do you want to permanently empty the trash? This cannot be undone’). This probably means that Apple has found a way to permanently and securely delete your trash without having to make several passes (but I could be wrong about this). The ‘Pages’ word processor is trumpeted by Apple as being the best word processor available. No it is not! In contract law this ostentatious claim is called ‘Puff advertising’; ‘Puff advertising’ is a deceptive ploy (a lie) used by almost all big businesses to get you to buy their products (for some strange reason this is not illegal). ‘OpenOffice’ and ‘LibreOffice’ are two word processors that will beat the pants of ‘Pages’ any day of the week... and ‘OpenOffice’ and ‘LibreOffice’ are both FREE word processors that you can download from the Internet (both Mac and Windows versions are available). I use ‘Open Office’ and ‘LibreOffice’ exclusively on my old iMac (I don’t use ‘Pages’, it’s crap). If you like you can make a financial contribution to the program developers (this will keep them going financially and help them to make even more great software available to the international community for free!). There is no ‘save as’ or ‘spell check’ or ‘check grammar’ feature in the toolbar of the ‘Pages’ word processor (all you get is an underscore if you happen to make a typo or spelling mistake). This limits the effectiveness of the ‘Pages’ word processor. As already mentioned, there is no stand-alone ‘Dictionary’ or ‘Thesaurus’ embedded in the ‘Pages’ word processor either (again, you must have Internet access first, and then log-on to the Wikipedia website before you can access any dictionary definitions or spelling checks, etc.). If you haven’t got internet access then once again you’ve had it for many of the features on this machine! Stay away from the ‘Safari’ web browser (it tracks your internet access, records what web sites you visit, and gathers other information about you (including your e-mail) and your Internet activity and sends it back to Apple without you knowing about it). Safari is just one of many ‘Big Brother’ policemen built into today’s computers. This MacBook won’t let you use the TOR browser either (not without directing you to visit a special and mysterious website that nobody has ever heard of). If privacy is one of your major concerns, then you are not going to get it. You would be much better off (but not completely secure) using the ‘Brave’ browser for Internet surfing. As more and more personal information is being digitised and interconnected with everything else, the days of personal privacy is fast evaporating. NOTE: If security is a main issue with you, you should be aware that all Western alliances have formed an international agreement to share all digital personal information about its citizens with each other. This agreement was originally called ‘The Five Eyes’ (because five countries had signed up to it), then, after a few years went by, four other countries joined the alliance where it then became known as ‘The Nine Eyes’, later, five more countries joined the alliance until today, it is now called ‘The Fourteen Eyes’ (do a Google search for more on this). Furthermore, it is the policy of all Western governments not to allow any piece of encryption software to be made available to the general public unless the government can access it through an in-built ‘back door’. It is illegal and a criminal offence to make available any kind of encryption or security software that the government cannot break or access. Both Microsoft and Apple know this and have agreed to comply with this policy. This was the consequence of the PGP scandal back in the 1990s when Phil Zimmermann invented a military strength e-mail encryption program called ‘PGP’ (Pretty Good Privacy) that no government or police authority in the world could break. Ever since then, no encryption software has ever been allowed onto the market unless the government and police authorities can access it through an in-built ‘back door’. Stay away from ‘modern’ PGP encryption software because a back door has already been built into this program! The ‘Disk Utility’ feature that used to be in older Macs has been stripped right back to its bare requirements; there is no ‘Verify disk’ facility; no ‘Repair disk’ and no ‘Secure erase’ facility. The price of this Apple MacBook Pro is so obscenely expensive, I don’t even know why people would even entertain the idea of paying this much for a laptop. Given the way the features of previous Macs have been stripped out and replaced by bare-bones equivalents, it is not worth even a third of the price Apple is asking for it. You can get exactly the same kind of exploitative nonsense from Windows, but at a third (or less) of the cost. Given the price I had paid, I felt I had been ripped off. I was very disappointed with it and how difficult and irritating it was to navigate through everything using only the trackpad. It’s a con really, you are paying for the Apple brand name rather than the features and improvements one would expect on a machine of this price. It seems that Apple is dedicated to charging people more and more for less and less. Save your money—it’s a rip-off. Beware of using ‘bundled software’ that comes with all computers now (Mac and Microsoft). When you click on these bundled programs, you are usually greeted with a message that goes something like ‘By clicking accept’ or ‘By clicking open, you are agreeing to our Terms & Conditions of use’. These ‘Terms & Conditions of use’ contain legal clauses that allow these companies to exploit your personal information for financial gain while at the same time protecting themselves in a legal fortress of immunity. In contract law, this is called ‘coercion to contract’ (i.e. in other words, unless you consent to our terms you cannot use our software or access our services—software and services you have already paid for because the costs of these software programs have already been engineered into the final retail cost of the computer you have just bought!). This ‘coercion to contract’ is illegal under contract law in the UK yet nothing is done about this (politicians won’t do anything about it either because they are getting a piece of the action through various taxes, etc.). The hapless consumer is being farmed like sheep and cattle and the people are helpless against this kind of financial exploitation. Finally, there is no doubt that this MacBook Pro is a very nicely manufactured machine but nowhere near worth even a third of the price Apple is asking for it. What you are paying for is nothing more than the Apple name and a stripped-down version of previous Macs presented in a cosmetic facelift or makeover. And that’s all it is. If you think that’s worth paying more than two-and-a-half-grand for a cosmetic makeover then you must have more money than sense. For my own part I would expect a machine of this price to play the national anthem and bring me breakfast in bed as well. It is also geared to gather your personal information in order to sell it on to others who are willing to pay for this information so that they can bombard you with ‘special offers’, etc. (this is called ‘data mining’ and has become a real money-spinner over the years for these ruthless and greedy big business corporations). Extracting even more money from you is the norm now, both from Apple and Microsoft (they all want you to divulge your identity, bank and payment details, even though you don’t want to buy anything, it’s how they keep making money. I was so disgusted with this MacBook Pro I returned it to Amazon for a full refund. I won’t buy Macs again. They are far too expensive for what they are offering.