MacBook Pro (M4 Pro)

If you need a compact laptop that actually behaves like a desktop when you open demanding apps, this is it: the 14‑inch MacBook Pro line with the M4 Pro chip was built for people who edit photos and video, compile code, or run ML experiments and hate waiting while their machine thinks. The headline hardware — Apple silicon, a mini‑LED Liquid Retina XDR display and long battery life — solves the common laptop problem of picking between performance and portability. ## What makes it worth it The M4 Pro silicon delivers real-world, sustained performance far ahead of most thin-and-light Windows rivals, so large exports and multi‑threaded builds finish faster. The 14.2‑inch Liquid Retina XDR panel is one of the brightest and most colour‑accurate laptop displays you can buy, with HDR highlights up to 1600 nits and pro reference modes that matter if you colour‑grade or retouch. Apple’s port set is unusually generous for this size: MagSafe charging, three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI and an SDXC slot mean fewer dongles, and the 24GB unified memory option keeps heavy apps responsive without swapping. ## Where it falls short The base 512GB SSD and the premium price feel conservative next to similarly specified Windows machines that offer larger drives for less, and the Space Black finish can add about £100–£200 versus Silver. If you need large local scratch disks out of the box you’ll likely pay extra. If you want the most portable Mac that still runs pro apps without compromise, buy this; if you mainly need cheap web browsing or large local storage on day one, look at MacBook Air or a Windows alternative with a bigger SSD.

£1,996.67