How to know which Mac to buy — and when to buy it

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How to know which Mac to buy — and when to buy it

If you’re in the market for a new Mac (or Apple display), there’s a lot of choice ahead of you. Maybe you’re interested in a lightweight MacBook Air from the selection of the best MacBooks — or maybe one of the desktop Macs. Either way, there’s a wide variety of Apple products on offer, including some external desktop monitors.

Below you’ll find the latest information on each model, including if it’s a good time to buy and when the next one up is coming.

MacBook Pro

Chris Hagan / Digital Trends

The MacBook Pro represents the high-end of Apple’s MacBook lineup, and it was updated it in October 2024. This revamp brought the M4 chip series to the flagship laptop, including the M4, the M4 Pro, and the M4 Max.

However, it was much more than just a chip update, as Apple increased the memory capacity at every level (including double the starting RAM of the previous MacBook Pro). There’s a ****** ****** option for the entry-level M4 MacBook Pro, a brighter display with a nano-texture option, an improved webcam, more ports with Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, plus longer battery life. And let’s not forget the mini-LED display that can range up to 1,600 nits of peak HDR brightness and 1,000 of SDR brightness.

Given the recent update, we wouldn’t expect a new MacBook Pro until at least fall 2025, which would fit in with Apple’s rumored plans to update this laptop on a regular, annual basis. This new model is likely to be a modest upgrade, with a much larger refresh rumored for 2026. This could get an OLED display and a thinner chassis, while Apple also is expected to bring out a foldable MacBook at some point in the coming years.

MacBook Air

Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

Apple’s slimmest laptop received its most recent changes in March 2024 when Apple launched the M3 MacBook Air. The M3 chip brings hardware-accelerated ray tracing and better performance compared to the previous MacBook Air, as well as better microphones and Wi-Fi 6E connectivity. That’s wrapped up in Apple’s thinnest and lightest laptop chassis, along with a 500-nit display and comfortable keyboard.

The MacBook Air is the next Mac in line for an update, with a new version expected to launch in spring 2025. While we can be certain that this will come with the M4 chip, there’s not a lot else we know for sure about it. There are murmurings that Apple is working on an OLED MacBook Air, but this isn’t due to launch for a few years.

Mac mini

Chris Hagan / Digital Trends

In October 2024, Apple gave the Mac mini its most significant overhaul in 14 years. The device’s case was completely redesigned to take on the appearance of a downsized Mac Studio, with a footprint about half the size of the previous model. Apple skipped the M3 chip entirely and upgraded the Mac mini from the M2 to the M4 and M4 Pro chips, which has resulted in an impressive performance leap. Elsewhere, the memory capacity has been increased at every tier, there’s support for up to three external displays, there’s a new port arrangement that features Thunderbolt 5 on the M4 Pro model, and you get two USB-C ports on the front of the computer (the USB-A ports have been removed).

Apple won’t bring out another Mac mini until fall 2025 at the earliest. There’s not much in the way of rumors for future Mac mini models, but we’ll update this page as soon as we hear more.

iMac

Caleb Denison / Digital Trends

In October 2024, the iMac became the first Apple computer to get the M4 chip (following the iPad Pro in May 2024). Aside from the speedy new chip, you can now buy it in a new range of colors, with increased memory bandwidth, more starting memory, an improved webcam, as well as Apple’s nano-texture glass option that cuts down on reflections and glare (this was previously only available on the Pro Display XDR and the iPad Pro).

As with several other M4 Macs, the iMac’s next update is likely to arrive around fall 2025. There is talk that Apple is working on a larger iMac, perhaps with a 30-inch or 32-inch display and mini-LED tech, and this might debut alongside the next iMac in 2025. That said, this project has reportedly been delayed many times, so don’t bet the house on it arriving any time soon.

Mac Studio

Mark Coppock / Digital Trends

The latest update to the Mac Studio arrived in June 2023. Today, it comes with M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips, huge amounts of memory, wide support for its external displays, as well as compatibility with high-impedance headphones, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. It’s a highly capable computer inside a very compact chassis, making it ideal for high-end workloads even if you don’t have a lot of desk space.

Apple has skipped the M3 generation in the Mac Studio, so its next update should bring the M4 Max and M4 Ultra chips alongside a significant increase in performance. Reports have suggested that the M4 Ultra will have 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores, double the core counts you can find in the MacBook Pro’s M4 Max chip.

Mac Pro

Brittany Hose-Small / AFP via Getty Images

Like the Mac Studio, the Mac Pro received its most recent update in June 2023. This was a sizable change for Apple’s most powerful Mac, as it was the first time it came outfitted with Apple silicon chips (in this case, the M2 Ultra). Buying this model today gets you the most modular (and expensive) Mac on the market, including support for PCIe expansion, huge amounts of memory, massive support for external displays, and high-end CPU and GPU performance.

Looking ahead, the M4 Ultra is a certainty, and this is expected to arrive in mid-2025, according to Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. There are rumors that this might result in the Mac Pro getting a maximum memory capacity of 512GB, up from the current 192GB.

There’s also the question of the Mac Pro’s design. The current chassis was designed for the 2019 model, which featured Intel chips that ran hot, as well as expandable, discrete graphics cards. That’s no longer the case, and it’s arguable that the Mac Pro doesn’t need to be as large or as focused on cooling as it currently is now that it uses Apple silicon chips. There aren’t many rumors that Apple will soon redesign the Mac Pro’s chassis, so don’t expect that to come next year, but don’t be surprised if it’s somewhere on the horizon.

Apple Studio Display

Apple

The 27-inch Studio Display is Apple’s more accessible monitor (at least compared to the Pro Display XDR, anyway). It comes with a 5K resolution and 600 nits of brightness, an internal A13 Bionic chip that handles Center Stage and Spatial Audio, a nano-texture glass option that cuts down on reflections and glare, one Thunderbolt 3 slot and three USB-C ports, plus two different stand options.

There’s a bit of confusion surrounding the date we can expect a new version of the Studio Display. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes we could see it in 2025 or 2024 (the latter date being very unlikely now), whereas display industry expert Ross Young thinks Apple has suspended its plans for a Studio Display with a 120Hz ProMotion refresh rate. Aside from that, not much else is known about what we might see in the next Studio Display.

Pro Display XDR

Julian Chokkattu / Digital Trends

We first saw the Pro Display XDR in 2019, when it launched alongside the then-redesigned Mac Pro. It’s Apple’s most capable monitor, and it comes with a 32-inch 6K screen, up to 1,600 nits of peak brightness (for HDR content only), 576 local dimming zones, a nano-texture glass option, one Thunderbolt 3 and three USB-C ports, and two stand options.

Out of all the products in this article, the Pro Display XDR has gone the longest without an update, as it hasn’t been changed since it launched in 2019. Seeing as it was released in tandem with the Mac Pro, we’d expect the same to happen this time around, and with the Mac Pro slated for a 2025 refresh, the Pro Display XDR might be updated at the same time. Rumors have suggested that it will get an onboard chip just like the Studio Display, which should bring a few more software features to the table. Other than that, not much else is known at this point.

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