Apple is a few weeks away from unveiling several M4 Macs and the new iPad mini 7. That’s what all the leaks say, and I don’t have any reason to question them at this point. The M4 MacBook Pro appeared in a couple of hands-on videos in the past few days, so there shouldn’t be much of a question that it’s about to be announced.
The good news for buyers is that Apple is indeed preparing a few exciting upgrades for the base M4 14-inch MacBook Pro, which will make it an even better purchase than its predecessor. The bad news — at least, for Apple — is that someone was able to steal a bunch of these laptops. It’s unclear what the backstory is, but the Russian YouTubers who posted hands-on videos of the M4 MacBook Pro bought the unreleased laptop from somewhere.
Some said the M4 MacBook Pro was available via a Facebook group, but the seller has apparently gone further than that. The M4 MacBook Pro was being sold, at least briefly, on the black market in Russia. Spoiler alert: The base M4 MacBook Pro will be a much better value than the M3 variant, but you should absolutely not pay $7,500 for a stolen unit.
The biggest upgrade aside from the M4 chip is the entry-level RAM boost to 16GB. That’s double the RAM of the base M3 MacBook Pro. You’d have to pay an extra $200 to get 16GB of RAM on the current 14-inch model.
The hands-on videos have both confirmed that the M4 MacBook Pro comes with 16GB of RAM. We also have a benchmark test from one of the two YouTubers that proves the laptop has 16GB of memory. Assuming Apple keeps the base M4 MacBook Pro’s starting price at $1,599, it will be an even better alue than its predecessor.
The leaks also showed another upgrade some users will appreciate. The base 14-inch model features three USB-C ports instead of two. Last year, only the M3 Pro and M3 Max versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro featured three Thunderbolt ports.
The Russian leaks also suggested that the M4 MacBook Pro will launch in November, so you won’t have to wait long to get one.
However, Russian buyers will not be able to purchase the laptop as easily. Apple has stopped selling products in the region after Russia invaded Ukraine. That explains why anyone in possession of what can only be stolen M4 MacBook Pros would try to sell them to Russian users on the black market. All Apple products that somehow make it into Russia will sell at a higher price than what Apple would charge in the region.
According to MacRumors, a Russian classifieds website showed listings for the unreleased M4 MacBook Pro following the hands-on videos that leaked earlier this week.
The listing mentions the same upgrades above, further confirming we’re looking at the same batch of products. The asking price is set at 720,000 rubles, or around $7,500. That’s five times what the M4 MacBook Pro will cost, at least in the US. Nobody in their right mind should pay any of that for a MacBook of any kind. But, again, the war in the region will make such listings possible.
The listings also said the price would change daily before they disappeared from the website. It’s unclear whether anyone bought M4 MacBook Pro from the people publishing these listings, and we may never find out. That said, the M4 MacBook Pro theft story must be interesting. Time will tell whether Apple or anyone else will explain what happened.
Meanwhile, we’re back to waiting in the real world. Apple should announce the M4 MacBook Pros in the coming weeks. We’re also getting other M4 Macs, though the M4 Air will only arrive next year. It’s unclear whether Apple will host another press event, but anything is possible.
