After months of rumors and a big leak of the MacBook Pro M4 from Russia, Apple somewhat unexpectedly confirmed last week that the M4 Macs are coming. Greg Joswiak teased on X that “an exciting week of announcements” was coming, starting Monday morning.

Rumors are already saying that we should expect M4 updates for the MacBookProMac mini and iMac. Initially, we thought Apple would hold another press conference this month, which was held in October in other years. But then Apple quietly revealed the iPad mini 7, which suggested a press release announcement would be in order for the M4 Macs.

Fast forward to Joswiak’s teaser, and we’re in for a big turning point. Apple could release its M4 Mac announcements throughout the week before likely starting pre-orders on Friday. Thanks to Mark Gurman’s latest report, we have an idea of ​​the timeline.

THE Bloomberg the journalist said in his To light up newsletter that Apple will introduce new M4 Macs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The company reportedly invited select media members and creators to a location in Los Angeles for hands-on briefings held on Wednesday.

It seems odd, but Gurman points out that Apple did something similar in 2019, scheduling announcements of the iPad mini and iPad Air, the new iMac, and the new AirPods on consecutive days.

Gurman doesn’t say which new Mac ad goes where. Apple could choose any order of ads. But the reporter detailed some of the updates regarding these three lines.

The M4 chip is the biggest upgrade for everyone. The focus will be on Apple Intelligence, with the M4 chip bringing a massive jump in performance, particularly with regard to the capabilities of the Neural Engine. We already know this thanks to the M4 iPad Pro that Apple launched earlier this year.

The M2 Neural Engine supported 15.8 trillion operations per second (TOPS). The M3 Neural Engine goes up to 18 TOPS. But the M4 will take things to a whole new level with the Neural Engine which will more than double the performance of the previous chip, reaching up to 38 TOPS.

Apple’s upcoming base MacBook Pro M4 is expected to feature a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. This is the M4 chip version that powers the more expensive iPad Pro variants. Apple also used a 9-core processor variant for iPads.

The base 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 is also expected to start with 16GB of RAM, which we saw in these hands-on unboxing videos from Russia a few weeks ago. Gurman suggests that more base M4 Macs could get the same treatment. Apple Intelligence is the reason why Apple is opting for the RAM increase.

Apple’s AI requires at least 8GB of RAM on a device, whether it’s a Mac or an iPhone. But AI could use “a few gigabytes at a time.” This explains the need to upgrade the memory to at least 16 GB.

The base M4 chip is expected to be joined by the M4 Pro and M4 Max variants.

As expected, the MacBook Pro M4 will be available in two sizes: 14-inch and 16-inch. Design-wise, the MacBook Pro M4 won’t change from its predecessor, but it should benefit from an additional Thunderbolt port.

On the other hand, the M4 Mac mini is expected to offer a massive design overhaul, which would make it the highlight of the launch. The desktop will be smaller, approaching the size of an Apple TV set-top box. It will feature two USB-C ports on the front and three on the back.

Finally, there’s the iMac upgrade. The late 2024 iMac will also receive M4 chip versions, like other Macs expected this week. But that’s about the only thing you can expect from an all-in-one desktop. Apple Intelligence could be the reason Apple wants all of its Macs to run on the M4 chip as soon as possible.

That said, three Macs in Apple’s lineup won’t get the M4 treatment this week: the MacBook Air, the Mac Studio, and the Mac Pro. The MacBook Air M4 is rumored to launch in early 2025.

Gurman doesn’t offer a release date for the M4 Macs, but I expect them to be available for pre-order this week and then in stores next Friday. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait too long. The first announcement of the M4 Mac will come in a few hours.