I've been using a 16GB M4 MacBook Pro since October of last year and it's the best laptop I've ever used.
Before picking it up, my only machine was a custom PC – it has an Nvidia RTX 4070, Intel Core i7-12700K and 32GB of RAM. For my displays, I have a 32-inch 120Hz ultrawide as my main monitor and a 27-inch 144Hz panel on the side. That setup isn't going anywhere. I still use it every day for gaming and for heavy web development work where I need a design open on one screen and my implementation on the other. Multiple monitors are hard to give up once you have them.
But the MacBook has quietly taken over a huge part of how I actually work.
The workload I throw at it isn't light. iOS and Android simulators, multiple VS Code instances, Docker, multiple Chrome windows running at the same time – and the MacBook has never struggled. Not once. For a machine that a lot of people online will tell you is under-spec'd, it handles my day-to-day development work without complaint. The battery compounds this. I'm not managing my usage around a plugged-in cable. I just use it.
What I didn't fully appreciate before buying it was how much portability would change things. Being able to code from my bedroom when I feel like it sounds like a small perk. It is a significant advantage. And then there's the less predictable stuff – I have a nine-month-old son, and if he's fussing with his mom right before a meeting, I can just pick up my MacBook, walk to the living room, and be on the call in thirty seconds. That kind of flexibility is hard to put a price on.
I'm not deep in the Apple ecosystem. I don't have an iPhone. I came into this as purely a laptop purchase, not a lifestyle choice. And on those terms alone, this machine delivers completely. The build quality, the trackpad, the battery, the performance – all of it holds up without needing anything else around it.
If you're a developer on the fence about the 16GB model, don't let the spec discourse scare you off. In real daily use, it's more than enough.