(Illustration: Taken at AWS re:Invent 2024, Las Vegas. Image source: Ernest)
About
When Apple announced the new M4 family members - M4 Pro and M4 Max - for the MacBook Pro product line on October 30, 2024, featuring new memory bandwidth and configurations, my plan to upgrade to a refurbished M2/M3 immediately shifted towards the M4 Pro, as I wanted to run some local knowledge organization tools. With November plans for AWS re:Invent 2024 and Thanksgiving with friends in Seattle, I included ordering a custom MacBook Pro M4 Pro in my schedule.
When ordering from the US Apple website, there are two pickup options: “Ship to an address” or “Pick up at an Apple Store.” For in-store pickup, after the machine arrives at the Apple Store, there’s a seven-day countdown - if not picked up, the refund process automatically begins. The delivery schedule was quite chaotic at the time; checking the delivery date daily showed constant delays, and I worried it might exceed my time in the US. Plus, with AWS re:Invent week being packed tight, barely leaving enough time for sleep, let alone a detour for pickup. Shipping to a friend’s house raised concerns about delivery dates misaligning with my itinerary (I might be at my next destination before delivery, and with Black Friday sales period approaching, shipping delays were a concern). Finally, I decided to find an Apple Store near the main venue of AWS re:Invent in Las Vegas.
I ultimately chose the Apple Store in The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace for pickup. It’s about a ten-minute walk from Venetian (when familiar with the route and walking briskly with excitement). Now, let’s go pick it up together and unbox it back in the room :)
Let’s go!
Directions
(By late November, there was a full Christmas atmosphere, with various holiday promotions throughout the mall. Having an exceptionally tall Christmas tree inside is just typical Las Vegas style. The Forum Shops at Caesars is known for its unique ancient Roman architectural style, with its overall design mimicking a Roman palace. The Christmas tree I saw that day was positioned under a dome modeled after Rome’s Pantheon, and you could see its reflection in the ornaments - quite spectacular.)
(Bucherer (Bucherer) is a Swiss luxury watch and jewelry retailer founded in 1888. After a year and a half of meticulous renovation, the Bucherer 1888 TimeDome at The Forum Shops at Caesars reopened in June 2023, featuring two floors where you can view various watch and jewelry brands all at once. But my mind wasn’t on that today - I continued walking past the fountain toward the Apple Store deeper inside.)
(Passing by Carmine’s, a family-style Italian restaurant that expanded from New York - I’ll come back here for lunch later. Las Vegas actually brings together branches of excellent restaurants from across the United States, and since we’re here in Las Vegas, they’re worth trying.)
(The Apple Store is too conspicuous to miss. While integrating the Apple Store’s design into such a classical Roman style setting might seem a bit too bright or too minimalist, that’s not the point today, haha.)
(Picking up a custom MacBook is straightforward - just show the order number from your email to the store staff, they’ll verify your ID (like a passport), then the staff brings out a box (which can’t be checked as custom order boxes don’t show CPU, Memory, or storage capacity information on the outside), carefully places it in a bag, and after exchanging thanks, the pickup is complete. The whole process took less than ten minutes, even simpler than my walk from the hotel XDD)
Unbox
(When I unboxed the reMarkable Paper Pro, Maggie Simpson was quite popular, so I brought her along to Las Vegas for this business trip to help with the unboxing :p)
(Taking the box out of the bag. This time I’m not kicking the box when I get home or back to the room - I picked it up myself, haha. On the way back, passing by Bouchon Bakery at the entrance, I was tempted to get more treats, but I was too full from the buffet at Carmine’s, so I skipped it and headed straight to the room for unboxing.)
(After flipping over the box, it’s equally minimalist. Only showing necessary compliance information. The part covered with a pen in the bottom left corner contains some chip serial number information.)
(Maggie Simpson is ready for unboxing! Go!!)
(Lifting the lid reveals the MacBook Pro itself - exciting!)
(A detail-oriented look at how the corners are handled.)
(Taking out the MacBook Pro M4 Pro body, the remaining items are minimal. A premium USB-C to MagSafe 3 power cable, and a cleaning cloth for the nano-texture display (?) tucked inside the manual papers.)
(First seeing the laser-engraved “MacBook Pro” text on the bottom.)
(Flipping to the front, taking a photo with the reMarkable Paper Pro to compare sizes.)
(Close-up of Maggie Simpson! Oh no, I mean close-up of the MacBook Pro M4 Pro’s right side ports.)
(Close-up of the MacBook Pro M4 Pro’s front structure.)
(Close-up of the MacBook Pro M4 Pro’s left side ports. MagSafe 3 power, USB-C, audio. The device on the left shows the power button of the reMarkable Paper Pro.)
(A centered group photo. The background is the living room sofa chair in the Venetian King Suite basic room.)
(The power adapter, with only one USB-C port, is a bit too bulky. I also ordered an Anker Prime 67W USB C Charger, Anker GaN 3-Port Compact Fast PPS Wall Charger for carrying around and an Anker Desktop Charger, Fast Charging USB C Charger, 112W Max 6-Port Charging Station for the desk.)
(The official Apple nano-texture screen cleaning cloth.)
Power On
(Let’s power it on! The familiar hello screen appears.)
(Croatian hello.)
(Let’s take a few more photos of hello in different languages，this is Hindi.)
(Hello in Slovenian.)
(Cantonese…)
(Portuguese hello.)
(This is Swedish，you might have seen it when passing by IKEA.)
(Czech hello.)
(Alright，let’s stop playing with hellos taking up space，haha. Let’s seriously select a language now. For work，I always choose English，as it often provides access to first-hand features and information. Like this time with Apple Intelligence，English is the priority. Immersive English starts from this page.)
(Choose your country or region.)
(When traveling，carrying a pocket Wi-Fi 6 Travel Router is not only an essential travel gadget but also a normal capability for tech workers. It helps bypass the Venetian hotel’s limit of two devices per room connection，and allows custom routing or VPN configuration.)
(Opening up the fragrant Apple Intelligence to try it out. Actually，I want to study how much system resources it will consume.)
(Close-up of the MagSafe 3 connector. The overall size is larger compared to the previously used MacBook Air，still getting used to it.)
(There was some glare earlier，this close-up is better. The speaker grille aligns with the inner edge of the MagSafe metal connector，which makes sense.)
(Continuing with Touch ID setup.)
(The previous MacBook Air also had Touch ID，but the button design in the top right corner was different (different era after all).)
(Welcome to Mac!)
(The default wallpaper. Will gradually change it to my own photography work later. Overall，the nano-texture display performs excellently，effectively reducing glare and making it comfortable for the eyes. Here’s an additional photo taken later in the office comparing it side by side with another MacBook Pro M4 Pro “without nano-texture display.”)
(I usually maintain my dotfiles，and with each new machine，I prefer to build everything clean from scratch layer by layer (yes，I’m detail-oriented). If you’re interested，you can check out my dotfiles repository on GitHub. So I’ll let the scripts run，the hotel internet is a bit slow，but after a nap，it should be halfway to becoming a work machine. Next up is adding some local AI development environments that couldn’t fit before to try out. Looking forward to working together with Amazon Bedrock to meet our SaaS customers’ needs.)
Bottom line
- When getting a Mac after 2024Q4，strongly recommend choosing the nano-texture display option. It’s worth investing in your eye health.
- For M4、M4 Pro、M4 Max，it basically depends on your budget and use case. If compromising，it’s recommended to get at least the M4 Pro. Other memory and SSD space depend on your needs. Don’t forget that AI models are not only memory-intensive but also storage-intensive，factor that into consideration. In the future，everything should be solvable with external devices，but it’s up to you whether you want an all-in-one solution or don’t mind carrying extra weight like weight training，choose according to your needs.
Information
Posting the Apple Store location information for future reference.
When passing through Las Vegas for meetings or exhibitions，this location is worth considering as it’s in the middle of the north-south strip，with more brands and dining options nearby. The Forum Shops is currently part of the Simon Outlet system，offering some discounts though not as deep as Las Vegas North Premium Outlets，but it has some brands that North Outlets doesn’t，such as watch brands like Bucherer、Hublot、Breitling. They used to have Ted Baker but it closed after the pandemic.
For dining，Carmine’s is recommended for larger groups，while Carmine’s buffet is good for individuals with its balanced nutrition and sufficient protein from white meat，or True Food Kitchen at the street-side entrance on the first floor for healthy and delicious options.
- Name = Apple The Forum Shops
- Address = 3500 Las Vegas Blvd South, Caesars Palace Dr, Las Vegas, NV 89109, United States
- Google Maps = https://maps.app.goo.gl/vaLgWcrSJHQPEAW16
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