Apple
MacBook Pro refreshed with M3 chips, now comes in Space Black
A 14-inch model with the M3 also replaces the older 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro.
Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.
2023 Apple MacBook Pro with M3 chips
Apple has refreshed its MacBook Pro lineup with its latest M3 family of chips. It now comes in a new Space Black colorway and a 14-inch base model that replaces the older 13-inch model.
- The new MacBook Pro comes in two sizes and three chip options.
- The 14-inch version gets a cheaper M3-powered model that replaces the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
- High-resolution Mini LED displays are standard across both models.
- The cheaper M3 model comes with an entry price of $1,599.
The “Scary Fast” event just happened, and Apple has announced the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M3 silicon along with the new 24-inch M3 iMac. Say hello to the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max!
The new MacBook Pro is available in two sizes, 14 and 16 inches, and comes with the new M3 silicon, which effectively ends the older 13-inch MacBook Pro line.
Surprisingly, it’s the first time Apple has announced all three new chips simultaneously.
The new MacBook Pros look similar to the old generation complete with the infamous “Screen Notch.” Love it or hate it, the notch is designed to house the camera system.
Under the hood is the most significant upgrade, the new M3 silicon, developed using TSMC’s new 3nm manufacturing process. It is the same fabrication process that was used to develop the A17 Pro, the chips that power the Phone 15 Pro.
In terms of performance, we can expect a “monstrous” performance improvement over the M1 chips, according to Apple, making these chips particularly impressive when used in an ultra-portable machine like the MacBook Air.
Here’s what each M3 silicon on the new MacBook Pro delivers
The new chips have promised performance gains over the last generations of Apple Silicon, and new features.
M3
The standard variant of Apple’s third-generation silicon sports an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU and supports up to 24GB of unified memory or on-board RAM. According to Apple, the new chip is 65% faster than the M1 in GPU performance and 35% faster than the M1 in CPU performance.
M3 Pro
Coming to the upper echelon, the “Pro” variant of Apple’s third-generation silicon features a 12-core CPU and an 18-core GPU with up to 36GB of unified memory support. Apple claims the new Pro chip is 40% faster than the M1 Pro in GPU tasks and 30% faster in CPU tasks.
M3 Max
Lastly, the most powerful sibling of the M3 family, the M3 Max comes with a 16-core CPU and a bonkers 40-core GPU. It can also support up to a whopping 128GB of unified memory, which is a first for Apple silicon.
The M3 Max is also 50% faster than the M1 Max in GPU performance and a whopping 80% in CPU performance.
Interestingly, this year Apple has mentioned multiple times playing games on Macs during the event. The company even showed gameplay footage captured on Macs, which included games like Baldur’s Gate 3 and the Myst remake.
So, it is clear that with the M3 silicon’s launch, Apple has started to push gamers to accept it as a balanced gaming machine. We are not sure whether games will listen, but at least Apple is trying to make gaming on Macs a thing.
New M3 MacBook Pro: colors, price and availability
The new M3 MacBook Pros are coming in a stunning Space Black colorway and are available for pre-order on Apple’s website starting today. They will officially launch on November 7th.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro model is the cheapest, starts at $1,599, and is available in M3 and M3 Pro configurations immediately. Meanwhile, the 16-inch model still starts at $2,499 and is also available to order today.
Unfortunately, the M3 Max equipped systems won’t arrive until late November for both 14-and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, and Apple didn’t provide any further info on the matter.
Have any thoughts on this? Drop us a line below in the comments, or carry the discussion to our Twitter or Facebook.
Editors’ Recommendations:
- Apple could launch M3 MacBook Air refresh in spring/summer 2024
- Apple plans to update iPhones before you open the box
- Is Apple Pencil 3 set to revolutionize digital creativity?
- Apple aims to dominate AI with massive investment & hiring spree
Follow us on Flipboard, Google News, or Apple News
2 Comments
Leave a Reply
David Dzidzikashvili
November 4, 2023 at 5:20 pm
Recent Apple release of the 3nm M3 chip with a 40-core CPU will definitely delivers more visible power vs M2 generation and is at the M2 Ultra level of performance. This is a desktop power in a laptop, Apple did it again! With the M3 chip with enhanced GPU/CPU performance, Apple has entered gaming space, and the newer generation Macs will have much better gaming benchmark scores and the overall FPS rates and performance vs prior gen M2 and M1 chips and even v. M3 Macs will close gaming performance gaps vs Windows OS based platforms with RTX 4000 series gaming graphics cards. The M2 generation had already made substantial progress in this regard with the gamers, so M3 with 3nm chip infrastructure has again raised the bar very high.
There are other performance improvements too that the M3 offers if you are going to perform GPU-demanding tasks such as 3D graphic rendering or modelling, video and audio production, etc. Here too the M3 Max 3nm process is offering higher performance and lower power draw versus N5. Clearly Apple has delivered something out of this world… And wait until M3 Ultra comes out – this will seal the deal!
Kevin Raposo
November 6, 2023 at 9:38 am
It’s exciting to see Apple pushing the boundaries with their M3 chip. The enhanced GPU/CPU performance and the 3nm chip infrastructure definitely seem promising for gaming and GPU-demanding tasks.