At tonight’s one-of-a-kind evening October event, Apple has unveiled their new lineup of M-processors: M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. These chips can be found in the new MacBook Pros, with the 14″ M3 starting at $1599.
While the upgrade is mostly a spec bump, Apple’s engineers have brought ray tracing to their laptops for the first time. This represents a big leap for developers and gamers on Mac systems, alike.
Interestingly, Apple now offers the 14″ Pro with 3 different chips: M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. More specifically, it offers a “binned” core version of both the M3 Pro and M3 Max, depending on the price point. Its unlikely to make a significant difference day-to-day, but is something to consider.
Also, the 2 lower-tier 14″ versions feature slightly less fast thunderbolt ports, and only two of them compared to 3 on the more expensive models. Finally, the new color Apple introduced, dubbed “Space Black” (refined with a fingerprint-resistant coating), is exclusive to the higher tiered 14″ Pros and all 16″ Pros.
Apple has also upgraded the maximum amount of RAM in the higher-end machines: up to 128GB for those who need it.
Apart from a spec bump and a new color, there are no major differences to be noted in this iteration of MacBook Pros. While the performance improvements will be something to consider for all remaining intel-based Mac users, or M1 users, its unlikely people already on M2 systems will make the upgrade.
The 14″ MacBook Pro with M3 (8, 512) starts at $1599, and the 16″ Macbook Pro with M3 Pro (18, 512) begins at $2499). Its worth noting that this years Pros have gone from 16GB of ram in their base pro configurations to a slightly higher 18GB.
The new computers are available to order today, and will ship next week. Will you be purchasing any of the new MacBook Pros?