Apple has updated its MacBook Pro lineup with the latest M3 family of chips at the ‘Scary Fast’ event it held earlier today. Further, it also updated the 24-inch iMac with the M3 processor. The M3 lineup of chips consists of the M3, M3 Pro and the M3 Max. So here’s every detail you want to know about these laptops.
M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max: All details
The M3 family of chips features a next-generation GPU, which according to Apple, is the “biggest leap forward in graphics architecture ever for Apple silicon”. The GPU is faster and more efficient, and introduces a new technology called Dynamic Caching, while bringing new rendering features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to Mac for the first time.
Compared to the M1 chips, rendering speeds are now up to 2.5x faster while the CPU performance cores and efficiency cores are 30 percent and 50 percent faster. The Neural Engine is 60 percent faster than the Neural Engine in the M1 family of chips.
While explaining Dynamic Caching, Apple says that only the exact amount of memory needed is used for each task with this feature. “This is an industry first, transparent to developers, and the cornerstone of the new GPU architecture. It dramatically increases the average utilisation of the GPU, which significantly increases performance for the most demanding pro apps and games”, claims Apple.
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing also debuts on the Mac, thanks to the newer capabilities of the M3, M3 Pro and the M3 Max. Apple notes that the M3 GPU is able to deliver the same performance as M1 using nearly half the power, and up to 65 percent more performance at its peak.
Each chip in the M3 family features a unified memory architecture, with up to 120GB memory support. The enhanced Neural Engine is up to 60 percent faster than in the M1 family of chips.
Talking about the individual specifications, M3 features 25 billion transistors — 5 billion more than M2. It has a 10-core GPU featuring the next-generation architecture that is 65 percent faster than M1 for graphics performance. It gets an 8-core CPU, consisting of four performance cores and four efficiency cores, that is up to 35 percent faster than M1 for CPU performance. And it supports up to 24GB of unified memory.
The M3 Pro takes all the power up by a notch. M3 Pro consists of 37 billion transistors and an 18-core GPU. The GPU is up to 40 percent faster than M1 Pro. Support for unified memory goes up to 36GB. The 12-core CPU design has six performance cores and six efficiency cores, offering single-threaded performance that is up to 30 percent faster than M1 Pro.
M3 Max increases the transistor count up to 92 billion. The 40-core GPU is up to 50 percent faster than M1 Max, and there’s support for up to 128GB of unified memory. The 16-core CPU features 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores, achieving performance that’s up to 80 percent faster than M1 Max.
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MacBook Pro 14-inch, 16-inch with M3 series: Price, Features, Specs
The pricing for the new MacBook Pros is as follows:
- 14-inch M3 512GB – Rs 1,69,900
- 14-inch M3 1TB – Rs 1,89,900
- 14-inch M3 Pro 512GB – Rs 1,99,900
- 14-inch M3 Pro 1TB – Rs 2,39,900
- 14-inch M3 Max 1TB – Rs 3,19,900
- 16-inch M3 Pro 512GB & 18GB – Rs 2,49,900
- 16-inch M3 Pro 512GB & 36GB – Rs 2,89,900
- 16-inch M3 Max 1TB & 36GB – Rs 3,49,900
- 16-inch M3 Max 1TB & 48GB – Rs 3,99,900
Those interested can order the new MacBook Pro starting today, October 31, on Apple’s own online store and in the Apple Store app in 27 countries and regions, including India. It will begin arriving to customers, and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers, starting Tuesday, November 7.
Coming to the features and specs, the new MacBook Pro models remain largely similar to their predecessors in terms of design. The only major difference here is that the MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max are available in space black, a new finish. M3 Pro and M3 Max models are also available in silver, and the 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 is available in silver and space gray. Aside from that, the design language stays identical to M2 MacBook Pros.
All MacBook Pro models feature a Liquid Retina XDR display with 20 percent brighter SDR content, a built-in 1080p camera, an immersive six-speaker sound system, and a wide array of connectivity options. They offer up to 22 hours of battery life.
The displays support 1000 nits sustained brightness and 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR content while SDR content is shown at 600 nits brightness which is 20 percent brighter than before. MacOS sonoma powers all the new MacBooks.
Compared to the older MacBooks, render performance in Final Cut Pro is up to 7.4x faster in M3 MacBook Pro than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Core i7, and up to 60 percent faster than the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with M1. Filter and function performance in Adobe Photoshop is up to 3x faster in M3 Pro MacBook Pro models than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro, and up to 40 percent faster than the 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro.
24” iMac with M3: Price, Features
The pricing for the 24” iMac is as follows:
- 8GB, 256GB, 8 core GPU – Rs 1,34,900
- 8GB, 256GB, 10 core GPU – Rs 1,54,900
- 8GB, 512GB, 10 core GPU – Rs 1,74,900
The new 24-inch iMac with M3 is available to order today on Apple’s own store in 27 countries and regions, including India. It will begin arriving to customers and will be in Apple Store locations and Apple Authorised Resellers starting Tuesday, November 7. It is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver colours.
iMac with M3 is up to 2x faster than the prior generation with M1. And for those upgrading from an Intel-based iMac, the new iMac is up to 2.5x faster than the most popular 27-inch models, and 4x faster than the most powerful 21.5-inch model. It also features a 4.5K Retina Display with 11.3 million pixels and over a billion colours, faster wireless connectivity, and a seamless experience with iPhone.
The new iMac supports up to 24GB of unified memory. Compared to the M1 model:
- Safari performs up to 30 percent faster.
- Productivity apps like Microsoft Excel perform up to 30 percent faster
- Games load even faster, and users will experience up to 50 percent faster frame rates
iMac features a 24-inch, 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, a P3 wide colour gamut, over a billion colours, and 500 nits of brightness. For connectivity, it gets Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth v5.3, up to four USB‑C ports, including two Thunderbolt ports for super-fast data transfer; support for Gigabit Ethernet standard on select models; and up to a 6K external display.
It further has a 1080p FaceTime camera and studio-quality mics, along with a six-speaker sound system with support for Spatial Audio when playing music or video with Dolby Atmos.
iMac features a colour-matched keyboard, mouse, and trackpad. With the option to choose a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, users can securely unlock their computer, use Apple Pay, and download apps. Additionally, Touch ID works with Fast User Switching, so customers can change to a different user profile by pressing their finger on the fingerprint sensor. Lastly, it runs on MacOS sonoma.