Apple has made some exciting product announcements ahead of the busiest holiday shopping season.
The tech giant has announced powerful M3 chip family to power a new lineup of Macs. The three M3 chips will debut in new MacBook Pro and iMac.
Apple M3 family of chips
The new range includes the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, each tailored to meet the unique needs of a diverse user base. The M3 family promises an unmatched level of performance and innovative capabilities.
- M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips mark a significant leap in chip technology, utilizing the industry-leading 3-nanometer technology.
- These chips feature an advanced GPU with a new technology called Dynamic Caching, optimizing memory usage for peak performance in pro apps and games.
- The GPUs introduce hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing for more visually complex and realistic scenes. The new media engine supports AV1 decode for efficient and high-quality video streaming.
- The M3 family represents a substantial advancement in Apple silicon, offering faster CPU and GPU performance compared to the M1.
- M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max have an enhanced Neural Engine to accelerate powerful machine learning (ML) models. The Neural Engine is up to 60% faster than in the M1 family.
“Apple silicon has completely redefined the Mac experience. Every aspect of its architecture is designed for performance and power efficiency,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. “With 3-nanometer technology, a next-generation GPU architecture, a higher-performance CPU, faster Neural Engine, and support for even more unified memory, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max are the most advanced chips ever built for a personal computer.”
M3 vs M3 Pro vs M3 Max
| M3 | M3 boasts 25 billion transistors, a 10-core GPU, and an 8-core CPU, providing a 65% boost in graphics performance over M1, and a 35% increase in CPU performance. It supports up to 24GB of unified memory. |
| M3 Pro | M3 Pro consists of 37 billion transistors, an 18-core GPU (40% faster than M1 Pro), and a 12-core CPU with 30% faster performance than M1 Pro. It supports up to 36GB of unified memory. |
| M3 Max | M3 Max raises the bar with 92 billion transistors, a 40-core GPU (50% faster than M1 Max), and support for up to 128GB of unified memory. The 16-core CPU delivers a stunning 80% performance boost over M1 Max. Two ProRes engines ensure speedy video post-production on high-resolution content. |
14-inch MacBook Pro with M3
Equipped with a next-generation GPU architecture and a faster CPU, these laptops redefine what it means to be a pro device. The 14-inch MacBook Pro, powered by the M3, is not only perfect for day-to-day tasks but also excels in pro applications and gaming, delivering sustained performance that will impress aspiring students, entrepreneurs and creatives. The starting price is $1,599.
The M3-powered MacBook Pro boasts substantial performance gains. It is 7.4x faster rendering in Final Cut Pro, 3.7x faster code compilation in Xcode, and 3.5x faster spreadsheet tasks in Microsoft Excel compared to its predecessors.
14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro
For those who require even greater performance and enhanced memory support, there are the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro. Featuring a monster GPU, a powerful CPU, and support for up to 128GB of unified memory, it’s designed for extreme workflows and multitasking, making it ideal for machine learning programmers, coders, 3D artists, and video editors.
The M3-powered MacBook Pro delivers major performance gains across various tasks. Filter and function performance in Adobe Photoshop is up to 3x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro and up to 40 percent faster than the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Pro. Basecalling for DNA sequencing in Oxford Nanopore MinKNOW is up to 20x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro.
MacBook Pro with M3 Max
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max offers exceptional performance, ideal for machine learning programmers, 3D artists, and video editors. It’s up to 2.5x faster than the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M1 Max and up to 11x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro. Supporting up to 128GB of unified memory, it enables efficient work on large, complex projects.
New MacBook Pro
In addition to the remarkable performance upgrades, the new MacBook Pro lineup boasts a sleek space black aluminum finish for the M3 Pro and M3 Max models. These laptops come with a brilliant Liquid Retina XDR display, 20% brighter SDR content, an integrated 1080p camera, a six-speaker sound system, and a wide range of connectivity options. These laptops are now available for order, with shipping starting November 7.
“With the remarkable power-efficient performance of Apple silicon, up to 22 hours of battery life, a stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, and advanced connectivity, MacBook Pro empowers users to do their life’s best work,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With the next generation of M3 chips, we’re raising the bar yet again for what a pro laptop can do” for broad set of users and “a game-changing experience” for those upgrading from an Intel-based MacBook Pro.
iMac supercharged by M3
The iMac is finally getting updated with the latest Apple silicon — new Apple M3 chip. This will make iMac up to 2x faster than the prior generation with M1. Apple is sticking with the 24-inch form factor, a 4.5K Retina display, and the familiar array of seven colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver.
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