Apple Announces Not One, Not Two, but Three New Chips (and New MacBook Pros)

2 hours ago

October 31, 2023 at 12:47 pm

Apple held its Scary Fast event this morning, and while it wasn’t exactly scary, it was fast. If you missed it, here’s what Apple announced today.

M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max

Tim Cook started the show by saying the MacBook has been transformed by Apple silicon, but the transformation was ongoing. He announced a “new family of breakthrough chips” that his company was “bringing them to the world’s best Pro laptop”. Those chips are the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max.

Screenshot: Apple

As they were speeding past the specs for these things, the TL;DR seemed to be that the M3 series represented the “largest leap forward in graphics architecture” for Apple. The M3 has an 8-core CPU, 10-core 25 GPU, and 25 billion transistors. The M3 Pro ups this to 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, and 37 billion transistors and the M3 Max is a 16-core CPU, 40-core (!!!) GPU, and 92 billion transistors. Maximum memory capacity also goes to 128GB (from 96GB). The stats were that the performance cores in each of the M3 chips can run up to 30 per cent faster than the M1’s performance cores, and that the efficiency cores are up to 50 per cent faster.

A new feature added was Dynamic Caching, which Apple said allows the chip to allocate only the exact amount of memory that’s needed to perform a task. They also boast hardware-accelerated ray tracing (ray tracing models the properties of light as it interacts with a scene, allowing apps to create extremely realistic and physically accurate images). The new GPU brings hardware-accelerated mesh shading to the Mac, too, which delivers greater capability and efficiency to geometry processing, and enables more visually complex scenes in games and graphics-intensive apps.

Apple wants to be your gaming machine.

“Macs can do things no other laptops can do,” Apple SVP of hardware technologies Johny Srouji said.

Screenshot: Apple

So, what are these chips going in?

14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M3

New MacBook Pro laptops, of course. Three chips, three models of MacBook Pros.

The new 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 is marketed by Apple as being perfect for aspiring creatives, students, and entrepreneurs. The 14- and 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro provides even greater performance and additional unified memory support, which is for users with more demanding workflows (like coders or researchers). And, the 14- and 16‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max delivers performance and capabilities that Apple said “push the limits of computing”.

Apple threw around a few stats during its presentation, including that noting spreadsheet performance in Microsoft Excel is up to 3.5x faster than the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with Core i7, and up to 40 per cent faster than the 13‑inch MacBook Pro with M1.

Screenshot: Apple

Black black black black

For those of us who wear nothing but black, Apple finally gave us what we want – a black MacBook Pro. How Halloween of them. Of course, there are more important things in life, but the main thing I don’t like about Apple devices is the fact it’s only the iPhone Pro/Pro Max that comes in a black colour. Now, we get a sexy af laptop. MacBook Pro in Space Black is only for the models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, however.

14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 starts at $2,699 ($2,529 for education).

14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro starts at $3,499 ($3,239 for education).

16‑inch MacBook Pro starts at $4,299 ($3,949 for education).

iMac gets a boost

The 24-inch iMac featuring the M3 chip also made its debut this morning.

Image: Apple

According to Apple, the iMac with M3 is up to 2x faster than the prior generation with M1, and up to 2.5x faster than the 27-inch Intel-based iMac and 4x faster than the most powerful 21.5-inch. 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels and over a billion colours, and faster wireless connectivity round out the big features from the new machine.

Screenshot: Apple

iMac with 8-core GPU starts at $2,199 ($2,109 for education).

iMac with 10-core GPU starts at $2,499 ($2,329 for education).

One more thing…

There was no ‘One more thing’ thing today but there was the end credits that said the entire pre-recorded event was shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max and edited on a Mac. Which was cool, actually.

Screenshot: Apple