As expected, Apple presented new Macs at its Scary Fast conference on October 30. Expensive and powerful models, all powered by the new M3 series chips, with impressive performance.
Apple took everyone by surprise by announcing barely a week in advance a new keynote for October 30 (see our article). Only Bloomberg’s immarcescible Mark Gurman had first hinted at the arrival of new Macs before the end of October. Despite this, we were all just waiting for a few new, unimportant products to be announced via press releases. What a mistake ! The keynote Monstrously fast (in English Scary fast) therefore took place the day before Halloween, with an unusual time for Apple’s announcements since they therefore began at 5 p.m. California time, i.e. 8 p.m. time on the East Coast the United States. And so 1 a.m. at our house. And, in the end, fortunately we did not only have the right to press releases because these last minute announcements were so important. Because it is indeed an almost entire new range of processors that has been announced: M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max. With of course, breathtaking performance and new high-end MacBook Pros to take advantage of it. And, even, in guest star, a new iMac (finally!), also powered by an M3. Detail review.
Apple Scary Fast: an event filmed entirely on the iPhone
Once is not customary, let’s start at the end. And the very end, even, that is to say the credits after the broadcast of the last images of Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, summarizing the announcements of the day. Under a large white apple displayed on a black background, we learn that the entire video of just over 30 minutes which constitutes the event of the night of October 30 to 31, 2023 was entirely filmed on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, including drone shots, and then obviously edited on a Mac. A great first to our knowledge which demonstrates the exceptional video qualities of the latest iPhone, in particular thanks to its LOG capture mode, which all image professionals had already noticed and applauded.
M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max: Apple’s new champions
The real star of the event is of course the new range of M3 processors. Because, yes, Apple did not just announce one new processor, but three at once with the M3, the M3 Pro and the M3 Max. And even if we try to ignore all the superlatives commonly used by Apple to describe all of its products – an understatement! –, we must admit that there is reason to be impressed. The promises of performance gains, which remain to be confirmed naturally, are enough to make one salivate. The simplest M3 thus promises to be up to 60% faster than the M1 chip presented in 2021 and 40% faster than the M2 of less than a year ago. The M3 Pro would be 40% faster than the M1 Pro and 20% faster than the M2 Pro. As for the M3 Max, the promises are more vague, because Apple has limited itself to a comparison of rendering times of three-dimensional scenes in the Cinema 4D software, promising an M3 Max up to 2.5 times faster than an M1 Max and up to 2 times faster than an M2 Max. It is therefore a more specific use which will appeal to all image professionals, but which is essentially based on the new architecture of the graphics computing cores, the GPUs.
As its name suggests, the M3 range of processors is a natural successor to the M1 and M2. That said, the M3 still marks a more significant technological leap than during the transition from the M1 to the M2. The M3 is in fact the first chip for Mac to benefit from 3 nm (nanometer) engraving technology, the same one that was inaugurated by the A17 Pro processor of the iPhone 15 Pro. A process for engraving transistors so thin that, according to Apple; we could fit 2 million into the section of a hair. We also notice that Apple has more often compared the new M3 to the first generation of M chips than to the second. As if to confirm that the M2 chips were only a lesser step in the line of “in-house” chips.
And it is in particular this new engraving finesse which allows M3 processors to offer the performance gains mentioned above, while remaining very energy efficient. According to Apple, the M3 thus achieves the performance of the M1 while consuming half the energy. And since Apple can’t hold back, Johny Srouji, Apple’s vice president of hardware technologies, also compared the M3 to a 12-core Intel PC, indicating that the Apple chip delivered the same level of performance while consuming four at five times less energy. New justification, if any were needed, for Apple’s abandonment of Intel processors.
MacBook Pro M3: a finally unified range
The third generation of Apple’s M processors is therefore accompanied by a new range of MacBook Pros. First surprise, we note the disappearance (finally!) of the 13-inch MacBook Pro which had difficulty justifying its existence compared to the MacBook Air, just as powerful and better equipped. This also means that Apple has officially completely abandoned the Touch Bar, this long screen intended to replace the traditional function keys on the top row of Mac keyboards. Appearing for the first time on the 2016 MacBook Pros, it never really convinced. That said, we don’t lose out, because the new entry-level MacBook Pro now has the same very high quality 14-inch screen which was until now reserved for models equipped with an M Pro or M chip. Max. This also means an increase in the price of the first MacBook Pro in the range but, at least, it no longer steals its Pro name!
The 2023 MacBook Pro catalog now offers a range going from the M3 to the M3 Max, in 14 and 16 inch diagonal screens, the M3 Max can now be equipped with a maximum of 128 GB of RAM! Be careful with the budget, in this case, because the price of RAM increase options is still very high at Apple. Especially since the base models are still only equipped with 8 GB of RAM. And just the jump from 8 to 16 GB, which should nevertheless constitute the minimum, still costs 230 euros. And you have to pay the same amount to go from 512 GB of storage to 1 TB. Boo, Apple!
iMac M3: faster but not bigger
As a traditional One More Thing (one more thing), Apple also announced the update of the iMac, the brand’s all-in-one, now equipped with an M3 processor. This was ultimately one of the most anticipated announcements, because the iMac M1 had remained unchanged since its announcement in May 2021. That said, apart from the transition to the M3 chip which ensures markedly improved performance and a maximum memory capacity increasing from 16 to 24 GB, the iMac M3 is only a minor update. It remains available in the same color range and retains its 23.5-inch diagonal screen. In short, we still don’t see a replacement coming for the 27-inch iMac, which has disappeared from the range since the switch to M. Pire chips, even though Apple announced with fanfare the switch to USB-C for the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro during the keynote last September, the peripherals delivered with the iMac (keyboard, mouse or touchpad) are still in the Lightning version! If there was ever a good time to announce accessory updates, it was when announcing new machines that primarily use them. Boo, Apple (bis repeata)!
New Mac M3s: price and availability
If, as always, the prices of new products were announced in dollars – excluding taxes – during the conference, Apple has since published the prices in euros in France, quite high, as one might expect, especially considering the SSD capacity.
- 14-inch MacBook Pro – M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU) – 8 GB RAM – 512 GB SSD: 1,999 euros
- 14-inch MacBook Pro – M3 (8-core CPU, 10-core GPU) – 8 GB RAM – 1 TB SSD: 2,229 euros
- 14-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Pro (11-core CPU, 14-core GPU) – 18 GB RAM – 512 G SSD: 2,499 euros
- 14-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Pro (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU) – 18 GB RAM – 1 TB SSD: 2,999 euros
- 14-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Max (14-core CPU, 30-core GPU) – 36 GB RAM – 1 TB SSD: 3,999 euros
- 16-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Pro (12 CPU cores, 18 GPU cores), – 18 GB RAM – 512 GB SSD: 2,999 euros
- 16-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Pro (12 CPU cores, 18 GPU cores) – 36 GB RAM – 512 GB SSD: 3,459 euros
- 16-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Max (14-core CPU, 30-core GPU) – 36 GB RAM – 1 TB SSD: 4,249 euros
- 16-inch MacBook Pro – M3 Max (16-core CPU, 40-core GPU) – 48 GB RAM – 1 TB SSD: 4,849 euros
- 24-inch iMac – M3 – (8 CPU cores, 8 GPU cores) – 8 GB RAM – 256 GB SSD: 1,599 euros
- 24-inch iMac – M3 – (8 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores) – 8 GB RAM – 256 GB SSD: 1,829 euros
- 24-inch iMac – M3 – (8 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores) – 8 GB RAM – 512 GB SSD: 2,059 euros
The most impatient can order all MacBook Pro M3, M3 Pro today, knowing that they will be delivered from November 7. It is also possible to order a model equipped with the M3 Max, but it will be delivered a little later in November. As for the iMac M3, you can also order it now for delivery next week.
The only thing missing is the Mac mini, the Mac Studio M3 and the MacBook Air which were not part of today’s announcements and which therefore remain for the moment equipped with the M2 processor range. But we can bet that it won’t be long.