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Apple upgrades Macbook Pro lineup with M3 processor
31 Oct 2023
Apple unveiled its next-generation M3 chipsets, including the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max during a spooky-themed virtual event last night. The new family of systems on a chip (SoC) will be available to the public inside the 14- and 16-inch Macbook Pro models, which unfortunately means the end of the road for the 13-inch Macbook Pro that used to be the entry point.
The Cupertino-based company claims that these M3 series SoCs are up to 50% faster compared to the M1 chips, and up to 30% faster compared to the M2 series. These gains are said to come from the switch a 3-nanometer process which packs more transistors into a smaller space and enhances both the speed and power efficiency of the package.
Features new to Apple silicon include dynamic caching that enables the processor to allocate memory for each task dynamically; and hardware ray tracing and mesh shading for the GPU that was first shown on the iPhone 15 Pro models.
Apple also announced a much-needed update to the 24-inch iMac with the new M3 chip at the helm, more memory, and ray tracing. The M3 iMac’s design is similar to the previous generation, but Apple claims a 2x speed increase over the outgoing M1 model, and up to 2.5x over the Intel-based 27-inch iMac.
A key standout to the event announcement was an emphasis on comparisons to the Intel-powered Mac computers as well as performance gains over M1. This is an obvious nudge to Mac users to upgrade as Mac sales plunged 30% year-on-year.
While local pricing is not yet available, the standard M3 variant of the 14-inch Macbook Pro with 8GB RAM starting price was lowered. This model will most likely fill the void of the axed 13-inch model.
South African Macbook customers may see a fire sale on the exiting models and could grab a good deal on a Macbook Pro for Christmas.
