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Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ event flew by in a mere thirty minutes, unveiling an attractive but somewhat stunted lineup of new M3 Macs.
From insanely powerful new M3 chips to upgraded M3 MacBook Pro and iMac models, Apple’s latest announcement gave us lots to be excited about whilst also leaving a gaping hole in the release calendar. Hint, hint; where’s the M3 MacBook Air?!!
Without further ado, let’s follow Tim Cook’s lead and take a rapid rundown of everything that was announced at Apple’s Scary Fast event.
1. New M3 Chip Lineup
At the heart of Apple’s Scary Fast event were the new M3 chips. These cutting-edge chips, developed using TSMC’s 3nm process, genuinely offer unparalleled performance and efficiency. There are no other laptops or desktop computers on the market with 3-nanometer chips. It’s another Apple first.
The M3 lineup includes the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips.
The base-level M3 chip remains at an 8-core CPU, a perfectly suitable amount for most everyday users. But things start to get really tasty with the M3 Max.
With a whopping 40-core GPU, Apple says the M3 Max will be 50% faster than the M1 Max chip. Overall, performance is said to be up to 80% faster when compared to the M1. When you consider how revolutionary the M1 chips were when they launched only a few years ago, this new leap seems astronomical.
The M3 chips also offer a significant leap in graphics rendering speed. Apple claims that the M3 renders at 2.5 times the speed of the previous M1 chip, with a CPU that is 30% faster.
2. New M3 MacBook Pro Models
Apple’s MacBook Pro lineup received a major upgrade at the Scary Fast event. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models now come equipped with M3 chips, although the 16-inch MacBook Pro will only be available with the M3 Pro and M3 Max.
What most people will care about at first glance however is the new Space Black colourway. It looks seriously cool. No, mean. It looks like you’d find Grand Moff Tarkin about to use it on the Death Star to destroy another planet.
Additionally, the M3 Max MacBook Pro can be upgraded to include 128GB of RAM which is another boundary pushed by Apple.
Beyond the new chips though, the M3-powered MacBook Pro models are much the same as their M2 predecessors. They feature Mini LED displays and the same amount of thunderbolt ports as their respective predecessors, whilst the M3 Pro and M3 Max include a HDMI port and SD card reader.
3. Revamped 24-inch iMac
Scary Fast saw Apple’s iconic iMac receive a colourful refresh. Besides the new green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver options, the 24-inch iMac will now ship with the M3 chip, delivering a desperately needed performance boost.
Alongside the M3 chip, the new 24-inch iMac features a 4.5K Retina display with 1 billion colours, a 1080p FaceTime camera, and a six-speaker sound system.
The most basic version of the 24-inch iMac comes with an 8-core GPU and 8-core CPU for $1,299 (£1,399), whilst the 512GB SSD, 10-core GPU model comes in at $1,699 (£1,799).
4. A Cheaper 14-inch MacBook Pro
In addition to the upgraded MacBook Pro models, Apple introduced a more affordable 14-inch MacBook Pro. This entry-level model features the base M3 chip and offers performance up to 60% faster than its predecessor.
While it may not have all the bells and whistles of the higher-end models, the entry-level MacBook Pro still delivers ample power and reliability for most users.
Now, when I say ‘affordable’, I mean it in the most Apple way possible. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 chip starts at $1,599 (£1,699). That is still witheringly expensive for most, but it does genuinely offer great value. This version of the 14-inch MacBook Pro should last you at least six years.
The base model comes in silver and space grey variations with an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU and 512GB SSD storage.
5. The Power of Apple’s M3 Chips
Just take a moment to think about how powerful Apple’s new M3 chips are.
With hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, and Dynamic Caching, the M3 chips deliver exceptional graphics performance and memory optimization. These chips are designed to handle demanding tasks such as video editing, gaming, and 3D rendering with ease.
The M3 chips also support up to 128GB of unified memory, allowing for seamless multitasking and improved overall performance. Whether you’re a creative professional or a casual user, the M3 chips offer a significant boost in power and efficiency.
However, if you use your laptop mainly for word processing and spreadsheets, you won’t notice much discernable difference, if any, from an M1 MacBook Pro model.
6. The Missing M3 MacBook Air
The Scary Fast event was good, but it wasn’t great. In fact, it was a tad disappointing.
Whilst new M3 MacBook Pros are welcome, the MacBook Air has long been the go-to option for those of us who want a top-of-the-range model for a lower price. The M1 MacBook Air was (and still is) a beast. For the price, you couldn’t get better.
But there is no M3 option yet. To me, that’s a huge misstep from Apple both in terms of their own profits and customer needs. The M1 MacBook Air was their best-selling laptop in 2022. Customers want them but Apple aren’t making them.
Round Up
Apple’s Scary Fast event was short but sweet…and a little bit sour.
We got an extremely powerful set of new M3 chips, so far ahead of Windows competitors that any attempts to catch up seem futile. New M3 MacBook Pros, especially those with the M3 Max chip, will satisfy all users from those who answer emails to full-stack web developers. They are by far the best laptops on the market.
Best of all was the refreshed iMac which will surely resurrect a dormant giant in the world of desktop computers. The added colours are also a nice touch for some individuality.
But, and it is a big but, there is no M3 MacBook Air…yet.
What did you think about the Scary Fast event? Let me know below!
