Now available in Space Black versus Space Gray, the M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14″ is terrifyingly fast. Almost feels like a wider, 2023 version of the PowerBook G3 Lombard. The M3 Pro cranks it up a notch over the M2 Pro, boasting even higher performance and efficiency core clock speeds, and newer, more power efficient 3 nm process. The M3 Pro’s Memory bandwidth drops down to 150 GB/s versus the M2 Pro’s 204 GB/s, sheds a GPU core or 2, and has a slightly lower GPU clock speed. In return, the base model starts with 18 GB RAM, and can be configured up to 36 GB. The M3 Max’s memory bandwidth is 300 GB/s versus the M2 Max’s 400 GB/s. The M3 Pro also introduces dynamic caching for the GPU, allowing for better memory allocation.
Hardware Accelerated Ray Tracing
The M3 chip introduces Hardware Accelerated Ray Tracing. It is a technique used in computer graphics to create highly realistic lighting and shadows by simulating the way light interacts with objects in a scene. Unlike traditional rasterization, which processes polygons and textures to render images, ray tracing follows the path of rays of light as they travel through a scene. The idea is to create realistic shadows, detailed reflections, and make gaming more life-like without as much of a performance hit.
Closed Lid Mode: All ‘Books support “lid closed” (or clamshell) mode, which leaves the built-in display off and dedicates all video RAM to an external display. To used closed lid mode, your ‘Book must be plugged into the AC adapter and connected to an external display and a USB or Bluetooth mouse and keyboard (you might also want to consider external speakers). Power up your ‘Book until the desktop appears on the external display and then close the lid. Your ‘Book will go to sleep, but you can wake it by moving the mouse or using the keyboard. The built-in display will remain off, and the external monitor will become your only display.
To resume use of the internal display, you need to disconnect the external display, put the computer to sleep, and then open the lid. This will wake up your ‘Book and restore use of the built-in display.
Battery life is claimed to be 12 hours of wireless productivity, 18 hours Apple TV App movie playback.
Details
- Announced 2023.10.30
- Discontinued 2024.10.30
- Model: A2992 (EMC 8407)
- Order Numbers:
- MRX33LL/A (Space Black)
- MRX63LL/A (Silver)
- Mac15,6 (M3 Pro)
- Mac15,10 (M3 Max)
Mac OS
- Requires macOS Sonoma 14.1 (Build 23B2073) or later
Core System
Legend: L1i = L1 Instruction Cache, L1d = L1 Data cache
- M3 Pro ($1999): 11 Cores, 5x 4.05 Ghz “M3 Pro” High Performance cores, 960K L1i, 640 Kb L1d, – 80 MB L2 cache, 12 MB SLC
- 6x 2.75 GHz “M3 Pro” energy efficient cores: 768K L1i. 384k L1d, 24 MB L2, – 12 MB SLC
- M3 Pro ($2399): 12 Cores, 6x 4.05 Ghz “M3 Pro” High Performance cores, 1.15 MB L1i, 768 Kb L1d, – 96 MB L2 cache, 12 MB SLC
- 6x 2.75 GHz “M3 Pro” energy efficient cores: 768K L1i. 384k L1d, 24 MB L2, – 12 MB SLC
- M3 Max ($3199): 14 Cores, 10x 4.05 Ghz “M3 Max” High Performance cores, 1.92 MB L1i, 1.28MB L1d, – 320 MB L2 cache, 48 MB SLC
- 4x 2.75 GHz “M3 Max” energy efficient cores: 512K L1i, 256k L1d, 16 MB L2, – 48 MB SLC
Memory
- All M3 Pro/Max models: 3200 MHz LPDDR5X-6400 SDRAM
- 150 GB/s M3 Pro (up to 32 GB)
- 300 GB/s on M3 Max (up to 96 GB 14-Core)
- 400 GB/s on 16-Core M3 Max (Up to 128 GB)
- Standard: 18 GB on M3 Pro, 36 GB on M3 Max
Video
- M3 Pro ($1999): Integrated Apple M3 Pro with 14/18-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
- Simultaneously supports built-in display @native res plus..
- 2x displays at once: 2x 6K60 via TB, or 1x 6K60@TB + 1x 4K144@HDMI
- 1x 8K60 or 1x 4K240 via HDMI
- M3 Max ($3199): Integrated Apple M3 Max with 30/40-Core Metal 3 Hardware Accelerated GPU
- Simultaneously supports built-in display @native res plus..
- 4x displays at once: 3x 6K60@TB + 1x 4K240@HDMI
- 3x Displays: 2x 6K60@TB + 1x 8K60HDMI or 4K240HDMI
- Internal Display: 14.2″ 3024 x 1964 Liquid Retina XDR, TFT IPS LED-Backlit LCD @254ppi
- Pro motion allows up to 120 Hz screen refresh rate
Drives
- Drive Bus: PCIe v4.0 SSD
- M3 Pro: 512GB
- M3 Max: 1 TB
- Configurable to:
- M3 Pro: 1 TB (+$200), 2 TB, 4 TB
- M3 Max: 2 TB, 4 TB, 8 TB
Expansion
- Wifi 6E
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Three USB-C style Thunderbolt 4 Ports
- Support for: USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)
- Magsafe 3
- HDMI 2
- SDXC card slot
- 3.5mm headphone jack, support for high impedance headphones
Misc.
- 6-Speaker High-Fidelity sound system with force cancelling woofers
- Force Touch Trackpad
- Ambient Light Sensor
- Touch ID on Power button
- 1080p Facetime Camera
- Advanced image signal processor with computational video
Battery
- 18H Video / 12H Web
Included Peripherals
- MacBook Pro
- 70W Power Brick + Cord (M3 Pro, 11 Core)
- 96W Power Brick + Cord (M3 Pro 12-CPU, M3 Max)
- 72.4 W/h Li-Ion battery
Physical
- Size:H/W/D 0.61 x 12.31 x 8.71 in/1.55 x 31.26 x 22.12 cm
- Weight: 3.5 lb./1.6 kg