‘Scary Fast’ Event Impressions: Sweetheart, This is Embarrassing
This takes the saying “This could’ve been an email” to a whole new level
I’ll try to make this quick. (But I always say that.)
Apple announced three new systems-on-a-chip this Monday, during an odd evening 8 p.m. Eastern time pre-recorded virtual event video on the night before Halloween. The event in its composition was interesting: Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, opened the keynote by saying, “Good evening,” unlike usual, and the opening drone shot featured Apple Park dressed like a haunted house. But the event itself isn’t what’s important. Apple housed those new SoCs in refreshed MacBooks Pro and 24-inch iMacs, and that’s the important part. I’ll begin with the SoCs themselves because they’re much more noteworthy than the vessels they call home.
All three SoCs were announced together for the first time in Apple history (history only being three years long, which is to say, not very long): M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. All three processors, which Apple together calls the “M3 Family,” are built on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company’s groundbreaking 3-nanometer process node. Specifically, they’re believed to be built on the N3E process node, upgraded from N3B, which is the node used to fabricate iPhone 15 Pro’s A17 Pro SoC. The 3 nm fabrication process provides efficiency and speed enhancements at the same time because the transistors — individual pieces that control the flow of electricity within a processor — are each individually smaller while being as performant. Smaller transistors use less power and generate less heat — two good things in semiconductor manufacturing.
In practice, these new SoCs, according to Apple, provide significantly better battery life on laptops, which is where they’re most useful. They also enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a technology used to simulate a variety of real-world lighting effects in three-dimensional graphical images, such as in video games and 3D models. Because ray tracing is now hardware-accelerated, it no longer relies solely on the grunt of the graphics processing unit, instead using a section of the SoC dedicated to ray tracing. The benefits may not be apparent to the vast majority of users, but they are apparent to game developers, 3D modelers, designers, and other professionals who work with 3D objects in programs such as Blender. The new processors also enable a new “industry-first” technology Apple calls “Dynamic Caching,” which, in Apple’s words, “allocates the use of local memory in hardware in real-time.” I’m unsure what this means for real-world graphics performance — full disclosure. But I’m excited to try it.
The three new SoCs mainly differ in their core counts, maximum storage, and maximum memory amounts, as well as hardware accelerators for other tasks such as video editing and external displays (the M3 unfortunately still only supports connecting to one external display). The M3 features an eight-core central processing unit, a 10-core GPU, and “up to” 24 gigabytes of unified memory, a term used to describe memory that is attached to the SoC directly providing a shared pool of memory across the CPU, GPU, and other components. It comes standard with 8 GB of memory. The M3 Pro features up to a 12-core CPU, with a standard configuration of 11 CPU cores; up to an 18-core GPU, with a standard configuration of 14 cores, two fewer cores than the base configuration of the M2 Pro from earlier this year (each core is more powerful, however); and up to 36 GB of memory, with a standard configuration of 18 GB. The behemoth M3 Max comes equipped with up to a 16-core CPU, with a standard configuration of 14 cores; up to a monstrous 40-core GPU, with a standard configuration of 30 cores; and up to 128 GB of memory, with a standard configuration of 36 GB.
Apple achieves the “standard” configurations by way of processor binning, which is the process of disabling defective cores. This year, Apple seems to be binning the M3 Family of processors rather aggressively. The standard configuration of the M3 Pro, for example, only comes equipped with 11 functioning CPU cores, and as noted previously, includes two less GPU cores than its predecessor. Granted, those cores ought to be speedier and more efficient, producing net gains in both synthetic benchmarks and real-world performance tasks, but the distinction and removal of GPU cores are worth noting. Each processor ships with more unified memory than its respective predecessor, however, and all computers are available in the same storage capacities as previous generations. This is just a wild prediction, but I think that the aggressive chip binning is due to the M3s being built on N3P rather than the slightly older N3E process. N3P is brand new by TSMC and Apple’s own admission, and the new MacBooks Pro and iMacs are the first personal computers to use 3 nm processors. This, assumedly, will result in lower yield rates when fabricating these state-of-the-art semiconductors, and will also result in more cores being defective.
This is not to dunk on the M3s at all, but I wish that Apple waited a couple more months to allow TSMC to expand its 3 nm process. With A17 Pro and now M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, TSMC’s 3 nm fabrication is presumably fully saturated, and I’m unsure what that’ll mean for performance. That theme echoes throughout the new products: Sure, they bring significant gains in AI model performance (Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies, literally referred to machine learning as “AI” during the presentation, which I think is a first for the company), 3D rendering, and other intensive tasks, but during the presentation, Apple made a conscious and noticeable effort to only compare the new SoCs with M1 and Intel-based Macs, not M2 Macs released earlier this year. This leads me to believe that the gains aren’t substantial between generations and that there’s a coalition within Apple that’s itching to drop software support for Intel Macs in macOS 15 next year.
Continuing on the theme of Apple seeming to rush these new products out of the door in time for the holiday season, the hardware domiciles these computers are housed in remain essentially unchanged from earlier this year and 2021. The MacBooks Pro feature the same speakers, keyboard, port selection, and overall chassis found on models from 2021 and onward. The exception comes in the displays, which Apple touted as now being 20 percent brighter when viewing standard dynamic range content. Previously, higher brightness was only available when viewing high dynamic range content, but it seems that the privilege has now been extended to all content, like user interface components (macOS is displayed in SDR). Other than that, though, the external hardware is quite similar. The iMac’s external hardware is unchanged, down to even the color selection. Mark Gurman, chief technology correspondent for Bloomberg and notoriously reliable Apple leaker, previously rumored that the iMac’s stand would be revamped in some way, and that proved to be an incorrect assertion.
Apple, in a perplexing move, also opted to retain the Lightning port on its “Magic” line of wireless peripherals that ship with iMacs, color-matched and everything. I’m disgruntled by this choice, as it truly makes no sense. Does Apple plan to ship another iMac between now and late 2024, when the European Union’s USB Type-C mandate law takes effect? I doubt it, which means Apple will presumably update only non-color-matched peripherals sometime next year. I truly can’t fathom why it chose not to update these peripherals now — it’s terribly disappointing. The new iMacs still ship with Lightning cables in 2023, a truly barbaric move by a company that’s been aggressively shipping new USB-C products, like the Apple Pencil from a couple of weeks ago.
To attract buyers holding on to years-old M1 machines, the MacBooks Pro in the M3 Pro and M3 Max configurations now come in a “Space Black” colorway in addition to Space Gray and Silver. I find the new color to be especially attractive, as I’ve wanted a black MacBook Pro for ages. It’s also treated in a special oleophobic coating, which, according to on-site reporters, holds up well against fingerprints that have previously plagued the Midnight MacBook Air. I’m glad to see it, though admittedly, I’m a bit disappointed that Apple didn’t call it the “MKBHD Color.” It suits him perfectly. Regardless, the marketing strategy seems to be working on nerds. I’m still personally undecided on whether I should stick with my beloved Silver or buy the “BlackBook.”
In my opinion, the most notable, and yet somehow frustrating modification/addition doesn’t come in the chips, colors, or annoying nine-month MacBook Pro refresh cycle: it’s the M3 14-inch MacBook Pro. No matter how hard Apple tries, I will perpetually be flabbergasted by this place in Apple’s otherwise sensible good-better-best Mac lineup. It’s got the good: the MacBook Air; it’s got the better: the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro; and it’s got the best: the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max. This awful 14-inch M3 suffix-less MacBook Pro does kill the asinine Touch Bar 13-inch MacBook Pro that carried the 2016-era MacBook Pro design. I’m glad that ancient piece of garbage is dead; nobody should’ve bought that computer, and I’m glad it no longer exists. My problem with the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is not with the computer itself but with its price: it retails for $1,600 and ships with 8 GB of memory, which is borderline outrageous. How does Apple think it is acceptable to sell a computer in 2023 with 8 GB of memory for $1,600? What world are we living in? The upgrade to 16 GB is $200, and at that point, you’re only $200 from the M3 Pro version, which has more cores and two more gigabytes of memory — a feature set that’s easily worth $200.
Once again, I have to imagine that if Apple waited for TSMC’s N3E process to improve in yield rate, or if it built the M3 Family on N3B instead, akin to the A17 Pro, it would’ve been able to sell the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 at, say, $1,500. $100 here makes a world of a difference. Maybe it could even ship it with more memory, who knows. But I think it’s ridiculous to call a computer that comes with only 8 GB of memory “Pro” in 2023, let alone to price it like a pro laptop. The $200 savings might be enticing to students and enterprise customers — and Apple knows that which is why it sells the damn computer in the first place — but I’d instead recommend them to buy a last-generation refurbished M2 Pro MacBook Pro when those hit shelves later this year. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 is a bust.
I think the rest of the machines are fairly priced, and the upgrades, while modest, are good. I’m especially excited to test out the battery life claims, as I feel like I’m just not getting enough out of my current M2 Pro MacBook Pro (that I adore). But zooming out, I find myself disappointed by Tuesday’s Apple event. It could’ve and should’ve been a press release rather than a 30-minute infomercial during prime time. Apple hyped the event up way too much, and it’s a big blow to their marketing strategy.
Apple events have always been noteworthy in some way. To maintain this perfect, god-like image of the company, Apple has historically been careful with when it produces an event. When Apple announces an event, the whole world watches. And if it continues to pursue this nonsense strategy of hosting video events with nothingburger announcements set during prime-time television-viewing hours, that effect will dwindle fast. The products are good, and I’m excited to own them, but I feel like they’re rushed, and that we’re missing a bit more. Here’s to Apple Vision Pro, I guess. 💣
A correction was made on October 31, 2023, at 3:02 a.m.: An earlier version of this article stated that the event took place on Tuesday. It was on Monday. I regret the error.
A correction was made on October 31, 2023, at 3:45 a.m.: An earlier version of this article stated that the A17 Pro was built on TSMC’s N3P process and that the M3 was built on N3B. A17 Pro is built on N3B (B for “baseline”) and the M3 is built on N3E. I regret the error.
