Kalakshar US

There’s nothing truly spooky about Apple’s new M3 chips — except, perhaps, for how scared they’ll make Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. During its “Scary Fast” Halloween Eve product event (at 8PM Eastern Apple, really?) the company officially debuted its new M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. They’ll be featured in the revamped MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch, as well as the 24-inch iMac, which never got an M2 refresh.

Apple is mainly positioning the M3 chips as major upgrades over its M1 hardware — if you bought an M2 system, you’re probably not itching for a replacement just yet. The M3’s GPU is the biggest leap forward, delivering new features like hardware-accelerated raytracing and mesh shading, which will enable more realistic lighting and better geometry handling. Apple claims the M3’s GPU is 1.8 times faster than the M2 and 2.5 times faster than the M1 in “Pro apps” — as usual, the company didn’t reveal its testing criteria. You can also expect better power efficiency, as the M3’s GPU can hit the M1’s performance level while using half the power.

Here’s how Apple’s new hardware breaks down: The plain M3 features an 8-core CPU (made up of four performance cores and four efficiency cores) and a 10-core GPU. Apple claims it’s up to 35 percent faster than the M1, and it can also support up to 24GB of unified RAM. The M3 Pro ups the ante with a 12-core CPU (six performance, six efficiency) and an 18-core GPU. It can squeeze in up to 36GB of memory, and Apple says that it’s single-threaded performance is up to 30 percent faster than the M1 Pro.

And then there’s the M3 Max, featuring a 16-core CPU (12 performance, four efficiency, a 40-core GPU and support for up to 128GB of RAM. Apple claims it’s up to 80 percent faster than the M1 Max. It also sports two ProRes engines to satisfy even the most demanding video professionals.

The M3 chips are also notable for being the first PC chips built on a 3 nanometer process, rather than the M1 and M2’s 5nm process. The increased transistor density helps with power efficiency, as well as providing better overall performance. According to Apple, the M3’s performance cores are 15 percent faster than the M2’s, while the efficiency cores are 30 percent faster. 

Given that Apple just debuted the 3nm A17 Pro for the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro, it’s not too surprising that the M3 has been similarly shrunken down. In comparison, AMD debuted its 4nm Ryzen 7040 chip this year, and Intel plans to launch its Core Ultra Meteor Lake laptop chips in December, which is built on the “Intel 4” platform (using a 7nm process). The differences between architectures, some of which rely on newer tech like 3D stacking, makes it difficult to directly compare processing node sizes. But for now, Apple can lord its 3nm figure over the rest of the PC world.

When it comes to other upgrades, Apple says the M3’s Neural Engine, which handles AI tasks, is up to 60 percent faster than M1 chips. The M3 also sport a media engine with hardware acceleration for H.264, HEVC, ProRes (both standard and RAW). That engine also finally supports AV1 video decoding, which should make streaming AV1 content more power efficient.

Like most chip makers, it makes sense for Apple to follow up a major release like the M1 with a minor refresh like the M2. The M3 needs to prove itself to be the substantial upgrade over the M1 that Apple claims. And with the addition of ray tracing and better graphics, it may finally make Macs more enticing for developers and gamers alike. (Just in time for major titles like Death Stranding and Resident Evil Village to hit the App Store.)

Follow all of the news from Apple’s “Scary Fast” October event right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-m3-chips-pro-max-003004080.html?src=rss 

Apple had a bit of a Halloween treat for Mac desktop aficionados at its “Scary Fast” event. As expected, the 24-inch iMac is getting more oomph thanks to Apple’s new M3 chipset. The company says the latest model will be up to twice as fast as the last iMac, which has an M1 chipset. Those making the switch from an Intel-based iMac will find that the new model is up to 2.5 times faster than some of the most popular 27-inch models.

The M3 has an eight-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. The graphics cores support hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray-tracing. The chipset has a 16-core Neural Engine and support for up to 24GB of unified memory too.

Compared with the M1 iMac from 2021, the M3-powered version will deliver up to a 30 percent speed boost in Safari and productivity apps such as Microsoft Excel, Apple says. The company notes that games will run at up to 50 percent improved frame rates too. Creatives will be able to edit and play back up to 12 4K video streams, three times as many as before. Apple also says that processing images in apps such as Adobe Photoshop and tackling video projects in Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro will be up to twice as fast.

There aren’t too many upgrades elsewhere in the latest Mac. Apple is sticking with a 4.5K Retina display, for instance. There are some handy changes on the connectivity front. The latest iMac supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 — the M1 iMac had Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Still, the M3 iMac might be worth the upgrade for those who have been clinging onto an older model.

Orders for the M3 iMac open today and it will ship on November 7. The base model comes with an eight-core GPU, two Thunderbolt ports, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse. However, it once again has a paltry 256GB of SSD storage and 8GB of unified memory. This variant will run you $1,299 (or $1,249 for education). It’s available in green, pink, blue and silver.

If you’d like an M3 iMac that has a 10-core GPU, that starts at $1,499 ($1,399 for education). Other upgrades include two additional USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. However, the base storage and RAM remain the same at 256GB and 8GB, respectively. This model is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s “Scary Fast” October event right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-24-inch-m3-imac-starts-at-1299-and-ships-on-november-7-003010226.html?src=rss 

On Monday at its “Scary Fast” event, Apple announced an updated line of 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros featuring a range of new M3 chips and Space Black chassis.

Compared to a similarly specced M2 model, a base M3 14-inch MacBook Pro will now start at $1,599 ($400 less than its predecessor) with prices going up from there for configurations with M3 Pro or M3 Max processors. Meanwhile, a base 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip will have the same $2,499 starting price as its M2 Pro-equipped predecessor.

The fresh Space Black color option–which looks more like a matte charcoal gray in person–will be available on both 14- and 16-inch systems with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips and helps hide fingerprints better than the classic silver models. The rest of the laptops’ hardware will remain largely the same including features such as Apple’s 1080p FaceTime cameras and six-speaker sound systems. The one small change is that the Liquid Retina XDR displays on the new M3 MacBook Pros can now display SDR content 20 percent brighter than before with peaks of 600 nits (up from 500 nits on the previous generation).

That said, thanks to the new M3 chips, these refreshed MBPs should have some very notable boosts in performance. In general use, Apple claims a 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is 60 percent faster than a 13-inch M1 model while still offering up to 22 hours of battery life. And if you move up to a laptop with an M3 Pro chip, you’re looking at 40 percent faster performance than an equivalent M1 Pro MBP. Finally, 14- and 16-inch M3 Max systems will support up to a massive 128GB of unified memory for improved workflows in apps like MATLAB, DaVinci Resolve and others. However, the most stunning figure is that when compared to the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pros (which date back to 2021), Apple is touting 11x faster performance for systems equipped with M3 Max chips.

Another important upgrade on the M3 chips is that they support hardware acceleration for both ray tracing and mesh shading. This could prove to be a massive improvement for gamers or people like animators and 3D modelers, who will be able to take advantage of the M3’s more efficient on-chip processing power in supported apps.

The new Space Black color on Apple’s refreshed MacBook Pros should hide fingerprints better than traditional silver models.

Pre-orders for all the new M3 MacBook Pro models go live today with M3 and M3 Pro systems shipping as soon as next week on November 7, with M3 Max configs slated to arrive slightly later next month. The 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro will start at $1,599 ($1,499 for education) or $1,999 for one with an M3 Pro ($1,849 for education) while the 16-inch M3 Pro MacBook Pro will start at $2,499 ($2,299 for education).

Follow all of the news from Apple’s “Scary Fast” October event right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-updates-its-14-inch-and-16-inch-macbook-pros-with-new-m3-chips-specs-price-003015893.html?src=rss 

Apple’s Scary Fast event was an unexpected but welcome treat for Mac fans this season. And in true Halloween slasher movie fashion, Apple has officially ended the life of one of its most controversial laptops: the 13-inch MacBook Pro. For years, this model was an absolute star with its Pro-level specs and impressive build quality. However, as Apple updated and released newer laptops, the 13-inch MacBook Pro started looking less appealing, especially when Apple’s own chips made their way into the Mac. At this point, Apple’s move to discontinue the 13-inch MacBook Pro doesn’t come as a surprise.

The laptop hit a rough patch in 2016 with the introduction of the Touch Bar, which came as a part of a major redesign. The new look also included a thinner chassis, changes to the keyboard, a larger trackpad, Touch ID and the removal of all ports except the Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack. As you may remember, the Touch Bar was a total hit or miss among the masses. Some people loved the innovation and the “magical” Touch Bar while others found it clumsy and not very useful. Apple eventually removed the Touch Bar by introducing the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, but kept it on the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

In 2023, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a good laptop but it’s just not worth the investment anymore. The base model comes with Apple’s M2 chip, which has given a nice little boost. It has an 8-core CPU, a 10-core GPU and comes standard with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage, both of which can be bumped up for an additional cost. For day-to-day tasks and light work, it still performs well enough but well enough just doesn’t cut it anymore for a “Pro” laptop. Especially when the new MacBook Air offers so much more and the 14-inch MacBook Pro has a better screen and more ports pro users actually need. Even so, Apple claimed for years that the 13-inch MacBook Pro remains one of its best-selling models. This likely has more to do with its lower price point.

Apple probably kept the model around as a budget-friendly Pro option, starting at $1,299, while the cheapest 14-inch model was $1,999. But with tonight’s introduction of the M3 14-inch MacBook Pro for $1,599, the 13-inch simply no longer makes sense — which would explain Apple’s decision to move away from this one.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s “Scary Fast” October event right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-finally-kills-off-the-13-inch-touch-bar-macbook-pro-004008890.html?src=rss