Apple introduced the next generation of MacBook Pro and iMac, each powered by the next generation of its in-house silicon: M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max. The Macs run faster than ever before thanks to smaller transistors and additional cores packed into each processor.
The products are already available to order — so is it time for you to upgrade? That all depends on which devices you have, so I’ve put together a buying guide with sharable images and a video to help you decide.
Apple’s “Scary Fast” Mac event focused on the new M3 family of chips, refreshed MacBook Pros and an updated iMac. But Apple uncorked a big surprise at the end by revealing the entire presentation was recorded using an iPhone.
This marks the first time Apple used only one of its handsets to film an entire product-launch event. And the company released a behind-the-scenes video showing exactly how the magic was made.
With the latest iPhones dropping the Lightning port in favor of USB-C, there was speculation (and hope) that Apple would release new versions of the Magic Mouse, Trackpad and Keyboard that also reject the Lightning port. Nope.
So charging these wireless devices still requires a Lightning cable.
Yesterday’s “Scary Fast” Apple event, debuting the MacBook Pro and iMac with the M3 family of chips, was a short affair at just 30 minutes. But what if you only have, say, a minute and a half?
Here are the announcements from last night cut down to a 90 second video.
Following Monday’s launch of the M3-powered MacBook Pros, Apple discontinued the 13-inch MacBook Pro. It was the last MacBook in the company’s lineup with a Touch Bar, a thin, customizable OLED strip at the top of the keyboard that replaced the usual row of function keys.
A cheaper 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 chip replaces the older Touch Bar model.
In a first, Apple rolled out three new chips at once — the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max — during its Halloween-themed Scary Fast event Monday. The new Apple processors power updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
The company also utilized a cool-looking space black aluminum finish for the first time on M3 Pro and M3 Max models. The laptops promise to hit speedy new benchmarks.
“Tonight we’re doing something we haven’t done before, as we bring our latest technologies to a broader set of users more rapidly than ever,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware technologies. “We’re launching the next generation of Apple silicon for the Mac by releasing three great new chips at the same time.”
At Monday’s “Scary Fast” event, Apple rolled out a simple update to the iMac, the perennial all-in-one desktop computer, with the new M3 chip. This comes alongside the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro.
“The world’s best all-in-one gets even more powerful and even more capable,” said CEO Tim Cook. “We’re giving the iMac a giant leap in performance while keeping the same, impossibly thin design,” said SVP of hardware engineering John Ternus.
iMac starts at the same price of $1,299. You can order it today and it will be available next week.
Apple broke with tradition and unveiled the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max processors all at once on Monday, rather than stringing the releases out. The performance cores in the new chips are up to 30% faster than M1, and the efficiency cores are up to 50% faster.
“Apple silicon has completely redefined the Mac experience. Every aspect of its architecture is designed for performance and power efficiency,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s SVP of Hardware Technologies. “With 3-nanometer technology, a next-generation GPU architecture, a higher-performance CPU, faster Neural Engine, and support for even more unified memory, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max are the most advanced chips ever built for a personal computer.”
Apple’s online store has gone down ahead of its ‘Scary Fast’ event this evening. It is typical of Apple to take down its online store before major product launches, but this usually happens hours before. This time it was mere minutes.
This will likely be the company’s last product launch event for 2023.
If a big Apple event like Monday evening’s Scary Fast is happening, you can you’ll find a selection of bingo cards to play on social media. It could make the event go by quicker. And it’s fun just to check them out to see if the predictions align with your own and spot if anyone got a good joke or two in there.
