Apple has established the latest generation of MacBook Pro laptops, yet there is a far more interesting choice we should all wait for.
October 2023 saw Apple launch the M3 Apple Silicon chipset, as well as three new MacBook Pro models, all sporting M3. The professionally focused 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models ship with M3 Pro or M3 Max variants, offering more I/O functionality and significantly more RAM and storage options.
The consumer-focused 14-inch MacBook Pro comes with the vanilla M3 chipset, offering fewer I/O features and smaller memory and storage options.
Crucially, the internal design of the consumer MacBook Pro is utterly unlike that of the M3 Pro and M3 Max-equipped MacBooks. While they are sold on the same page, these machines are very different. And that has implications for those looking to buy a macOS laptop.
Now, look back at the M1 and M2 versions of the MacBook Pro. These were released as the M1 and M2 silicon debuted but also debuted alongside the M1 and M2 MacBook Airs. Here, the internals were almost the same, the crucial difference being the addition of a cooling fan on the M1 and M2 MacBook Pro laptops. This allowed the Apple Silicon chipset to run slightly hotter, offering a performance game of up to twenty percent.
While we don’t yet have an M3 MacBook Air, what we can assume is the internal design of the new Air… all we need do is strip the fan out of the M3 MacBook Pro, and we have our MacBook Air. Now, it will show a little less performance as it relies on passive cooling, but each generation of Apple Silicon has shown a significant uplift in performance and endurance.
When the M1 provided sufficient performance for the average consumer, the M2 provided around eighteen per cent increase in CPU performance over the M1; the M3 showed a fifteen per cent increase over the M2.
That’s the increased capability the M3-powered MacBook Air will deliver when it arrives (which is expected to be announced in late March to ship in early April). Adding a fan should offer another ten to fifteen percent, but the vast majority of consumers don’t need that excess power. If they did, the marginal gain over the Air is not value for money. If you want performance, you should be looking at the M3 Pro and M3 Max laptops.
If you must have the word “Pro” on your consumer-focused laptop, go right ahead with the M3 MacBook Pro For everyone else—the vast majority—all you need to do is wait till April for the MacBook Air to arrive.
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