Doubts out. The presentation of Apple Scary Fast revolved around its new family of M3 chips, manufactured with the new 3 nanometer process, which takes its performance to levels that are difficult to describe. The arrival of Apple Silicon chips, with ARM architecture, has meant a before and after for the personal computer industry. To the point that other relevant companies, such as Qualcomm or Nvidia, are already considering entering this market. The nighttime presentation with a Halloween feel leaves us with a trio of very powerful chips, M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max, which equip the new MacBook Pro laptops and the 24-inch iMac.
Adjectives are exhausted to describe the speed and efficiency of the new M3 processors. Its main technical innovations are that 3 nanometer technology, which allows it to accumulate more transistors in less space with less energy consumption and more quickly. The second advancement is called dynamic caching, which makes the graphics processor (GPU) better optimize the amount of memory it uses during tasks. Apple has focused a lot on these graphic aspects because it wants to make Macs very powerful machines in video games. They already are. The M3s support ray tracing, which illuminates graphics based on the light sources in the scenes, and mesh shading.
The most basic of the three chips, the M3, has 25 billion transistors and its central processor (CPU) reaches up to 8 cores, in addition to 10 GPU cores and 24 GB of unified memory. It is followed by the M3 Pro, with 37 billion transistors, a CPU with up to 12 cores, an 18-core GPU and 36 GB of RAM. The real beast of the chip family, the M3 Max, with a CPU with up to 16 cores, a 40-core GPU and 128 GB of RAM, an unusual figure for a laptop.
With these three elements, Apple has presented a family of MacBook Pro that begins with an entry model with the M3 chip, only available in 14 inches and finished in aluminum in space gray and silver, while the models that carry the M3 Pro and the M3 Max, available in 14 and 16 inches, incorporate a new aluminum color, space black, available along with silver.
The other big news is the renewal of the heart of the 24-inch iMac. Apple's all-in-one has not been renewed since January 2021. Now, with the M3 chip, it is basically the same computer, with six speakers, 4.5K screen, 1080p video conferencing camera and studio-quality microphones, but much, much more powerful. Up to 2.5 times that of the most powerful older iMac with Intel processor. The range of seven colors is maintained.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 chip starts at 2,029 euros. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro, starting at 2,549 euros, and the 16-inch, starting at 3,049 euros. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max will cost 4,049 euros, and the 16-inch one starts at 4,299 euros. The iMac starts at a price of 1,619 euros.
