Apple gave consumers a Halloween treat with the debut of its latest MacBook Pro laptops with the newest Apple silicon.
The new laptops use three different members of the M3 family of processors. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the key to the performance of the new laptops is the latest Apple silicon in the form of the new processors.
The M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max processors will be part of laptops that are 60% faster than the M1-based laptops from two generations ago. It has a GPU that has hardware-accelerated ray tracing on the Mac for the first time.
The chips also enable new mesh shading and dynamic allocation of memory, so that on-chip memory is utilized based on the need for the processor and GPU at any given moment. The M3 perfromance cores are 15% faster than the M2 family and 30% faster than M1. The processors also have neural engines for on-board AI processing that preserves user privacy.
The new M3 has eight cores on its CPU and 10 cores on the GPU, and it is 65% faster than the M1. The M3 Pro has 12 CPU cores and 10 GPU cores and it is 40% faster than the M1 Pro. And it has a 16-core CPU and 40-core GPU on the M3 Max. The M3 Max has 92 billion transistors.
Apple’s newest MacBook Pro line comes with a new color: Space Black. It uses a custom alloy with 100%-recycled aluminum. It has 22 hours of battery life and a retina display. Apple says it’s taken its most advanced tech technology to the broadest audience.
The 14-inch is $1,699. The 16-inch is $2,499. Models with M3 Max will be available later in November. The 24-inch iMac all-in-one will also get the M3 chips. It has a billion colors, a 1080p webcam for FaceTime HD, a six-speaker sound system and more. The iMac can do 2.5 times better performance than a top Intel laptop, Apple said. Cook said the chips are the fastest available for the PC. Cook said that proves out the argument that Apple’s silicon, software and hardware can deliver the best experiences.