With the advent of the new M3 MacBook Pros, there are some important things to keep in mind when configuring your machine. Here are five of the most important.
Apple recently introduced new MacBook Pro laptops with the M3 processor. On the surface, little else changed. The new machine sports the same high-quality and minimalist design (albeit with a striking new Space Black color), the same awesome mini-LED display, and the same exceptional keyboard and touchpad.
You might be tempted to think that choosing a new MacBook Pro will be as simple as it was with the previous generation. If so, think again. There are several important gotchas with the new machines that need careful consideration. I list five of them here.Apple Silicon has gotten much more confusing
The number of CPUs has increased with the new MacBook Pros, and that alone has made things more complicated. To begin with, Apple dropped the 13-inch MacBook Pro, replacing it with a new MacBook Pro 14 running the base M3 processor. In previous generations, only the Pro and Max versions were available in the MacBook Pro.
That means you have a new 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M3 processor to consider, at a starting price of $1,599. That’s pricier than the now defunct 13-inch MacBook Pro, meaning that the entry-level machine in the lineup is more expensive. It’s worth it, though, given that you get a much better display and superior audio.
Besides adding the base M3, the MacBook Pro 14 again offers an M3 Pro with fewer cores. Specifically, you can get an 11-core CPU/14-core GPU M3 Pro, whereas the MacBook Pro 16 starts out at a 12-core CPU/18-core GPU M3 Pro. Both models can ramp up to a 16-core CPU/40-core GPU M3 Max.
Even more confusing is that the 12-core M3 Pro has six performance cores and six efficient cores, whereas the equivalent M2 Pro had eight performance cores and four efficient cores.
