Apple’s line of Mac devices has always cut a sleek, sophisticated figure, but its latest M3 chip-powered lineup looks to spruce things up further. Apart from a new Space Black variant for the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro, the 24-inch iMac has also been updated with seven colourways, bringing a pop of colour to the table — quite literally.
If you really think about it, this is Apple’s Power of 3. It’s 3 chips in 3 years, and the M3 is the third in the series, now available in 3 variants in 3 Apple machines – iMac, MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16, and the laptops are available in 3 colours – Space Gray, Space Black and Silver. The M3 is also the first desktop chip produced with the advanced 3nm (nanometer) process.
The shiny veneer isn’t just for show, either. Going hand-in-hand with the aesthetics is the tech giant’s best performance to date, brought to fruition through the new M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. Announced during the recent Scary Fast event on 31 October, these terrific trio touts improved speeds and faster GPU rendering, alongside other features like dynamic caching – offering more efficient GPU utility and performance – and ray tracing.
Here’s the question on everyone’s minds: how will they fare in the real world? After all, it’s one thing to flex about the hardware, and another to walk the talk. Fortunately for Apple users, the iMac and MacBook Pro 14 powered by the base M3 chip, and the MacBook 16 Pro with the top-of-the-line M3 Max, proved their prowess in the field.
But first, some quick specs. The M3 chip features an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and up to 24GB unified memory, while the M3 Max — equipped only on the 16-inch MacBook Pro — offers up to 16-core CPU, up to 40-core GPU, and up to 128GB of unified memory.
Check out the three devices in action in the first-look video above, where they are put through the paces with some 4K footage and a brief playthrough of Resident Evil Village.
The 14-inch MacBook Pro is priced at S$2,299 for the base model (8GB unified memory and 512GB storage) and S$2,599 for the 1TB storage option, with the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max retailing from S$5,099. Meanwhile, the M3-powered iMac starts from S$1,899.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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