During Apple’s “Scary Fast” event on Halloween Eve (although an 8 PM Eastern start time is quite unusual), the company introduced its latest innovation – the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips. As unveiled during the Apple Event, the M3 series is set to power the revamped MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch models, as well as the 24-inch iMac, which had been waiting for an M2 refresh.
Apple positions the M3 chips as substantial upgrades over its M1 hardware. If you’ve recently invested in an M2 system, you may not be rushing to replace it just yet. The most significant leap is seen in the M3’s GPU, which introduces features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, promising more realistic lighting and improved geometry handling. According to Apple, the M3’s GPU is 1.8 times faster than the M2 and a striking 2.5 times faster than the M1 in “Pro apps,” although the specific testing criteria aren’t disclosed. The M3’s GPU also offers enhanced power efficiency, maintaining M1-level performance while using only half the power.
Here’s a breakdown of Apple’s new hardware: The standard M3 features an 8-core CPU (comprising four performance cores and four efficiency cores) and a 10-core GPU. It’s claimed to be up to 35 percent faster than the M1 and can support up to 24GB of unified RAM. Stepping up to the M3 Pro, you get a 12-core CPU (with six performance and six efficiency cores) and an 18-core GPU, accommodating up to 36GB of memory. Apple reports a single-threaded performance increase of up to 30 percent compared to the M1 Pro.
