Apple Macbook Pro 14 (M3, 2023) Review

The Apple MacBook Pro M3 is available with the following SoCs:

• M3 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 100GB/s memory bandwidth
• M3 Pro 11-core CPU, 14-core GPU, 150GB/s memory bandwidth
• M3 Pro 12-core CPU, 18-core GPU, 150GB/s memory bandwidth
• M3 Max 14-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 300GB/s memory bandwidth
• M3 Max 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 400GB/s memory bandwidth

With this new generation of MacBook Pros, Apple has added the base M3 chip (with 8 CPU and 10 GPU cores) as an option, similar to the discontinued 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. Performance-wise, you can expect it to be like a MacBook Air with active cooling (fans) to keep thermal throttling to a minimum, meaning it's mostly for general productivity tasks but can handle the occasional video editing. This base model has some RAM and storage configuration restrictions, as you can only get up to 24GB and 2TB, respectively.

If you need more processing power for demanding workloads like video editing, programming, or game development, getting a model with an M3 Pro or Max SoC is best. The SoC choice depends on how smooth an experience you expect and how fast you want to complete tasks. Compared to their M2 Pro/Max predecessors, the changes include increased memory support (up to 128GB on models with an M3 Max with 16 CPU cores) and the addition of hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AV1 decoding. The latter helps improve performance and conserve battery when watching AV1-encoded videos like on YouTube and Netflix.

The core count on the Pro and Max chips has changed from the previous generation; most of them gained one or two CPU/GPU cores, except for the M3 Pro with 12 CPU and 19 GPU cores, which loses a GPU core. See the M2 MacBook Pro 14 specs here. One notable change is the reduction in memory bandwidth; the M3 Pro (11-core CPU) has a 100GB/s reduction, while the chip with 12 CPU cores has a 50GB/s reduction. The M3 Max chip with a 14-core CPU also sees a 100GB/s reduction in bandwidth. Whether these memory bandwidth reductions are noticeable in actual use depends entirely on your workload. If you have memory-intensive tasks involving Machine Learning or anything that requires large data sets, it's probably best to get an M3 Max model.