Everything Apple Announced During Monday's 'Scary Fast' Event

[Allen_Wentz]

I’m just curious why they were comparing the speeds to M1 and not the M2. Could be that the bump is minimal?

It was a PR video so of course they showed the larger gains over M1. Because it is PR...

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I was asking about the specs, not the video.

I have since seen the MR recap with showed the speed gains. I just find it so odd that Apple would make comparisons to 2G old tech.

Perhaps Apple realizes M2 MBP buyers like me have zero thoughts of upgrading so soon. But M1 MBP owners may be ready to be enticed to a new box, so Apple shows them the performance gains they may see - - plus of course 128 GB available RAM (you did watch the video's explanation GPU operation, right?), WiFi 5E, Bluetooth 5.3...

 

[Allen_Wentz]

The current 14" and 16" MacBooks are excellent. There's no Windows laptop on the market that remains as cool, quiet, is as responsive, and powerful when needed. The display, track-pad, keyboard, speakers, microphone, and battery life are also great. It's a phenomenal overall package.

Not every event has to be an entirely new product, and I'm glad they're continuously upgrading the processors when they're ready rather then waiting for Intel or AMD to catch-up. Not everyone will need or want an upgrade to the M3, and that's totally fine. If you're a professional who needs the extra horsepower, you know who you are.

The only thing that I dislike is giving the base 14" 8GB of memory. Since the memory is unified, it's sharing it across the CPU and GPU. I feel that 8GB isn't enough on a base consumer model in 2023, never mind on a Pro model. The Air and especially Pro should have 16gb standard, and I'd argue the M3 Pro should have 32gb standard. If they're not going to do that then the price of the memory upgrade needs to come down substantially.

I will argue for maintaining a (cheaper) low end RAM choice forever. But I strongly agree that "the price of the memory upgrade needs to come down substantially."

 

[Allen_Wentz]

Yeah, just about everyone that talked seemed so ... unexcited. It was dull but informative.

Dull and informative suits some of us just fine! And the video was shot on iPhone...

 

[pacalis]

Well that was all a bit of a non event wasn't it.

Not wishing to be picky but something quickly started to bother me that I noticed again and again and again.
That was the constant comparisons to M1 and not M2

It's as if they know full well this isn't THAT much faster than an M2 so kept on comparing it to an M1

That's really weird.

I see this as mostly an iMac spec upgrade event, which still had an M1. So, it makes sense to compare a M3 to M1.

For the Pro, the biggest news is dropping the price of the entry-level and changed the premium color, so it is either more of an accessibility or color story (and not a spec bump story) there.

 

[Chuckeee]

USB-C keyboard, mouse, and trackpads would have been REALLY welcome, and I probably would have purchased those just to get rid of the extra lightning cable I have to keep attached to my Studio for charging those items. I know it's insane to spend that kind of money just to get a different charging cable, but I REALLY HATE CABLES and already have a USB-C cable for temporarily attaching miscellaneous devices. This would free-up one more port on my MacStudio.

There are lots of very high quality USB-C keyboards and mice available (e.g.; Logitech) that work seamlessly with a Mac and are considered, my many, to be superior to the Apple products.

 

[Chuckeee]

The theme and the content of the event is irrelevant。Only the wording Scary have a little bit related. But i cant feel how M3 is so fast to be scared. When looking at the chinese translation of the event title 狠速登陸，it is a disaster of marketing. I cannot think of any similar usage of wording and it does not fit with original English meaning

You got me very curious. Since I don’t understand Chinese, could you provide additional details or description?

 

[Morod]

^ Quick Landing, I think.

 

[MichaelWV]

Also Tim in the murdered out black Air Forces. Hard.

That's where I put the office pencil

 

[Originalblez]

Unless Apple decides to open iOS then it won't happen.

Maybe. Although I think it’s more likely that until there’s a big enough market it won’t happen. Not enough high end macs.

 

[Rookbird¥]

With SwiftUI making it easier to write apps that work seamlessly on both iPadOS & macOS, expect the built-in Mac and iPad apps to start converging pretty quickly. Wait for WWDC24.

Speaking of which, there will probably be a few features in macOS 15 that will require the M3, or be significantly better on it.

I hope you’re right. The iPad should be able to do anything the Mac can do. The key is the interface. What does the interface look like that lets you do everything you can do on the Mac on the iPad when you have a smaller screen and you are using your finger instead of a mouse. Apple hasn’t cracked that yet. I got some ideas on what the interface should evolve into but Apple hasn’t invested enough in the right kind of research yet.

 

[JustinePaula]

You can just say no, you didn’t watch it.

I watched it, and was extremely dissapointed in the presentation, it was very poorly produced, a lot of important aspects left out, almost as if this was a high school project that was shot and edited in a 24 hour period... It looked so unprofessional... Scary was right... scary that Apple approved this..

 

[TheNewLou]

I hope you’re right. The iPad should be able to do anything the Mac can do. The key is the interface. What does the interface look like that lets you do everything you can do on the Mac on the iPad when you have a smaller screen and you are using your finger instead of a mouse. Apple hasn’t cracked that yet. I got some ideas on what the interface should evolve into but Apple hasn’t invested enough in the right kind of research yet.

Human Interface Guidelines | Apple Developer Documentation

The HIG contains guidance and best practices that can help you design a great experience for any Apple platform.

developer.apple.com

Tab bars look & act differently on iOS/iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, & even watchOS & visionOS. This is automatic. Your SwiftUI code doesn't change much, but the OS takes care of much of it (size, focus, touches, etc.).

Look up any navigation or component or widget/complication in the HIG, and it explains the differences between the platforms.

 

[MacGizmo]

There are lots of very high quality USB-C keyboards and mice available (e.g.; Logitech) that work seamlessly with a Mac and are considered, my many, to be superior to the Apple products.

Yeah, I use a Logitech MX Keys now... but I really miss the TouchID of the Apple keyboard, and the ability to customize ALL the F-Keys (Logitech locks you out of the F-13-15 keys).

 

[EntropyQ3]

They reminded me of kids reading their book reports in the 6th grade but zero animation. I have seen Christmas store window manikins look more lively and enthusiastic .

Luckily for you, Youtube is full of people screaming excitedly into their mics if you’re into that sort of thing.

 

[MacBH928]

The numbers are nice but what does it mean for me as a daily user?

and how come they can increase the speed year over year? DO they find a new way to add more resistors or whatever it is in those CPUs?

 

[Nick A]

The numbers are nice but what does it mean for me as a daily user?

and how come they can increase the speed year over year? DO they find a new way to add more resistors or whatever it is in those CPUs?

As a daily user, not much. You likely wouldn't notice a difference between a base M1 and a M3 Max if you're just watching YouTube, on FaceTime, and using Office.

Eventually the AV1 decoding engine will likely make a difference in day to day use, allowing for higher resolution streaming using significantly less data.

They increase the speed year over year by 2 things. 1. Adding various engines to handle specific workloads, such as AV1 in the M3 family, and 2. using TSMC's latest nodes. This is a deep topic, but a high-level overview is TSMC fabricates the chips for Apple, and every year TSMC makes advancements in how the chips are made. This allows for increased power and/or efficiency, depending how Apple designs the chip.

For the M3, TSMC moved to a 3nm node. The M2 family was on a 5nm node. As the node shrinks, it allows for more transistors which usually equates to increased speed and efficiency. They'll likely be on the 3nm node for the M4 and maybe the M5 family, but you'll still see increases in performance and/or efficiency because TSMC makes advancements in how the chip is created such as fewer layers or reduced complexity. Right now Apple is likely using their N3B process, the next generation M4 will likely be the N3E process. TSMC also has N3P and N3X planned on their roadmap, which are all 3nm but bring various improvements and refinements. You can research this more if you're interested, but that's basically how Apple is able to increase speed and efficiency.

 

[JustinePaula]

Am I the only one that thinks of how much of a brand new mac is actually brand new.. Take for example the brand new M3 laptop, how much of that was designed using 100% new parts? I wonder, the keyboard, the internal layout, how much is using parts from the already created for the last year's version is in the new model? So how does Apple justify the cost when they are using dated parts? I am sure they don't trash components meant for a 2020 laptop in the bin, and start a whole new parts inventory for the M3 laptops? The RAM,SSD, keyboards, caps and the rest of the motherboard are all recycled bits from the last couple of years, so really the $1599 cannot truly be justified other than scam... The screen is not new, the only new bit is the M3.. the rest is repurposed parts..

 

[MacBH928]

As a daily user, not much. You likely wouldn't notice a difference between a base M1 and a M3 Max if you're just watching YouTube, on FaceTime, and using Office.

Eventually the AV1 decoding engine will likely make a difference in day to day use, allowing for higher resolution streaming using significantly less data.

They increase the speed year over year by 2 things. 1. Adding various engines to handle specific workloads, such as AV1 in the M3 family, and 2. using TSMC's latest nodes. This is a deep topic, but a high-level overview is TSMC fabricates the chips for Apple, and every year TSMC makes advancements in how the chips are made. This allows for increased power and/or efficiency, depending how Apple designs the chip.

For the M3, TSMC moved to a 3nm node. The M2 family was on a 5nm node. As the node shrinks, it allows for more transistors which usually equates to increased speed and efficiency. They'll likely be on the 3nm node for the M4 and maybe the M5 family, but you'll still see increases in performance and/or efficiency because TSMC makes advancements in how the chip is created such as fewer layers or reduced complexity. Right now Apple is likely using their N3B process, the next generation M4 will likely be the N3E process. TSMC also has N3P and N3X planned on their roadmap, which are all 3nm but bring various improvements and refinements. You can research this more if you're interested, but that's basically how Apple is able to increase speed and efficiency.

I am just thinking if they know how to add more transistors they will add as much as possible now and then in 3-5 years time they will discover a new way to add more. I dont get how they discover new ways on yearly basis

 

[TheNewLou]

Am I the only one that thinks of how much of a brand new mac is actually brand new.. Take for example the brand new M3 laptop, how much of that was designed using 100% new parts? I wonder, the keyboard, the internal layout, how much is using parts from the already created for the last year's version is in the new model? So how does Apple justify the cost when they are using dated parts? I am sure they don't trash components meant for a 2020 laptop in the bin, and start a whole new parts inventory for the M3 laptops? The RAM,SSD, keyboards, caps and the rest of the motherboard are all recycled bits from the last couple of years, so really the $1599 cannot truly be justified other than scam... The screen is not new, the only new bit is the M3.. the rest is repurposed parts..

How much of a car is new?
A refrigerator?
A lamp?
A mailbox?
A hamburger?

 

[switz]

It appears the M3 chip is a different size than the M2 Pro or Max. The single USB-C port was removed and the SD lot was moved closer to the HDMI port. There would have to have been a new motherboard design and a new lower case design was also needed. The screen part could be the same as they have the same specs.

 

[Philip_S]

I want a Macbook Pro with eSim, please!

That’s unlikely until the apple baseband module is ready, because the price of 5G modules from Qualcomm is set as a category-dependent fraction of the overall product’s price, with a higher charge for devices with direct voice dialling software (which is why iPads are missing the phone app).

 

[JustinePaula]

Who uses phones in 2023? 100% of my calls are whatsapp calls, I don't think I have made a voice call in about 2 yrs.. So ipads with 5G + whatsapp would be ideal for me..