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

[Nick A]

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.

 

[GaryMumford]

One of the most superfluous events of the last 10 years.

As a MacAholic for nearly 40 years, I've never been so uninterested in a Mac Event.... I'm not going to my next MacAholics Anonymous meeting as I think I'm finally cured... Hurrah!!!🥂

 

[Mac_The_Ripper]

Half the facts here. They dropped the price because you get a non-PRO CPU and only 8GB RAM. It's not similar specs for less money as you make it sound.

I'm not making it sound like anything. You can buy the MBP 14" for less than you could before. That is a good thing for those who defend Apple's decision to put 8GB of RAM as a base in some of their laptops. They will be happy now. Again, I would never buy the 14" MBP but the price drop is a good thing for the people who don't care about having max specs.

 

[chrono1081]

Really Apple is trolling now... No mention of what app was used to edit.. no mention of upgrades and 8GB of RAM in 2023? Really is the best Apple can do? Total garbage? Had a better product when they went to Intel from Motorola... Now it is all junk... Apple is trolling... Face it, within 12 months, even the OS will be rental only..

What on earth? Did you even watch the event?

 

[WLSON]

So the biggest announcement ended up being the time the event was held at ...

 

[CordovaLark]

A new alloy called Aluminum.

 

[JimmyG]

I'm not making it sound like anything. You can buy the MBP 14" for less than you could before. That is a good thing for those who defend Apple's decision to put 8GB of RAM as a base in some of their laptops. They will be happy now. Again, I would never buy the 14" MBP but the price drop is a good thing for the people who don't care about having max specs.

I agree, providing a lower-priced on-ramp for potential MBP buyers to get to work with that gorgeous XDR Display was a great move on Apple's part! Broadening one's user-base is always a good thing!

 

[Ghengis LeMond]

Look how fast our machines are compared to our 2 generation ago machines! And ignore the fact we’re not nearly as capable as competing products in the market, the real story is we use so little power doing it! It’s the most innovative thing we’ve ever done!

 

[0339327]

Every upgrade is a spec bump. I'm not sure what else you were expecting.


Tons of famous musicians use Logic. Saying things doesn't make it true. Some you may have even heard of, like Ed Sheeran. It's still wildly popular ... as are MacBook Pros ... for many professional artists. You don't know what you're talking about.

I knew someone would say something like this.

There are literally dozens of interviews and videos stating the ProTools is the only option for serious pros. I’m not saying Logic is a toy. I happen to use it occasionally. What I’m saying is that for studios, ProTools and Cube have become the standard.

Sure, individual artists, including some A-listers may prefer Logic. But that doesn’t make it a standard.

 

[0339327]

Um, I clearly saw both M1 and M2 graphic comparisons throughout the presentation, nice to see how the latest-gen chips, er, stack up.

Could you post that? I looked through the articles and even on Apple website and I found no M2 comparisons on the product pages.

 

[DMG35]

You mean the Black MBP that Apple purposefully kept away from those buying the M3 MBP 14? The color that Apple said looks professional is not available on the MacBook PRO 14 M3? Is that not a PRO machine?

Yeah that’s for sure a bush-league move by Apple.

 

[Steakface McToenailtongue]

This could have been the time where they said "wait, all enclosures are now modern, make everything M3 something, GO!" and the whole lineup would be on equal footing. There should be a simultaneous launch, none of this "well this was from 3 years ago, this was last year, this is current for now" crap.

 

[JimmyG]

Could you post that? I looked through the articles and even on Apple website and I found no M2 comparisons on the product pages.

Sure...

Apple Event - October 30 - YouTube

...perhaps you missed the fine print in my previous post...

<<
I clearly saw both M1 and M2 graphic comparisons throughout the presentation
>>

...Bolding added this time for clarity.

 

[Ursadorable]

I guess I have to keep waiting for a M3 Pro Mac Mini.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I'm not making it sound like anything. You can buy the MBP 14" for less than you could before. That is a good thing for those who defend Apple's decision to put 8GB of RAM as a base in some of their laptops. They will be happy now. Again, I would never buy the 14" MBP but the price drop is a good thing for the people who don't care about having max specs.

"Dropping the price" infers the same item at a lower price. Coming out with a gimped model at a lower price is just a cheaper model. Apple didn't drop the price of anything.

 

[Rookbird¥]

And they still come with ONLY 8gb of memory. So pitiful! Any half decent windows computer comes with 16gb of memory

 

[verniesgarden]

...only when the public vote with their wallets. If the masses "just buy", Apple maximizes profits. Get the market to refuse base spec configurations and base specs will change. Until then, bonuses will be earned, shareholders will applaud fantastic leadership decisions, etc.

their strategy is that buyers will ignore base models. they are masters of the "upsell"

 

[Galas]

8 GB
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8 GB
8 GB
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8 GB
8 GB
8 GB

 

[octopi]

iMac still has entry level HD at 256gig.
No computer in 2023 should ship with less than 500gig.
And still £200 to go from 256 to 500.
Absolute rubbish.

 

[nemodomi]

This time they had a clear focus on enticing users to upgrade from their old Intel-based Macs ...

😠 Grrr. Nudges me even further along toward my notion to "upgrade" my loaded 2017 27" iMac by purchasing a loaded refurbed 27" iMac Pro. 👍🤩

 

[geek36]

so the base macbook pro 14" is just a 13" macbook pro upgraded to M3 chip with 120hz super retina display with MiniLEd tech, increased screen size for a price of $300 more.

 

[Internaut]

As good as these new devices are, I can see Apple has a problem. All the early adopters of M1 are sitting pretty with computers rather more powerful than they need. Very few need to upgrade. Apple needs to explore new markets. Specifically, the long rumoured cheaper, plastic MacBook. Apple has generated huge economies of scale, with gen-one M1, and shouldn't waste these.

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

Was it only me, or did this event project a slightly different Apple? A somewhat desperate Apple?

I had the exact same feeling during the iPhone 15 event, where Tim felt the need to highlight the "incredible value" of the 15-inch MacBook Air in the first few minutes of an iPhone-focused event.

This time they had a clear focus on enticing users to upgrade from their old Intel-based Macs, while also effectively lowering the price of the new MacBook Pro considerably.

I can only assume the current economic climate is starting to take its toll on Apple even. Will be interesting to see how this pans out, but I think the prices are still absurd in Europe. That $1599 MacBook Pro is apparently $2400 where I'm based. That's not all due to currency or taxes. At that point, it doesn’t matter how great the laptops are - consumers will continue to hold onto their old machines (I know I am). The base config even remains at 8GB RAM…

Still, I'm happy to finally see the Touch Bar completely removed from the lineup, and I think the 14" M3 MacBook Pro makes a lot of sense. Would have loved the Space Black color on that model too, but Apple knows exactly what they are doing and the black color is a great differentiator to persuade users to pay more.

I find the iMac largely uninspiring. The slight oddball was the fact that Apple effectively communicated there won't be a 27" iMac and that the Magic Accessories weren't updated to USB-C. Product line seems stuck in a rut, guess they aren't selling well enough.

Well, looking forward to the M3 Airs next.

Apple prices are absurd everywhere, and across all models of all products. If Apple want me to upgrade my 16" M1 Pro MBP anytime in the next several years, they're going to have to do it by dropping prices, especially for the scary insane RAM/SSD upgrade prices. Otherwise I won't be thinking about it until this beast shows serious signs of wear, maybe by around M7 or M9.

I finally cracked it with Apple, and already made the decision to switch from iPhone to Pixel 8, I'm just waiting for the Black Friday sales to pick it up.

 

[nvmls]

Scumbag "updates" all over the place. Timmey using the entire Mac line to pull off the same garbage downgrade games. Long gone the days of "we are putting the best product we can".

I'll vote with my wallet.

 

[MichaelWV]

Y-a-a-a-w-n-n-n-n. There's a new operating system coming out soon: Death Valley....

Oh, how I miss Steve Jobs.