First Benchmark Results Surface for M3 Chip in New Macs

[Wando64]

To me, it would make more sense to put the the plain Jane M3 in the MacBook Air, and have the MacBook Pros have only the Pro and Max versions. That would help differentiate the two lines of laptops.

I could be wrong, but I feel that the MBA from now on will always be one generation behind.

 

[chucker23n1]

Old 12 inch is basically the same size as modern 13 inch, the latter being even thinner. Why wait.

The 12-inch was thinner (though this is hard to quantify, due to its design) and 63% lighter.

 

[hardwickj]

Here is a more comprehensive comparison of M1 vs M3: https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/compare/3343726?baseline=3343551

 

[eropko]

Well, as it's basically performance of M1Pro or M1Max, having 14 inch Pros start with base M3 might be justified. M1Pros performance is quite enough for many, if not all, productivity tasks.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

20% speed boost is extremely high. I wonder how well Geekbench translates to daily experience because wow. The new iMac beats all the M2 macs, even the ones that are super expensive and top of the line

When Geekbench scores are:

• Apple flattering, they absolutely translate to daily experience.
• NOT flattering, they have practically no translation to daily experience and Geekbench "needs to be redesigned."

In short: Geekbench, Cinebench, etc and even entities like Consumer Reports are "fair weather" gauges to Apple Fans. If they are:

• positive on Apple, they are gospel and evangelized/quoted.
• negative, they are wrong/outdated and/or engaged in a conspiracy to undermine Apple or manipulate stock pricing.

The beat goes on. 😉

 

[terminator-jq]

I remember the doldrums during the intel mac days, with single digit increases being generous. Once Apple put hot intel chips in a thin enclosure, we said goodbye to any gains from intel's "new" processors in an updated mac.

Hoping to see a m3 mini and m3 Max Studio soon!

I also want to see new cinebench tests, which can also test GPUs. Cinebench 2023 has been updated to take advantage of any RT capabilities in the m3 chips. When they say 2.5x faster in Redshift, they may mean it. RT additions are no joke for 3d artists.


I would LOVE a super tiny mac laptop again. I wonder if my eyes would ;-)

Yep us 3D artist have been wishing for raytracing since the M1 days. Glad it’s finally here. This is one area where Nvidia has been absolutely killing it. CPU wise, Apple has already done a fantastic job but I was very happy to see all the GPU improvements this year.

Apparently the M series and A series chips have split off starting with the M3 so I’m definitely looking forward to seeing what else Apple does in the future now that their Mac silicon team has more flexibility.

 

[chucker23n1]

Usually "programming stuff" is parallelized quite well

No. A ton of imperative code parallelizes poorly.

 

[eropko]

The 12-inch was thinner (though this is hard to quantify, due to its design) and 63% lighter.

Wasn't 12 inch 1.3cm on the thickest edge vs. 1.13cm M2 Air?

 

[stwentyplus]

Close to M1 Max multicore.

 

[eicca]

Kinda pointless comparing performance 13 years apart.
I'm pretty sure that your 2010 Mac Pro has a much larger performance gap compared to a 1997 PowerMac.

It’s a look-how-far-we’ve-come thing.

 

[chucker23n1]

So let me get this straight, a laptop with m3 max will be faster than a mac studio with m2 max? Seems like anyone who bought a mac studio m2 max in the past 1-2 months got taken for a ride.

Do you want Apple to artificially throttle the M3 Max so people with the M2 Max aren't upset? 🤨

 

[eropko]

No. A ton of imperative code parallelizes poorly.

For example?

 

[falkon-engine]

Do you want Apple to artificially throttle the M3 Max so people with the M2 Max aren't upset? 🤨

Don't be sarcastic, I'm Just stating facts. Also, where is the M3 Max mac studio? By time the new mac studios come out with m3 max, m4 max will be right around the corner.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Apple themselves during the keynote advertised it as an upgrade for mostly Intel users and maybe some M1s, they dodged most comparisons against the M2 line.

Apple can't put down M2 to prop up M3 because there are more Macs for sale during the holiday season with M2 than M3. M1 was just put out to pasture with the iMac update... so fair game for "long in tooth" comparisons because there are is no more M1 for sale as new from Apple. Intel is easier to compare because that's 2023 vs. 2020 (or older), which should yield big, interesting numbers for quick-hit marketing messaging.

It's always about the money. 💰💰💰

 

[VisceralRealist]

Can't wait to find out if M3 Pro is slower than M2 Pro with all the downgrades...

 

[fathergll]

So let me get this straight, a laptop with m3 max will be faster than a mac studio with m2 max? Seems like anyone who bought a mac studio m2 max in the past 1-2 months got taken for a ride.

I mean this is what happened with M1 Max Studio users when the M2 Max Macbook Pro came out. Whats different now?

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

Oh no. No. NO! I don't wanna upgrade!

 

[gpat]

Apple can't put down M2 to prop up M3 because there are more Macs for sale during the holiday season with M2 than M3. M1 was just put out to pasture with the iMac update... so fair game for "long in tooth" comparisons because there are no more M1 for sale as new from Apple. Intel is easy to compare because that 2023 vs. 2020 (or older), which should yield big, interesting numbers for quick-hit marketing messaging.

It's always about the money. 💰💰💰

And there's no better moneygrab move than to release a just-good-enough iteration and always withhold the big guns for the next move 😉

 

[chucker23n1]

For example?

…um. Literally any GUI code is single-threaded, for example. As are most data operations, as you first need to partition the data and keep syncing issues in mind.

Making an algorithm multi-threaded is something you have to carefully opt in to.

Don't be sarcastic, I'm Just stating facts.

When Apple upgrades frequently, people whine that they just bought something and it's already out of date. When Apple upgrades infrequently, people whine that products are long in the tooth.

Also, where is the M3 Max mac studio?

I asked Joz not to release it because it might upset people who have an M2 Max.

By time the new mac studios come out with m3 max, m4 max will be right around the corner.

Yeah, so you see why this entire conversation is moot.

 

[HowardEv]

I wish the benchmarks were in real-world units, like how many Logic Pro virtual tracks can it play before hiccup, or how fast can it copy a TB hard drive, etc. I’ve looked for this answer for years, but still don’t know if I need 16GB of RAM or a Pro chip to run my studio, or if M2 is enough. Everyone will say “just pay for the RAM to be sure” etc, but rather spend difference on a better interface or microphone, you know? I don’t make huge productions, but I’ve still hit processor overload on my i5 iMac with 24 GB.

 

[Feek]

So let me get this straight, a laptop with m3 max will be faster than a mac studio with m2 max? Seems like anyone who bought a mac studio m2 max in the past 1-2 months got taken for a ride.

I bought an absolute top spec iMac some years ago on launch day. Within a few months, a new model MacBook Pro was introduced that was faster than my iMac.

Was I disappointed or felt I'd been taken for a ride? Of course not. It's natural progression, new stuff comes out that's faster than old stuff. It's how things work.

 

[1BadManVan]

Dang, faster single core than my 13700k lol.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

We’ve got to stop and put on our thinking caps for a minute. Here’s what people are missing:

M1 was a huge jump over Intel in respective machines, many increases in the multi-X range. Then M2 comes along with 20% improvements. Then M3.

MEANING

When M2 to M3 is 20% better, it’s like a whole additional 6 or 8 core Intel chip from the 2019 16” MBP on top of 3 of those already.

The math may not be perfect, but a 20% jump from M2-M3 is a LOT of power from a couple years ago.

 

[boak]

Apple can't put down M2 to prop up M3 because there are more Macs for sale during the holiday season with M2 than M3. M1 was just put out to pasture with the iMac update... so fair game for "long in tooth" comparisons because there are is no more M1 for sale as new from Apple. Intel is easier to compare because that's 2023 vs. 2020 (or older), which should yield big, interesting numbers for quick-hit marketing messaging.

It's always about the money. 💰💰💰

M1 MBA is still being sold

 

[BlairMALL]

Don't be sarcastic, I'm Just stating facts. Also, where is the M3 Max mac studio? By time the new mac studios come out with m3 max, m4 max will be right around the corner.

To be fair, when a person buys a product that is upgraded within 1-2 months, they haven't been "taken for a ride." Computers are in a constant state of upgrade and replacement. I believe if you have purchased an apple within 45 days of the upgrade, you can return it and get the latest.