Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
First Benchmark Results Surface for M3 Chip in New Macs
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah Im looking to see a comparison between the M2 and M3 Pro's.
TBH its a little confusing since the M3 base has the best battery life but when bumping up to the Pro it decreases. This doesnt make sense since the Pro has more efficiency cores compared to the M3 or M3 Pro.
I think this comparison will be the one to look for. When they announced the Pro would be a 5x6 or 6x6 P/E cores I though the battery life in those Pros would beat out everything.
Nice improvement by the processor, shame it is still gimped by the lack of improvements in standard memory. I've found that I hit a memory bottleneck in my base M1 MBA (and my parents 8GB M1 iMac) long before I hit a CPU bottleneck. Yes for simple tasks and for many users 8GB is plenty, however those same tasks and users probably wouldn't get noticeable benefit from the increased CPU/GPU performance either.
I guess my point is that if you have a M1 with 8GB of RAM and are having "performance issues" caused by having many tabs/apps/task open, then upgrading to a M3 with still 8GB probably isn't going to solve those issues. It could even make those worse as we don't know what storage chips they are using yet.
/rant
I guess my point is that if you have a M1 with 8GB of RAM and are having "performance issues" caused by having many tabs/apps/task open, then upgrading to a M3 with still 8GB probably isn't going to solve those issues. It could even make those worse as we don't know what storage chips they are using yet.
/rant
8Gb RAM shouldn't exist at all, it's like phone-level amount of RAM in 2023. Right after start MacOS is 2-3Gb and +/-1.2Gb is uncompressable and unswappable RAM for GPU.
That would depend on whether you need 16GB of RAM or not. If so, then yes it's still the better buy.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I can fully grasp your thinking here. However, that person buying Mac Studio M2 MAX can't buy a Mac Studio M3 MAX yet. That's probably not hitting until Spring 2024 at the earliest... and may not hit until sometime after that. It is likely to WAIT for M3 Ultra which may or may not be ready for Spring 2024 shipments.
Else, if we're going to fault the timing of an upgraded laptop vs. a desktop, consider the timing of when someone could buy a M2 MAX MBpro vs. buying a M3 MAX MBpro (which- per the presentation- is delayed from delivery for a few more weeks vs. M3 PRO and M3). For them, it will be nearly 11 months as "king of the mountain."
Further, many argue that M2 MAX MBpro was delayed from plan, supposedly supposed to be launched last Fall. If we can buy that as plausible, it would have been over a year between updates for same model Mac if it had launched on time.
The big winners by far in this timing concern is the people who jumped on M1 Macs right out of the gate. M2 was delayed so they had "latest & greatest" for an extended period of time that may never be repeated. Some even argue that M-silicon, being based on A-silicon, is likely to get on the same annual update cadence as iPhone... even if Macs sell in much lower volume than the cash cow.
Bottom line: buy ANY tech now and an update is on the way. Time with "latest & greatest" is fleeting. One reason to follow rumors is to try to get insights when new "latest" is going to hit. If maximizing time with "latest" is paramount, do not buy one day later than launch day. Any mid-cycle purchases are doomed to lose "latest" status much sooner than those who pay maximum price at launch.
Some good number of people purchased M2 Macs on the day before M3 Macs were announced. And since those are not yet shipping, some number of people are buying M2 Macs today, tomorrow, and into Nov 7 before M3 replacements are actually available for purchase in stores. Some quantity of people are going to walk out of Apple stores today with a M1 iMac or M2 MBpros and not have a clue or thought about the SOC inside. To them, it is their "brand new" Mac.
Delayed their purchase until when? M3 Mac Studio is not out last I checked. We may not get it until June 2024 for all we know.
Comparing two different use case products is silly. There is no Mac Studio M3 Max yet so the people with the M2 Max are fine. When it does come out it will be over a year in between releases
It wasn't obsoleted, and you're comparing a desktop to a laptop. You'd have a point if they released a M3 Max Studio, but they didn't. It's $1000 more to get into an M3 Max MBP than an M2 Max Studio, anyway (if you're just looking for the fastest chip out there, desktop or laptop regardless).
Exactly!!!!
This years layout seems to give more options and that's not a bad thing.
Ram is clearly where they make money but all manufacturers do the same. Yes that extra 8GB of Ram cost Apple $1-2.
I still think the totality of what you get is superb. Apple products have a longevity that I don't think any other brand that uses Windows can touch.
Just the screen size, or the additional ports (HDMI, SD card slot, etc.) as well? Just wondering what kind of MacBook Air lineup would be better for Apple and its customers: the current 13" and 15" inch or something like a 12" and 14"?
M3 MAX is faster than M2 ULTRA
x.com
Michael Burkhardt (@mbrkhrdt) on X
Wow, M3 Max outperforms M2 Ultra in Geekbench! While a small margin, it's funny how Mac Pro always ages poorly. 2019 Mac Pro was released less than a year before the Apple Silicon transition, and now the M2 Ultra Mac Pro is being beat by a lower end chip 4 months after release.
x.com
Yes! it could be a thicker than an iPhone, since it should have as many ports as chip can handle. Maybe it could have a touchscreen like an iPhone too, if that doesn’t add too much to cost.
If the software support comes, this might get me to go whole hog on an M3 Max 16 inch.
Incidentally it’s funny autocorrect tried to fix that to say Mac. Even the new AI thinks the naming is awkward.
Nah, they're barely managing to catch up with M2 Max in CPU, GPU is much worse.
that was my favorite macbook of all time. i wish they had not hobbled it with one usb-c port. i have to carry a lot of gear for work and the macbook 14" is the straw that breaks the camels back everytime. with the 12 i had to check if it was in my bag. would love to have 14 for desktop/car use and 12" for when i have to walk for miles and many hours with a laptop for transmitting photos/video on deadline.
The new M3 iMac is about 24.8X faster than the original iMac.
I am so glad I waited! And also the Mac Studio does not have Hardware Ray Tracing either? I think the M3 has Hardware Accelerated Mesh Shaders too? 😲
Guys, it was the same size as 13 Air is now.
28x20x1.3cm 12 inch
vs.
30x21x1.12cm M2 Air
M2 Air might be only 1-2cm bigger, but tad thinner (12 was wedge design)
Not exactly
Apple M3 chips appears to be a hybrid of the A17 Pro, A16 Bionic designs
The new M3 chips are here and there’s a lot to digest. As Apple doesn’t make a point of revealing the design origins of its chips, it can be an interesting exercise to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
This is why AIO’s are doomed. What we all need is a new Mini and a range of displays to pick from. No more throwing out a nice display when processor obsolete, either.
Both the CPU and GPU cores are Apple's own design (CPU have been since A6; GPU since… A11 or so).
They have, so far, always had a new microarchitecture. M1 has the same Firestorm/Icestorm cores as A14, M2 has the Avalanche/Blizzard cores like A15, and M3 probably skips Everest/Sawtooth to go straight to A17's cores (because Ax is on a 12-month schedule, and Mx so far has been on roughly an 18-month schedule, so it occasionally needs to skip a generation).
So far, we haven't seen them upgrade the GPU cores but not the CPU cores. I suppose they could do that, but I can't think of why they would.
A factor 60 increase in energy efficiency over 13 years is still not bad. That’s an average 37% increase each year.
All I know right now is that they are not "Pro" for the outrageous prices they are charging. Generationally they are still far behind. When it comes to render power, you can buy a fully decked out Desktop PC with a soon to be released 14900K and 5090 GPU. That system will be expandable, serviceable and upgradeable. Not to mention running faster PCIe Lanes. The M3 is still PCIe4! The 5090 will dance circles, multi-fold, around whatever boost to the GPU apple has added to the M3. Apple has really painted themselves into a corner with moving to a phone SOC for their laptops/desktops. So sad. Someone should be fired for making the choice to do that.
