First M3 MacBook Pro and iMac Orders Begin Arriving to Customers

[mattdeezy]

Has yours macOS 13.5? My M3 (not pro) 16GB 1TB has macOS 13.5 installed on 26th August. Bit of a surprise!!

Not yet offered to upgrade of 14.x.

Mine came with macOS 14.1.

Another interesting thing happened when I wen tot pick it up... the apple store staff couldn't 'receipt' the device. They scanned it an it was showing as not in stock even though it was in their hands. They let me take it and said they would sort it out later. Just now, 3 hours later the tax invoice finally landed in my email and the device shows as picked up on the appstore app. For the last 3 hours it still was 'ready for pickup.'

 

[SurferPup]

I have received mine whilst at work!

 

[cannono]

Dang I ordered my 16” M3 Max 14/30 quick and mine still says shipping Nov 16-20

 

[Sowelu]

Mine arrives tomorrow. I was surprised to see that it is shipping from PA.

If you didn't order a base model, you may have ordered a configuration that will be an Apple Store stocked higher-end SKU (they used to call them 'ultimate' models with more RAM and larger SSDs than the base SKUs). These semi-custom MacBooks often sit at local distributors and there is a major one in PA (there is also a huge Apple returns hub in PA, perhaps the same facility). These distributors also ship the base and higher-end configurations to local/domestic Apple Stores versus constant CH to US shipments to keep up with stock demand.

 

[analog guy]

16" Space Black, M3 Max, 16‑core CPU, 40‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
128GB unified memory & 2TB SSD storage arriving on the 10th

Arriving on the 10th?

Wow. At launch, the earliest I saw for a customized M3 Max (16c) was 15th/November.

I'm surprised!

 

[MrMacintoshIII]

Are most getting the 16 I assume?

Trading in my 16” actually for a 14”. It’s just too big and heavy. I have the studio display if I want a big screen.

 

[Apple_Robert]

If you didn't order a base model, you may have ordered a configuration that will be an Apple Store stocked higher-end SKU (they used to call them 'ultimate' models with more RAM and larger SSDs than the base SKUs). These semi-custom MacBooks often sit at local distributors and there is a major one in PA (there is also a huge Apple returns hub in PA, perhaps the same facility). These distributors also ship the base and higher-end configurations to local/domestic Apple Stores versus constant CH to US shipments to keep up with stock demand.

Thanks for replying . I appreciated the information shared.

 

[LeoI07]

Mine came with macOS 14.1.

What's worth noting is that the build of macOS 14.1 that the new Macs ship with is an earlier build than the one that was officially released: 23B2073 (whereas the released one is 23B2077).

New M3 MacBook Pro and iMac Models to Get Day-One macOS Sonoma Update

Customers who purchase one of the new M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max MacBook Pro or iMac models will need to install a macOS Sonoma update after receiving...

www.macrumors.com

If you got one of the new Macs and haven't updated it yet, please DM me so I can walk you through the process of dumping the firmware, which is necessary since Apple hasn't made it available for download. It only requires a boot into the recoveryOS and a few terminal commands. There are nine new Mac models (MacBook Pro's with different SoC's, iMacs with two and four ports), each with its own variant of the build that needs to be dumped.

 

[Aaronp613]

Has yours macOS 13.5? My M3 (not pro) 16GB 1TB has macOS 13.5 installed on 26th August. Bit of a surprise!!

Not yet offered to upgrade of 14.x.

What build?

 

[dhinakg]

Has yours macOS 13.5? My M3 (not pro) 16GB 1TB has macOS 13.5 installed on 26th August. Bit of a surprise!!

Not yet offered to upgrade of 14.x.

Can you check the build number? About This Mac > click on the version to show the build number.

 

[gilby101]

my build number is 13.5 (22G2074) and it would seem that the release version of macOS 14.1 is not compatible. I am in a chat with Apple now.

 

[nicolas17]

Not yet offered to upgrade of 14.x.

Apple's OTA update servers seem to be still unaware of the existence of the new M3 Macs. You can manually download the .pkg installer for the M3-specific version of 14.1, but you will not get anything in System Settings -> Software Update.

EDIT: I have been told that Software Update actually tries to fetch the .pkg if it doesn't find any iOS-like OTA updates, so 14.1 should be appearing in Software Update. But if it doesn't, oh well. Manual download it is.

EDIT2: Okay... @dhinakg figured out why even the pkg doesn't appear in Software Update. The workaround is to select "macOS Sonoma Public Beta".

 

[analog guy]

Dang I ordered my 16” M3 Max 14/30 quick and mine still says shipping Nov 16-20

Earliest delivery dates I saw (immediately at launch) were Nov 15-17 for customized 16c (14" & 16") M3 Max versions.

I got a notice my credit card was charged Sunday, which I thought in the past did not happen until "Preparing to Ship." Mine is still in "Processing" status.

Interesting that someone above said they have a delivery date of Friday, Nov 10th.

 

[gilby101]

Apple's OTA update servers seem to be still unaware of the existence of the new M3 Macs. You can manually download the .pkg installer for the M3-specific version of 14.1, but you will not get anything in System Settings -> Software Update.

Many thanks. I will try that (downloading now). If it fails will do erase and clean install which is what Apple chat is suggesting!

 

[magbarn]

I recently bought the 16 inch M2 Max/32GB/1TB, but I decided to not exchange it. Not enough new stuff to justify it. I don't even use the full power of the M2. Though that black does look sharp.

That would be hard for me to hold back. The M3 Max is significantly faster than its forebear unlike the M3 Pro. It's basically a M2 Ultra portable in CPU at least.

 

[eno12]

Earliest delivery dates I saw (immediately at launch) were Nov 15-17 for customized 16c (14" & 16") M3 Max versions.

I got a notice my credit card was charged Sunday, which I thought in the past did not happen until "Preparing to Ship." Mine is still in "Processing" status.

Interesting that someone above said they have a delivery date of Friday, Nov 10th.

Mine says Nov 10 as well. I would check UPS MyChoice and see if yours had already shipped.

Edit: UPS now says Nov 9.

 

[svish]

Enjoy your new Macs everyone!

 

[gilby101]

my build number is 13.5 (22G2074) and it would seem that the release version of macOS 14.1 is not compatible. I am in a chat with Apple now.

Apple's OTA update servers seem to be still unaware of the existence of the new M3 Macs. You can manually download the .pkg installer for the M3-specific version of 14.1, but you will not get anything in System Settings -> Software Update.

EDIT: I have been told that Software Update actually tries to fetch the .pkg if it doesn't find any iOS-like OTA updates, so 14.1 should be appearing in Software Update. But if it doesn't, oh well. Manual download it is.

Thank you.

Software update did nothing for me. But the installer package has fixed it.

So anyone else with a macOS 13.5 MBP, just get the installer package, run it (which puts the full installer in /Applications) and run the full installer.

 

[ruud76]

Looking forward to seeing the first customer experiences, reviews, and benchmark tests.

First benchmark for the 16” MacBook with M3 Pro

And a few more for the 14” MacBook with M3 Pro

 

[SurferPup]

Photo of my MacBook Pro M3 Pro with Magic Mouse Mouse 2 to show the similarities in shading:

 

[analog guy]

Mine says Nov 10 as well. I would check UPS MyChoice and see if yours had already shipped.

Edit: UPS now says Nov 9.

Nice!
What date were you presented with when you ordered?

Nov 10? Or Nov 15-17?

I assume your order on the website shows as “shipped”?

Thanks!

 

[ct1211]

I guess I might be one of the lucky ones for once! My MacBook Pro 14 inch M3 max is due to arrive today November 7! Does anyone know if they moved the availability up for models with the Max Chip to the initial launch day?

 

[ct1211]

Nice!
What date were you presented with when you ordered?

Nov 10? Or Nov 15-17?

I assume your order on the website shows as “shipped”?

Thanks!

Actually my 14" MAX showed November 7th since when I ordered on Launch night. I didn't know the MAX was delayed until reading reviews yesterday my last notice was shipped to arrive on the 7th.

 

[eropko]

Photo of my MacBook Pro M3 Pro with Magic Mouse Mouse 2 to show the similarities in shading:
View attachment 2308531

Guess black color is not for me, dust definitely triggers some OCD.

 

[Luna Murasaki]

I had the 16" MBP M1 Max a few years ago. That was some amazing machine, really impressive in almost every category. But I thought it was way too much power for me at the time and decided to downsize to a 14" MBP M1 Pro. Right now, I'm at a point where I not only miss the bigger screen real estate of the 16" but also the sorcery that is the M-Max series Chip. I'll be getting the 16" MBP M3 Max in Space Black obviously, sometime around New Year, I can't wait.

I got an M3 Max chip and feel weirdly guilty about it, kinda like I'm staring down at an empty box of cookies I just devoured in one sitting. Curious what you miss about having a Max chip that the Pro wasn't able to do for you.

Arriving on the 10th?

Wow. At launch, the earliest I saw for a customized M3 Max (16c) was 15th/November.

I'm surprised!

I'm surprised too. My tracker currently says it's arriving today (7th) by 7PM and I was planning to have to wait until the 15th to the 17th according to the original delivery estimate. I'm not at all ready for it to show up and am now frantically preparing for it.

While I have to be ready, I do feel doubtful it will actually show up today because the tracking information is weird. I'm in Florida. It said it was "On the Way" over at a facility in Longwood, Florida, and then 4 hours later it said that it had just "Cleared Import Customs". 😵‍💫

I guess we'll see. I'll post an update when it shows up, whenever that is. It certainly seems pretty doubtful it will be the 15th to the 17th at this point.