I published my review of the M3 Max MacBook Pro earlier this week and, suffice it to say, I was quite impressed.
The Space Black color, in particular, caught my attention, and the GPU performance blew me away. However, one configuration of the new MacBook Pro seemed to go unnoticed - the M3 Pro model. Apple was not eager to send this particular unit to reviewers, instead prioritizing the M3 Max. While the performance gap between the M3 Max and Pro was smaller in the M2 generation, it appears that there is a greater disparity this time around. There are two notable specifications concerning the M3 Pro. Firstly, the core counts have been altered compared to the M2 Pro. The M3 Pro now features six performance cores and six efficiency cores, whereas the M2 Pro had eight performance cores and four efficiency cores. Additionally, the memory bandwidth has been reduced from 200 GB per second to 150 GB per second. Furthermore, Apple has started selling the base configuration with 8GB instead of 16GB of RAM, resulting in some backlash. While none of these changes sound promising, ultimately, it is the performance that truly matters. Early Geekbench scores, which were revealed last weekend, showed disappointing results for the M3 Pro. The single-core score was 3,035, and the multi-core score was 15,173, which is almost equivalent to the performance of the M2 Max. In comparison to my own MacBook Pro, the M3 Pro was 28% slower than the M3 Max. However, it is important to note that these scores do not account for graphics, where the M3 generation showed significant improvements. Therefore, it is likely that transitioning from the M2 Max to the M3 Pro will still yield some improvement, although the overall outlook is not as favorable. Ars Technica recently released a comprehensive review of the M3 Pro, confirming many initial concerns. The M3 Pro is indeed an improvement over the M2 Pro and M3, but it does not compare as favorably to the Max model. Whereas the M2 Pro was almost too powerful to fit in the lineup, causing some awkward positioning in the previous generation, the M3 Pro represents a more modest improvement over the base configuration. According to the review, the M3 Pro exhibited only a 13% increase in graphics performance compared to the M2 Pro (in the Mac mini) using the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme benchmark. Meanwhile, the prices remain unchanged. Therefore, while the M3 Pro serves its purpose in the lineup, it seems to primarily serve as a means to steer customers towards the more expensive M3 Max. This ensures that Apple generates more revenue from M3 Pro buyers. This does not necessarily mean that the M3 Pro MacBook Pro should be avoided altogether. For some individuals, it may provide adequate performance at a reasonable price. However, it appears that the demographic favoring the M3 or M3 Max models is growing compared to those interested in the M3 Pro.