Apple MacBook Pro 16- and 14-Inch, M3 Series Review
Laptops
Speaker 1: The new M three series versions of the MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 have just landed, and it hasn't even been a year since the M two model shipped, and frankly, if I had bought the M two series version of the MacBook Pro 16, I'd be pretty pissed about. Now, unfortunately, I haven't had a lot of time to test either of them yet, [00:00:30] but I've had enough time with them that I am pretty comfortable with the opinions that I have formed both good and bad. For the most part, they're identical to their predecessors with a few exceptions. The M three PRO and M three max models of both the 14 and the 16 now come in an elegant, semi glossy dark gray dubbed space black, which as you'd guess is darker than space gray. The dark sibling of the M two generation of the MacBook Pro 14 Apple touts [00:01:00] the space black version as being fingerprint resistant at least on the top.
Speaker 1: I know there are some smudges on here, but I really can't see them unless I try and I've had it for the same amount of time that I've had the completely smudged up silver one. The keyboard and the keyboard deck are a different story. I really can see smudges here. Of course, it's also the part of the laptop that you touch the most along with the keyboard, and once again, after two days [00:01:30] completely, you can tell which keys I've used the most because they're shiny with oils. If I paid $4,000 for the system, I'd get annoyed fast. My annoyance level would probably decrease as the price decrease. Though the MacBook Pro fourteen's biggest changes come only in the M three model, which is new to the line. By adding a low end option, apple can hit a $1,600 price. That on one hand, makes it attractive to volume buyers and [00:02:00] budget minded consumers who really, really want a MacBook Pro, but physically it's a little stripped down compared to its M three PRO and M three max siblings.
Speaker 1: Those limitations are imposed by the chip and the motherboard layout though, for example, there are only two Thunderbolt connections and they're both on the left side along with the MagSafe connector. Even if you don't need more than two ports, it does mean that all of your charging options are on the left side and it can only drive a single high-res external monitor [00:02:30] if you're using that. Plus the built-in display and speaking of the built-in display, they both use the same bright liquid retina XDR panels as the previous models, but now the system supplies more power to them in standard dynamic range, so the max bright brightness now increases from 500 knits to 600 knits. That's mostly important if you're working in bright light or outdoors. They still have the notch though, which
Speaker 2: Doesn't bother me as [00:03:00] much only because I use a solid black background. When there's a bright wallpaper, yuck. The chips really don't change much about the feature sets. Of the earlier models though for the maxed out 16 core M three max Apple basically ditched the idea of balanced numbers of cores, IE, the performance and the efficiency cores, and instead just said, okay, here mostly performance and a few efficiency so you have something [00:03:30] left over to drive the interface. The result is a seriously fast chip and it gets even faster if you switch it to the high power setting, and though I haven't yet tested for power throttling or stability while on battery, it still generally runs at full speed. That means you can gain pretty well on battery, though I don't know yet for how long. The flip side is that the best M three PRO in the MacBook Pro 14 may not gain as much performance as you'd expect over the previous [00:04:00] top M two pro.
Speaker 2: It has the same number of CPU cores, but the balance between them has changed. Now it's more even. It also has lower memory bandwidth and one less GPU core, but you should still see some gains thanks to the move to the three nanometer fab process. Improved overall efficiency and updates to some of the graphics algorithms. Personally, I like the size and the weight of the 14 inch model best, but the bigger screen of the 16 can't be deep. Of course, it's also $4,000, [00:04:30] at least the way our test unit was configured, and if $4,000 is a little too much for you, it does start at 2,500. That's a little more appealing, but overall, the 16 is really fast. It's got a lovely dark rain color. It's expensive, but it doesn't seem overpriced for what you get and it's quiet even when fans are running. Plus it's got excellent battery life for its class.
Speaker 2: [00:05:00] The stuff that I don't like really is stuff that hasn't changed from before. The key caps are going to show wear fast. It's a bit heavy, and there's a notch on the display still, which that's a personal thing. 14 on the other hand is, as I said, it's good size and weight and the graphics performance is much improved over the previous generation. It's got solid battery life and it's got decent performance. On the other hand, you're really [00:05:30] kind of better off with the base model of the M two PRO configuration if you're going to want more than eight gigabytes of ram and the notch.
