Apple M3 Deep Dive: The Details Most Skipped Over
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Published 2023-10-31
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The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max make their debut on the new 2023 MacBook Pro. There’s a 14” and 16” as always, but we’re now getting a $1,599 M3 (non-Pro) 14” MacBook Pro with all the same stuff we love about the higher-end machines: the 120Hz ProMotion XDR display, the best laptop speakers around, fantastic battery life, and more. The M3 Pro and M3 Max bring some impressive performance gains, but not without controversy. TSMC’s 3nm N3B process is so wildly unpredictable that Apple’s yields seem to be pretty strange. There’s a bunch of binned SKUs this year across the whole lineup—and not only do they cut cores, but they even reduce memory bus width (a real shame)! With prices as high as they’ve ever been, M3 better perform spectacularly if it’s going to justify its attempts to cost cut while raising MSRP. Not only did we get new MacBook Pros, we got a new iMac—I think? A USB-C Magic Mouse is still a pipe dream as we get another whole cycle with Lightning. It’s embarrassing. But can the pros outweigh the cons? Tune in to find out.
0:00 I didn't get my Hallowishes
0:39 3nm isn't "just" 3nm
2:20 The problem with N3B
3:39 Changes bring about chopping
5:36 Notable SoC gains
6:54 A new base model—finally!
8:41 What's old is... old again
10:12 Sometimes Apple speaks facts
10:35 iMac, eyeSchmack
All Comments (21)
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A few notes: (1) at 5:43, it should be noted there’s only support for AV1 decoding—not encoding. This was in the script but I experienced a Freudian slip. (2) several take issue with my usage of “stupid” when referring to the average customer so let me rephrase: the average consumer is *ill-informed*—and the prior 13” MBP was mediocre hardware (sorry, it was) that served to prey on the lesser-informed that figured Pro > Air without really considering the differences.
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8GB as lowest RAM Tier in an "Pro" notebook - that has to end!
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This is the kind of in-depth but not TOO technically explained type of content that we're looking for! Great job Quinn & crew!
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10/10 explaining the TSMC chip processes. So many outlets get the N3** series mixed up. $1600 for 8GB ram and one external display support in a "Pro" machine is laughable though. One of your best videos yet!
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Great breakdown of all the extras
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The only thing I'm disappointed about is that they didn't raise the RAM for the base M3 MacBook Pro to 12GB or 16GB. $1599 is a great price reduction for the 14" form factor, but it turns into $1799 as soon as you upgrade the RAM to a more reasonable spec.
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This is the content we love. Thanks for the TSMC breakdown. It all makes a lot of sense when you look at it from that lens.
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That's a great dig down on those new MacBooks! What I find the most disappointing is that the new $1600 14" M3 MacBook Pro comes with 8GB of RAM. A Pro device in 2023.
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Love the amount of detail you put in your videos! Thank you for always being so thorough
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This is exactly why I love these videos. All the other videos go into the hype. Snazzy goes into the details that I want to know about. I was very happy to see a Snazzy video this morning. Keep up the good work!
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Quality, in-depth stuff. Appreciate it. Most of the typical YT reviews are merely repeating info I already knew, mostly from simply browsing the Apple online store. But not you, you dig out stuff I had no idea about. Excellent.
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The chip yield thing is very interesting! It seems like we’re squarely in the iterative regime of changes, where no one year is worth upgrading from last year, but the cascading changes are worth it if you’re a few generations back.
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Best recap as always, Well done Quinn 👍
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05:43 - Only AV1 decode, not encode, as far as I know.
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seriously you always have the most interesting and comprehensive take when it comes to new releases, everything i need to know and almost nothing that should be blatantly obvious. Thanks!
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Thanks for the content quinn! Clear and concise, critical without being rude, and contextualizing parts of the industry and how they work together. Truly a great video.
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Love it! - Wow, you got this one out fast! Thanks for a down to earth explanation of what Apple's new line up means, without the Apple marketing spin. I'm guessing they never sent you some snacks...
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As always, the most informative recap
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This is high quality content. I’ve watched 2 videos prior to this about the new M3 chips, but they were really just repeating what we saw on the keynote.
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As always, the best video I’ve seen on this topic. Keep it up SnazzyLabs team!
