Apple has announced the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, claiming the new chips deliver dramatically increased performance and unleash new capabilities for Mac. These are the first personal computer chips built using the industry-leading 3-nanometer process technology, allowing more transistors to be packed into a smaller space and improving speed and efficiency.
Interestingly, Apple is choosing to compare the M3 with the M1 and not the M2 family of chips Presumably, this is because it makes for better numbers.
The M3 family of chips features a next-generation GPU that is faster and more efficient, and introduces a new technology called Dynamic Caching, while bringing new rendering features like hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading to Mac for the first time. Rendering speeds are now up to 2.5x faster than on the M1 family of chips.
The CPU performance cores and efficiency cores are 30 per cent and 50 per cent faster than those in M1, respectively, and the Neural Engine is 60 per cent faster than the Neural Engine in the M1 family of chips. Together, these cores create a CPU that delivers the same multithreaded performance as M1 using as little as half the power, and up to 35 per cent more performance at peak power. M3 features 25 billion transistors — 5 billion more than M2.
M3 has an 8-core CPU, with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, that is up to 35 per cent faster than M1 for CPU performance. And it supports up to 24GB of unified memory.
Each chip in the M3 family features a unified memory architecture, of up to 128GB. Support for up to 128GB of memory unlocks workflows previously not possible on a laptop, such as AI developers working with even larger transformer models with billions of parameters.
M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max also have an enhanced Neural Engine to accelerate powerful machine learning (ML) models. The Neural Engine is up to 60 per cent faster than in the M1 family of chips, making AI/ML workflows even faster while keeping data on device to preserve privacy. Powerful AI image processing tools, like noise reduction and super resolution in Topaz, get even faster. Scene edit detection in Adobe Premiere and Smart Conform in Final Cut Pro also see a boost in performance.
The M3’s 10-core GPU featuring the next-generation architecture is 65 per cent faster than M1 for graphics performance.
The M3 Pro consists of 37 billion transistors and an 18-core GPU that is up to 40 per cent faster than M1 Pro. Support for unified memory goes up to 36GB, enabling larger projects to be tackled on MacBook Pro when users are on the go. The 12-core CPU design has six performance cores and six efficiency cores, offering single-threaded performance that is up to 30 per cent faster than M1 Pro. Actions like stitching together and manipulating enormous panoramic photos in Adobe Photoshop are faster than ever with M3 Pro on the new MacBook Pro.
M3 Max pushes the transistor count up to 92 billion and takes pro performance to the next level. The 40-core GPU is up to 50 per cent faster than M1 Max, and support for up to 128GB of unified memory allows AI developers to work with even larger transformer models with billions of parameters. The 16-core CPU features 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores, achieving astonishing performance that’s up to 80 per cent faster than M1 Max. And with two ProRes engines, M3 Max makes video post-production work on even the highest-resolution content fast and fluid, whether using DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro. M3 Max is designed for pros needing the highest performance available in a MacBook Pro with industry-leading battery life in a pro laptop.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.