When Apple unfreeze the M3 MacBook Pro at its “ Scary Fast ” event , I govern one — specifically a 14 - in M3 Pro with 36 GB of Aries to replace my entry - spirit level 14 - in M1 Pro with 16 GB of RAM . Apple gave me more than $ 900 via a trade - in — more than one-half of what I paid for it — so it was something of a no - brainer to elevate .
My focal point with the rise was memory . When I bought the M1 Pro example in former 2022 , I opine 16 GB of computer memory would suffice . It has n’t . When I have more than a handful of tabs open with Photoshop and Zoom , things tend to slow down a piece . So even though the basis framework technically comes with more RAM than the M1 ( 18 GB vs 16 GB ) , I choose to max out the memory board for an extra $ 400 , bringing the total to $ 2,599 .
But the first Geekbench 6 results for the 12 - core M3 Pro CPU modal value me cogitate double . While the M3 Pro CPU has more gist than my M1 Pro ( 12 vs 8) , my two - year - old model has the same identification number of execution nucleus ( six ) as the novel theoretical account . That ’s actually two less than the 12 - core M2 Pro , which had eight performance cores .
The M3 Max MacBook Pro offers a much bigger boost over its predecessor.
The M3 Max MacBook Pro offers a much magnanimous rise over its precursor .
Foundry
As a result , the M3 Pro does n’t seem to be much faster than the M2 Pro , with unverified grievance of 3156 ( individual - core ) and 15486 ( multi - core ) compare to an norm of 2644 and 14229 , respectively , for the M2 Pro . yield , both of those numbers are significantly higher than my M1 Pro , but they pale in compare to our ownbenchmarks for the M3 Max chip .
The M3 Max MacBook Pro offers a much bigger boost over its predecessor.
And it ’s also worth note that Apple apparently has n’t station any M3 Pro models to other reviewers , opting rather to focus solely on the M3 Max . But base on the unconfirmed Geekbench scores , here ’s how the number break down :
And when you look at the Compute benchmark , which test the GPU , the contrast is even more stark , with the M3 Pro getting fairly well bunk by the M2 Max .
While the M3 Pro is definitely better than the M1 Pro I ’m interchange , the cost increase is n’t nearly as large compared to the huge jump offer by the M3 Max — and it ’s only somewhat quicker than the M2 Pro . ( usually I ’d simply look for a muckle on the M2 Pro instead of springing for an M3 manikin , but I really need one in that Space Black color . ) So I decided to return the M3 Pro before I even reach the box and order an M3 Max .
And I doubt I ’m alone . It seems to be something of a purposeful move by Apple , advertize multitude to the next tier with a more tempting pep pill boost . The M3 Pro is a serious rising slope but the M3 Max is a big one . And if you ’re looking for the near bang for your vaulting horse — specially if you ’re upgrading from another Apple silicon automobile — the M3 Max is clearly the way to go . Unfortunately my M3 Max order is still backordered so I ’m proceed to be waiting a little longer to try out my new machine .
Since the M3 Max exemplar begin at 36 GB of RAM , the literal upgrade toll was $ 600 ( or $ 400 when you factor out in the extra entrepot cost ) , which is a suitable investment and a political machine I ’m probable to keep for several eld . Maybe I do n’t call for the power of an M3 Max . But I ’d certainly rather have it than want it .
