Apple has announced the brand new M3 Pro, part of the new range of M3 Apple Silicon chips it calls the most advanced computing platform ever. Here are all the details.
The M3 Pro chip sits in the middle of the standard M3 and M3 Max chips and it brings incredible power to the new Mac computers announced by Apple during its Scary Fast event on October 30.
The chips have been built on a brand new 3nm architecture bringing far greater CPU and GPU performance in comparison to previous generations of the M-Series chips and Apple says they’ll sit within new versions of the MacBook Pro.
Let’s delve a little deeper.
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What is Apple M3 Pro?
The M3 Pro is the new chip that sits at the middle point of the M3 family of chips, between the M3 and M3 Max. It features 12 CPU cores. They are split between 6 high-performance cores and 6 efficiency cores. Apple says this makes performance 20% faster overall (30% for single-threaded) than the MacBook Pro with M1 Pro.
The GPU is a huge focus for M3 series processors and introduces features loved by high-end gamers, such as hardware-based ray-tracing, mesh shading and a feature Apple calls Dynamic Caching. M3 Pro has 18 GPU cores and it’s 40% faster than the M1 Pro and 20% faster than the M2 Pro.
There are also efficiency gains on the GPU side with Apple claiming: “the M3 GPU is able to deliver the same performance as M1 using nearly half the power, and up to 65 per cent more performance at its peak.”
It sounds like this is going to be really big news for gaming on the Mac.
There’s up to 36GB of unified memory from up to 37 billion transistors. Apple says the Neural Engine is now 60 per cent faster than the Neural Engine in the M1 family of chips. So, this is quite the upgrade compared to M1-Series chips, but it’s less forthcoming about how it compares to M2 Pro models.
Who is the M3 Pro chip for?
Apple says M3 Pro based machines are designed for people like coders and creative professions. It’s great for handling vast panoramic photos in photoshop and testing data models or tens of millions of lines of dode. It’s also compatible with 2 external hi-rest displays for extra command centre space.
When are M3 models available?
The new MacBook Pro models will be available in 14-inch and 16-inch and can be pre-ordered today and are available from Tuesday 7 November in the US, the UK and 27 countries in total. The 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro starts at $1,999 (US) with prices scaling up from there. The new iMac won’t have an M3 Pro version.
