Apple fans waited bated breath as Tim Cook emerged from a dark smoke-filled Cupertino office as he began the 'Scary Fast' event on Halloween eve. In Apple's first evening event, he announced its fastest MacBook Pro laptops and iMac computers powered by three new M3 chips on Tuesday early morning.
The online event, which focused on professional users and gamers, was streamed at 5.30 am IST. It saw Apple introducing M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips with redesigned graphics processing units (GPU). It also unveiled 16-inch and 14-inch models of the new MacBook Pro laptop as well as a new iMac.
M3 chips
The M3 chips featuring an 8-core CPU, up to a 10-core GPU, and support for up to 24GB of unified memory. "Users will feel the speed and power of M3 in everything they do, from multitasking across everyday productivity apps to exploring creative passions like editing high-resolution photos or multiple streams of 4K video," says Apple.
According to Apple, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max are the first personal computer chip using the 3-nanometer technology. "Featuring a breakthrough technology called Dynamic Caching, the GPU allocates the use of local memory in hardware in real time so only the exact amount of memory needed is used for each task. This dramatically increases GPU utilization and performance for the most demanding pro apps and games," said the company.
"The GPU also brings new rendering features including hardware-accelerated mesh shading for greater capability and efficiency with geometry processing, enabling more visually complex scenes. And hardware-accelerated ray tracing comes to the Mac for the first time, enabling games to render more accurate shadows and reflections to create more realistic environments," added Apple.
What's new in iMac?
The new iMac with a thin design comes in a spectrum of seven vibrant colors. The iMac with M3 is up to two times faster than the prior generation with M1, according to Apple. The company says the new computer will be 2.5 times faster than an Intel-based 27-inch iMac and four times faster than the 21.5-inch model.
"iMac supports hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray tracing, providing more accurate lighting, reflections, and shadows for extremely realistic gaming experiences, and making three-dimensional design and creation even faster. With a 16-core Neural Engine and the latest media engine, iMac also delivers blazing machine learning and video performance," says Apple.
The new desktop features a 4.5K Retina display with 11.3 million pixels, faster wireless connectivity along with its best-in-class camera, speakers, and mics, says the company.
“We’re excited to give iMac a big boost in performance with the M3 chip,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “Millions of users absolutely love iMac for its stunning design and expansive 24-inch, 4.5K Retina display that’s the perfect size to spread out with all their favorite apps and get things done. And now M3 brings even more speed to everything users do, whether multitasking, creating captivating images and videos, working on a business plan, or playing their favorite games. The new iMac with M3 is incredible for anyone, especially those who haven’t yet upgraded from Intel, providing a giant leap in performance and capabilities only possible with Apple silicon.”
What's new in Macbook Pro?
The new MacBook Pro lineup features a trio of new chips: M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. Apple says the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 apt for everyday tasks as well as pro apps and games catering to aspiring creatives, students, and entrepreneurs. The 14- and 16 inch MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro with unified memory support caters to coders, creatives and researchers.
The M3 Max-powered 14- and 16 inch MacBook Pro flaunts a monster GPU and a powerful CPU along with support for up to 128GB of unified memory. According to Apple, thsi top-notch model enables "extreme workflows and multitasking across pro apps for users like machine learning programmers, 3D artists, and video editors."
All the new MacBook Pro models feature a Liquid Retina XDR display with 20 per cent brighter SDR content, a built-in 1080p camera and an immersive six-speaker sound system.
What is the cost?
In the US, the new M3-powered 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,499, like the previous model and the 14-inch model will start at $1,599 down from the previous version's starting price of $1,999. With this, the new M3-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro will replace the older 13-inch MacBook running on M2.
The new iMac desktop running on M3 family of chips starts at $1,299.
Availability
The iMac can be ordered from Ocotber 31 with availability beginning Tuesday, November 7.
No USB-C accessories
Apple did not announce any USB-C accessories despite rumours suggesting that we could see a new version of Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad
