Apple MacBook Pro 14″ M3 Max

Let me start by saying that I don’t mind that Apple’s latest M3 variants of the two Core MacBook Pro models are similar in almost every important parameter. After all, the massive redesign they introduced a couple of years ago was groundbreaking, especially for them, when they almost admitted that the slim profile, weak IO, and annoying battery life weren’t good enough.

So what did we get? A bigger battery, more traditional ports, removal of the touchpad in favor of regular function keys and much, much more. The design still holds up well, so we don’t need to dwell too much on it.

Everything is as before. The big, amazing Force Touchpad, the lovely, responsive and tactile keyboard with the excellent fingerprint reader in the upper right corner, the amazing battery life which is really close to 12 hours of use, even with the M3 Max variant I used during the test period. Basically, there are very few points of criticism to make here. On almost every parameter, be it weight, performance, daily use, screen brightness and refresh rate and everything else, the MacBook Pro, and perhaps especially the MacBook Pro 14, is an expensive but well-established giant.

This is an advertisement:

What’s new on the outside, however, is the new Space Black color, which is only available if you buy a Pro with at least the M3 Pro. Apple has promised that the process it uses to color its machines is not the same as a coating that Razer, for example, repeatedly claims will fix all the fingerprints you leave on a brand new Blade just seconds after unpacking it . No, combating fingerprints is part of the process, and it’s actually noticeable. It’s worth noting that this process is only used on the lid itself, not inside the keyboard, where the machine picks up a bit more fingerprint grease. But all in all, it’s actually an effective result, and if you were a little disappointed by how much dirt and grime last year’s M2 MacBook Air picked up in its dark blue colorway, this one is infinitely better.

Now it’s M3 time. This is Apple’s brand new SoC generation, but like the previous couple of times, it is naturally an iterative development rather than a transformative one. The tested variant is equipped with an M3 Max, which means 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores, 64 GB of RAM and 92 billion transistors. Of the 16 CPU cores, 12 are high performance and four efficiency cores, all manufactured in TSMC’s brand new 3 nm process. A smaller node size gives a higher transistor density, which in the long run gives both better performance and endurance.

So what does it actually look like? In CineBench 2024, we are talking about just over 15% compared to the M2 Max, and approx. 30% compared to M1 Max. However, this is single-core and in the multi-core test it looks a little different, where our M3 Max managed 1702 compared to 1022 with the M2 Max. Now we’re talking. Apple has also proclaimed that the GPU part of the SoC has been the biggest area of ​​focus, and it’s easy to see why. In CineBench’s 2024 GPU test, the M3 Max scored 12932 against the M2 Max’s 6201 – a double. The same largely applies to GeekBench 6.2.1 in both single-core and multi-core.

This is an advertisement:

Both of these tests are, of course, synthetic benchmarks specifically optimized for Apple Silicon, and it’s easy to argue that if you continue to use software for work or leisure that doesn’t support this architecture, you won’t see these benefits on screen, and that can be an uneven experience.

But if you use one of Apple’s own programs, such as Final Cut, it’s quite a magical experience. This 14-incher in particular is so infinitely thin, weighs so infinitely little and has a battery life of at least 16 hours with regular use, while the performance is at its peak.

The tested unit costs just under NOK 3,300. That’s a lot of money, but a top-of-the-line Dell XPS 15 actually costs exactly the same, and while a ThinkPad Z1 is significantly cheaper if you upgrade everything, that’s only with 16GB of RAM and a Ryzen 5 Pro.

So is the MacBook Pro 14″ with M3 Max too much for what you get? No, I don’t actually think so. I actually think it’s pretty brilliant. It still depends on whether your workflow is optimized for MacOS, and especially for Apple Silicon , because otherwise there is not much to be happy about.