As promised, Apple used its press event tonight to announce its new in-house processors for its Mac products. In fact, it revealed three new processors. They are the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max and they are being made with a 3 nanometer process.
The standard M3 has an 8-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, while the M3 Pro has a 12-core CPU and an 18-core GPU. Finally, the M3 Max has a 16-core CPU and a 40-core GPU. Apple claims that the integrated CPU is excellent for graphics with support for hardware ray tracing.
In addition, Apple says the new chips support what it calls Dynamic Caching:
With Dynamic Caching, only the exact amount of memory needed is used for each task. This is an industry first, transparent to developers, and the cornerstone of the new GPU architecture. It dramatically increases the average utilization of the GPU, which significantly increases performance for the most demanding pro apps and games.
The new chips will be available on Apple's new versions of its MacBook Pro notebook. Today, Apple is launching 14-inch models with the starting price of $1,599 with the M3 chip, and $1,999 with the M3 Pro. A 16-inch version will have a starting price of $2,499 with the M3 Pro. Versions of the Macbook Pro with the M3 Max will have a starting price of $3,199.
The company is selling a version of the MacBook Pro in a new color choice:
MacBook Pro models with M3 Pro and M3 Max are available in space black, a stunning new color that’s unmistakably pro. The finish features a breakthrough chemistry that forms an anodization seal to greatly reduce fingerprints. M3 Pro and M3 Max models are also available in silver, and the 14‑inch MacBook Pro with M3 is available in silver and space gray.
The M3 chip will also be added to a refreshed version of the 24-inch all-in-one iMac PC. Apple says:
The M3 chip brings another huge leap in performance to iMac, featuring an 8-core CPU, up to a 10-core GPU, and support for up to 24GB of unified memory. It’s up to 2x faster than the previous generation with M1
It has a starting price of $1,299 and is available for preorder today.
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