I’ve been using the Apple MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023), here’s my full review

Apple has given a lot of love to its MacBook Pro line in 2023. It doesn’t feel like all that long ago I was writing the reviews of the MacBook Pro M2 Pro/Max model so it’s a little strange to be talking about the upgrade to those models not even a year later.

Still, that’s where we are and while there isn’t too much new to say about the design of the new MacBook Pro models – just like there wasn’t with the iMac 2023 – there is plenty to say about performance. Just like its predecessor, the MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max) is an absolute powerhouse of a laptop and that applies to both the 14-inch and 16-inch models, both of which have some serious configuration options. Should you buy the new MacBook Pro? Well, that very much depends. Here’s my review.

Apple / Pocket-lint

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M3, 2023)

The MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023) may not break the mould when it comes to design, but the Space Black colour is gorgeous and – as you’d expect – there is some serious power under the hood for those that need it. Owners of an M2, or even M1, MacBook Pro can probably hold fire on upgrading, but if you’re running an older MacBook Pro – especially one not on Apple Silicon – you’re in for a treat.

Pros

• Solid design and Space Black lovely
• Stunning display
• Excellent performance

Cons

• Expensive
• Tricky to justify upgrade if on Apple Silicon MacBook Pro already

No changes to design (almost)

The latest MacBook Pro carries an identical design to its predecessor, but there is one key difference and it’s a good one. There’s a new Space Black colour option, which is so much better than I expected it to be. When I saw the colour announced, I found it a bit underwhelming. It just looked like the Space Grey we’ve seen in the past rather than anything particularly new or striking.

In the flesh though, it’s a whole different story. The Space Black option has got plenty of depth, and it’s more serious than the Midnight option on the MacBook Air (M2, 2023). It also appears to be less prone to fingerprints. The Space Black finish is said to use a process that creates an anodisation seal to reduce fingerprints and in my review time with the device, that’s certainly true compared to my MacBook Air. The fingerprints that do appear are much easier to clean too – your jumper will do the trick, whereas that’s not the case with the MacBook Air Midnight option, which needs a little more elbow grease to remove smudges.

Apart from the new Space Black colour, the design is the same as the M2 Pro/Max models that arrived in January 2023 but that’s no bad thing. It’s a solid and premium quality of build with an aluminium casing, and overall, it’s a very sturdy machine. The base is thicker than the MacBook Air so you feel like you are getting a very substantial device (as you should for its price), while the flat lid makes for a lovely looking laptop too.

Speakers flank the keyboard – which is a delight to use and the same as you will find on the MacBook Air – or very similar anyway. The keys themselves are the same with 78 (US) black keys with 12 full-height function keys, four arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement and there is Touch ID sunken into the top right of the Space Black background.

I loved the Space Black highlights between the keys – more than is probably normal – and I’m a huge fan of Touch ID on the keyboard too. Sure, Face ID would be nice, but Touch ID works really well. It might seem like a gimmick but you’ll use it more than you might think, from authenticating payment through Apple Pay, to autofilling passwords and credit cards on Safari.

There is no Touch Bar at the top of the keyboard anymore – and this goes for not only the M3 Pro/Max models, but the base MacBook Pro too. I’m totally fine with this to be honest. I liked the idea of the Touch Bar from a design point of view but practically, it just didn’t make as much sense as standard function keys. At the bottom of the keyboard is a trackpad, which is very responsive – more so than the Magic Trackpad that you can buy separately – while fans are positioned at the base of the MacBook Pro to keep it cool.

Related: Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor explained: Everything you need to know

Ports are plentiful on this model too, thank goodness. On the left edge, you’ll find MagSafe along with two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right edge, there’s another Thunderbolt 4 port, an HDMI port and an SDXC slot – the latter of which is the one thing I miss the most about the MacBook Air, though many buying this model will likely have more appreciation for the HDMI port.

There is support for one external display on the M3 model, either through Thunderbolt with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz, or through HDMI with up to 4K resolution at 120Hz. On the M3 Pro models, there’s support for up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution, while the M3 Max chip supports up to four external displays comprised of up to three external displays with 6K

resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one external display with up to 4K resolution at 144Hz over HDMI.

I have the 14-inch MacBook Pro model in for review and while it is heavier than the MacBook Air 15-inch by around 10g, it’s by no means too heavy. In fact, it’s quite surprising how portable this model feels when carting it around London. It’s uniformed design is lovely, the solid build is reassuring, and the Space Black is genuinely stunning.

Still a great display

There are a couple of different options for the MacBook Pro models. The base M3 model moves from a 13-inch screen to a 14-inch screen, though this model doesn’t come in Space Black (I know, it sucks). The M3 Pro and M3 Max models – more on these chips in a second – are both offered in 14-inch and 16-inch display sizes.

As I mentioned, I have the 14-inch model in for review, though both the 14-inch and 16-inch models have a Liquid Retina XDR display, and it’s quite simply glorious. It’s not a new display as such – it was on the MacBook Pro (2021), as well as the previous 2023 models, but it’s still a display worth shouting about.

There’s a 3024 x 1964 pixel resolution on the 14-inch model, coupled with 1000 nits XDR brightness – which is double that of the MacBook Air – and a 1600 nits peak brightness for HDR content that delivers excellent dynamic range. SDR brightness tops out at 600 nits, which is 100 nits brighter than the M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pro that launched in January so you get a slight bump here.

I’m not sure you’d truly notice that unless you had the two models side-by-side, but with such a short upgrade window, I’ll take any improvements where I can get them, to be honest. The extra brightness helps reflections too, so if you are working outside (probably unlikely at the time of writing this review) or with a window behind you, the MacBook Pro (M3, 2023) had no issues in my experience. It’s helpful at lower brightness levels too, and that would be evident on a red-eye flight for example, delivering ample brightness at even the lowest setting, which is also great for battery life.

Elsewhere, there’s a P3 wide colour gamut on board, along with technologies like True Tone and ProMotion – the latter of which offers adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz, adapting to what is on your screen for super smooth scrolling and responsiveness. True Tone meanwhile, adapts the display temperature to the ambient light around you – creatives will want to make sure it is turned off for greater colour accuracy, as it does have a tendency to turn everything a little yellow.

Overall, the display experience on the MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023) is excellent. Colours are punchy with plenty of vibrancy and pop, detail is great and there’s plenty of depth and consistency across the screen. There is a notch at the top of the screen which houses the 1080p FaceTime HD camera, though as I mentioned before, sadly no Face ID sensors. I’d love to have seen Face ID on the MacBook Pro – it feels like its long overdue now – but the mid-cycle update was probably always unlikely to get it. The notch does break up the lovely slim bezels, but it is something you don’t notice day-to-day.

Plenty of power and performance

I mentioned that the MacBook Pro M3 models come in a couple of different configurations. All configurations of the M3 chip are built on a 3nm process.

MacBook Pro M3 configurations

My review unit has the M3 Max chipset with a 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine. It has 64GB of unified memory and 2TB of storage, and it retails for just over $4000, so it’s a pretty substantial outlay in terms of cost, and it’s not even the top-spec model. From my experience however, it delivers an incredible amount of power – far more than I would be able to max out in my line of work. This is a machine for those working on 4D rendering for example, rather than just photo editing or video editing. Still, for any task I have put the MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023) on, it has had absolutely no issue whatsoever in completing.

Everything is lighting fast, switching between tasks with a breeze. As an example of an every day task, I exported an eight-minute video with a 4K resolution, which was around 3GB in size, and my review unit managed this in just over 4 minutes. The iMac with M3 chip by comparison, did this in around 8 minutes, as did the MacBook Air with M2 chip.

The same video exported in ProRaw took my review unit 32 seconds, compared to around 1 minute and 30 seconds on the MacBook Air (M2, 2023) and the iMac with M3 chip. I ran the same test on the MacBook Pro (M2 Pro/Max, 2023) model earlier this year and the ProRes file took 34 seconds, so there are some improvements, even if they aren’t huge between the M3 Pro/Max and M2 Pro/Max.

Put simply, there’s very little you could throw at this machine, and it not handle with ease. The latest macOS software – Sonoma – runs brilliantly too, and there are some nice new elements that are handy too, like the ability to add widgets directly to the desktop, Game Mode, and the various presenter options. I particularly like the widgets option as it offers more information at a glance, though you don’t necessarily need a MacBook Pro with an M3 Max chip to benefit from that of course. The MacBook Air with M2 chip more than delivers here too.

Related: Apple macOS Sonoma: All the features now available on your Mac

With that in mind, that’s really what you need to consider with this laptop. The MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max) is a phenomenal laptop, but it is possible you don’t need the extra power it offers and ultimately, this is a power boost rather than a completely new offering from what we saw at the beginning of the year.

If you have the MacBook Pro (M2 Pro/Max) then it’s very possible that will continue to be more than powerful enough for several years to come. MacBooks are not designed to be replaced in six months after all, so this model is only one to consider if you are running an Intel-based MacBook Pro in my opinion. If you already have an Apple Silicon-based MacBook, then stick with it until there are more substantial changes to benefit from alongside the power enhancements – however great those enhancements are.

Decent battery, but it’s no Air

From my experience of the MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023) so far, the battery life is decent. Battery life very much depends on the user, however, so if you are someone who is video editing daily or importing huge photo files, you’re going to get less than someone who is doing the odd bit of editing. It’s claimed the MacBook Pro will offer up to 12 hours of wireless web surfing, or up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback for the 14-inch model, or up to 15 hours and up to 22 hours respectively for the 16-inch model.

In my experience, while the MacBook Pro performs well and gets me through a working day, it couldn’t match the MacBook Air. The MacBook Air has an insane battery life however, and with the amount of power the MacBook Pro has under its hood, coupled with the more intensive tasks performed on this machine, it’s still an impressive offering from the MacBook Pro. Just bring that charger for longer days.

Speaking of charging, the model I have for review comes with a 96W USB-C power adapter and a colour-matched MagSafe cable, which charges the battery to 50 per cent within 30 minutes. There’s a 70W charger with the 11-core M3 Pro models, while the 16-inch model comes with a 140W charger. None of them are dual-ports though, like the MacBook Air has the option of, which is missed as it’s very useful especially when you’re carrying around such a large charger.

What I did very much appreciate, however, is the USB-C end of the braided black cable that comes with the Space Black MacBook Pro is also black, rather than white like the end of the MacBook Air’s Midnight cable – so that’s definitely a plus in my book. It’s the little things.

Apple

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M3, 2023)

Verdict

The MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023) may not have changed in terms of design, but that’s no bad thing. The design is premium, solid, and it delivers an excellent experience overall. The Space Black colour is also lovely, with a serious feel and seemingly less attracted to fingerprints than other MacBook models.

As you’d expect, there is some impressive power under the hood of the new MacBook Pro too. If you bought the MacBook Pro (M2 Pro/Max, 2023) model earlier this year, you very likely won’t need to upgrade, and the same might even be said for the M1 Pro/Max models. But if you’re running an older MacBook Pro – especially one not on Apple Silicon – you’re in for a real treat.

The MacBook Pro (M3 Pro/Max, 2023) family is by no means cheap. In fact, it is very, very, expensive. But it is also very, very, good.