Is a MacBook Pro your best bet as a macOS laptop?
Apple’s MacBook Pro is the macOS laptop aimed at users who demand performance. With three screen sizes and three custom Apple processors to choose from (the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max), there is a MacBook Pro that’s ideal for any user and even the most demanding applications.
Is MacBook Pro or MacBook Air better?
As Apple's flagship laptop line, the MacBook Pro beats the MacBook Air in virtually every aspect.
The base MacBook Pro 14-inch is now equipped with the next-gen Apple M3 chip, featuring an 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, and support for up to 24GB of unified memory. The MacBook Air is available with either an M1 or M2 chip, with a 10-core GPU only available in high-end M2 configurations. The MacBook Pro is also equipped with a cooling fan, so it can push the performance envelope further and for longer than the fanless MacBook Air.
The new 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 requires 25% less memory bandwidth than the previous M1 and M2 chips to run the same tasks. The 3nm (nanometre) technology makes M3 the fastest and most efficient Apple silicon to date. That’s why the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro will perform up to 40% faster than the 16-inch model with M1 Pro. M3 chips include Dynamic Caching, new memory allocation technology that ensures only the exact amount of memory required is allocated for each task.
For the base 14-inch MacBook Pro M3, a 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is complemented with dual USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, one HDMI port, an SDXC memory card slot, backlit Magic keyboard, Force Touch trackpad, stereo speakers, FaceTime HD webcam, studio-quality mic array, and Touch ID button. Despite these features, this model gets up to 22 hours of battery life.
The MacBook Air is less expensive and comes out on top of the MacBook Pro in terms of weight at just 1.24 kg (2.7 pounds) for the M2 model. There is also a 15-inch M2 model that sits between the MacBook Pro in size, yet still weighs a feathery 1.51 kg (3.3 pounds).
If you are choosing between similarly size macOS laptops, the 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 is the better choice for performance, while the MacBook Air takes the top spot for portability and affordability.
The new MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch, powered by Apple M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max
Upgrade to a 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro or M3 Max, and you get more cores, more memory, more storage, and more ports. The latest MacBook Pro 14-inch and MacBook Pro 16-inch models get even more powerful with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, plus support for up to 128GB of unified memory. They gain faster memory, hardware accelerated media encoding, Wi-Fi 6E, and superb battery life optimizations.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro 2023 models also offer other advantages, including Liquid Retina XDR displays with ProMotion 120Hz adaptive refresh, and 1600 Nits peak brightness. They have more storage (up to 8TB SSDs), 1080p FaceTime cameras with Continuity Camera support, six-speaker audio systems (with force-cancelling woofers), and studio-quality mic arrays. These latest MacBook Pro models feature three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports to go with the standard MagSafe 3 charging, HDMI port, and SDXC card slot. Expect the latest connectivity standards: Bluetooth 5.3, and Wi-Fi 6E. Colour options for the 100% recycled aluminum enclosures are Space Grey, Silver and Space Black.
Is MacBook Pro touchscreen?
Apple does not support touchscreen functionality in macOS, and the MacBook Pro display does not support touch input. Additionally, Apple has also phased out the Touch Bar previously equipped in some MacBook Pro models.
Which MacBook Pro is the best?
The question of which MacBook Pro is best really comes down to your preferences and how you configure your laptop.
The MacBook Pro 14-inch is a capable entry-level professional laptop that’s now even more powerful thanks to its next-gen M3 processor. It also has the same Liquid Retina XDR display found on the other MacBook Pro M3 models. If you’re looking for more, the M3 Pro and M3 Max processors on the other 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops are more powerful, both of which support more RAM (unified memory) and storage capacities and offer more ports.
Generally speaking, the MacBook Pro 14-inch is the base model in this lineup, and the MacBook Pro 16-inch is the largest. Either the 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max processor would be considered the most powerful.
Is a MacBook Pro good for gaming?
Apple designed the MacBook Pro laptops with content creation in mind, not gaming. There is no option to equip them with a discrete graphics card and they lack features like gaming-optimized keyboards.
The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max used in the MacBook Pro are powerful processors. They have up to 40-core GPUs and as much as 128GB of unified memory, but despite the impressive specs the MacBook Pro is not at the level of PC gaming laptops equipped with NVIDIA or AMD graphics cards. Despite that, the new chips do bring key graphics features like ray tracing and an advanced media engine to render media files faster. While these features weren’t developed specifically for gaming, they do help games run smoother. The challenge is game developers don’t usually create games to run natively on Apple silicon, so results may vary.
While a MacBook Pro may be able to run your favourite games just fine, they’re not recommended for someone who is specifically looking for a gaming laptop.
