Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Does it seem that the Macbook Pro reviews are coming out extremely slow this release?
- Thread starter 4743913
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Apple only sent out the base and highest end Max. I think reviews for the M3 Pro have been slow because they had to wait until launch day, but I did think at least one reviewer would try and get a review out yesterday night for the M3 Pro, so far I haven't seen any.
There were a few reasonable mini-reviews at or just before launch on YouTube - Dave2D, Geekerwan and Tom the Tech Chap stood out as being of interest. Plus the Anandtech and Notebookcheck reviews.
Thas said, I am still quite interested in learning the following:
- Fan noise and heat (when running less demanding and somewhat demanding tasks, not just stuff which thrashes the machine)
- Real-world battery life differences Pro/Max and 14/16
- Throttling tests to see at what temps/how long before throttling occurs and how bad is it
- Assessment of whether the brighter screen is otherwise identical to prior years (as some hints the gamut is worse)
- Benchmarking at different settings in BG3 and RE Village (and other AAA games that can be had on Mac)
- SSD speeds at different capacities (particularly the smaller sized SSDs)
- Checking for any audio differences to prior models (particularly the 14 inch M3)
- Any other physical differences to prior models (e.g. keyboard or trackpad feel/texture)
- Testing of display outputs - e.g. HDMI 2.1 capabilities, via dock, etc.
- Testing the impact of the reduced RAM bandwidth on RAM-heavy jobs
I think some of the above can be gleaned from what's already out there, but I think there's more to learn.
Thas said, I am still quite interested in learning the following:
- Fan noise and heat (when running less demanding and somewhat demanding tasks, not just stuff which thrashes the machine)
- Real-world battery life differences Pro/Max and 14/16
- Throttling tests to see at what temps/how long before throttling occurs and how bad is it
- Assessment of whether the brighter screen is otherwise identical to prior years (as some hints the gamut is worse)
- Benchmarking at different settings in BG3 and RE Village (and other AAA games that can be had on Mac)
- SSD speeds at different capacities (particularly the smaller sized SSDs)
- Checking for any audio differences to prior models (particularly the 14 inch M3)
- Any other physical differences to prior models (e.g. keyboard or trackpad feel/texture)
- Testing of display outputs - e.g. HDMI 2.1 capabilities, via dock, etc.
- Testing the impact of the reduced RAM bandwidth on RAM-heavy jobs
I think some of the above can be gleaned from what's already out there, but I think there's more to learn.
Interesting observation. Yes - normally by now we would be flooded by unboxings, benchmarks, and the like, but I haven't seen all that many.
Everyone is probably waiting on MaxTech to come up with the controversial finding on some not so relevant benchmark test designed to torture the one aspect of the system that benchmarks lower than the previous generation! Then we will get a flood of videos:
- "The truth about M3"
- "What Apple isn't telling you about M3"
- "Apple's dirty secret about M3"
- "Don't buy an M3 Mac before watching this"
- "M3 shocker - why should you buy an M2 instead"
- etc...
Interesting observation. Yes - normally by now we would be flooded by unboxings, benchmarks, and the like, but I haven't seen all that many.
Everyone is probably waiting on MaxTech to come up with the controversial finding on some not so relevant benchmark test designed to torture the one aspect of the system that benchmarks lower than the previous generation! Then we will get a flood of videos:
- "The truth about M3"
- "What Apple isn't telling you about M3"
- "Apple's dirty secret about M3"
- "Don't buy an M3 Mac before watching this"
- "M3 shocker - why should you buy an M2 instead"
- etc...
So far, it looks like the base M3 version of the 14" MacBook Pro got cost-cutted in several areas, including a single exhaust fan (vs two in the Pro and Max), slower SSD (512 Pro is fast but 512 base is slow), and a screen with slower response times vs M2 (69/75ms vs 35/26ms).
Wait so you’re not swayed by “unboxings” by influencers with tons of facial expressions and fake enthusiasm?
This is the first and only time I agreed with TheRealAlex in what he said above 👍
Seems like lots have shown up on YouTube. I have only watched a few, unfortunately there seems to be a predominance of fluff pieces and click-bait. There must be (hopefully) a few good one in the mix
I'm one of these people who are actually interested in gaming performance of the M3 Max and surprised there is so little in the way of gaming benchmark videos for that model. Also very little talk of the actual use and advantage of raytracing and Dynamic Caching.
It's been a few days now and I haven't see any detailed reviews for anything other than the base model 14" and CPO Max chips, there is one photography focused review of the M3 Pro. I thought reviewers would be tripping over themselves to be the first to compare the M3 Pro to the other chips, especially considering the Max starts at $3000.
I've seen reviews from Alex Zizkind and Luke Miani covering those exact things already (among others), and the 16" M3 Max was delayed until next week, so those comparisons will be coming once the units get into the hands of reviewers. I've seen comparisons between M1/M2/M3 models, M2 Pro/Max vs M3 Pro/Max, even some M3 Max vs M2 Ultra comparisons. I've also seen some comparisons regarding fan noise (M3 Max was the loudest between the models being tested there, although all models were getting hammered by the latest version of Cinebench at the time), and more reviews will be coming when the 16" M3 Max models are delivered.
This is THE video that made me buy the M3 Pro. Because it’s punching at M2 Max level.
That seriously pissed me off. Especially when she got done with the unboxing and looking at the color and I realized there was only 90 seconds of video left.