M3 14" MBP will be the new go to Apple Laptop

[thadoggfather]

This base $1,599 M3 MBP 14 makes even less sense than the $1,299 M2 MBP 13.

Apple is basically forcing you to buy the mini LED display for $300. In the past, you paid $100 extra for the privilege of having a fan. Soon, you'll pay $300 more for XDR and a fan. You're still stuck with a single external display.

Casuals might not care about the increased brightness in HDR and deeper blacks and higher refresh rates but they may care about blooming , shrug

I wanna be a fly on the wall of the decision making meeting room to understand what they were thinking. Or rather, if they were thinking.

.. what was the point of having this keynote this late in the day? Courage?

 

[Surfsalot]

11am here AU lol, not everyone lives in the great old us of a you know

 

[AeroHydra]

Completely disagree, I think the base M3 is really awkward price-wise especially once the Air gets M3 sometime down the road. Assuming prices stay consistent, you're paying essentially $300-400 more for a better screen and a fan. If you need a fan then likely the M3 Pro or even the older M1/M2 Pro macs will be more useful since you'd likely also want more performance and more RAM.

 

[turbineseaplane]

11am here AU lol, not everyone lives in the great old us of a you know

We Americans are fairly narcissistic

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think the base M3 is really awkward price-wise especially once the Air gets M3 sometime down the road.

I agree and I think it's the ONLY reason they didn't bump the Air today also.
(which is a shame)

 

[QuietGamer]

This base $1,599 M3 MBP 14 makes even less sense than the $1,299 M2 MBP 13.

You also get a superior camera, speakers, port selection, 22 hr batt. life, ect.

 

[thadoggfather]

We Americans are fairly narcissistic

Apple, though a multi national corporation, is considered an “American company” being HQ’d in California and all. Narcissism in general, yeah, but that might not be the full equation here in this case

 

[turbineseaplane]

You also get a superior camera, speakers, port selection, 22 hr batt. life, ect.

Actually, the 13" m2 MBP 13" gets better battery life doing things that aren't "watching Apple TV"

 

[playtech1]

I think the 14 inch M3 at least makes more sense than the 13 inch touchbar M2, which offered almost no real improvement over the M2 Air. The 14 inch screen, sound and connectivity package minus a few features is pretty appealing.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The real "trick" they pulled is....not updating the Air line to M3

If they had, basically nobody would buy the 14" M3 MacBook "Pro"

 

[thadoggfather]

You also get a superior camera, speakers, port selection, 22 hr batt. life, ect.

I can see it now :
The 14 inch M3 MacBook Pro is going to instantly rocket to the top of the lineup to become the most popular 14-inch laptop...
Marques Brownlee, MKBHD

 

[AeroHydra]

Actually, the 13" m2 MBP 13" gets better battery life doing things that aren't "watching Apple TV"

Yeah to be honest you really have to take battery life estimates for a grain of salt. I remember when M2 released they claimed 2 hours more battery life but in reality the difference was very marginal IIRC. Especially when these chips are consuming low single-digit watts of power doing basic tasks, even a slight change in use scenario can result in any real difference in power consumption effectively being negated.

 

[QuietGamer]

I can see it now :
The 14 inch M3 MacBook Pro is going to instantly rocket to the top of the lineup to become the most popular 14-inch laptop...
Marques Brownlee, MKBHD

LOL IDK about that. I am sure Microcenter will have these discounted soon enough. The feature set is interesting vs the Air. The next most ask Q on the forums will be "I can't decide 14" MBP M3 vs 13-15" Air?"

 

[sixers22]

The one external display limit on the base 14 Pro just kills it for me, sigh loved everything else about it

 

[sw1tcher]

So..

MacBook Pro ... with no Pro chip?

No Pro chip and 8GB memory 🤦‍♂️

 

[TechZeke]

Not with 8GB of ram its not.

Honestly if 8GB of ram is enough one should just get a cheaper Air.

This. The $1599 model would've been a home-run with more RAM. If you're fine with 8GB of RAM, you aren't doing anything that requires a MacBook Pro, so you should just get a base MacBook Air and save the money and portability. If you need or want the 16GB upgrade, at $1799, you should just move up to the original $1999 model at that point.

 

[JPack]

You also get a superior camera, speakers, port selection, 22 hr batt. life, ect.

MBA 15 has the same 1080P webcam and 6 speakers.

Port selection is just the addition of HDMI and card reader. Without dual external monitor support, HDMI is nearly useless.

22 hour battery life applies only when watching Apple TV. The M3 MBP has the same 15 hour web surfing battery life as MBA 15.

 

[Adelphos33]

This. The $1599 model would've been a home-run with more RAM. If you're fine with 8GB of RAM, you aren't doing anything that requires a MacBook Pro, so you should just get a base MacBook Air and save the money and portability. If you need or want the 16GB upgrade, at $1799, you should just move up to the original $1999 model at that point.

The $1,799 model has 16 GB of ram… but the $1,999 model has 18 GB of ram and more display optionally, a new color, etc - I am buying the $1,999 model

 

[camotwen]

The macbook air will most probably always be the go to macbook. It is hard to compete, unless they make it ridiculously expensive.

On the other hand, at that price range it is hard imo to justify not going from MBP m3 -> MBP m3 pro if somebody is already there. I would certainly not give that amount of money for 8gb ram ever.

 

[mectojic]

I don't think so. The 13 or 15-inch MacBook Air seem far more attractive to me.
In my view, if you're going to be pro, get M3 Pro. Don't get the MacBook Pro hardware and stop short on the chip.

 

[Adelphos33]

I don't think so. The 13 or 15-inch MacBook Air seem far more attractive to me.
In my view, if you're going to be pro, get M3 Pro. Don't get the MacBook Pro hardware and stop short on the chip.

The 15” is too big, frankly.

The 13” is great.

The only 14”, is a nice median, and with 18 GB of RAM can work for many

I was choosing between the M3 with 16 GB and 512 ($1799) and the base M3 Pro ($1999) and honestly it wasn’t a hard choice - more optionality long term

 

[turbineseaplane]

The 15” is too big, frankly.

The 13” is great.

The only 14”, is a nice median, and with 18 GB of RAM can work for many

Now we just need an 11", 12" and 17"

 

[Ryan1524]

The base model is great value. Very attractive at that price point.

 

[Macalway]

I don't know. I sort of like, on paper at least, the 1600 peak nits.

But one external display? That seems a bit strange, and at that price?

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

Absolutely. It will attract a lot of buyers from both the air and the higher spec’d mbp’s.