Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max long-term review: A new benchmark for 14-inch laptops

The Mac just turned 40, but turns out, there’s more fire in its belly now than ever before. It seems Apple is out to prove a point. Switching from Intel to Apple silicon was a risky business, but four years later, the risk has started to pay off rich dividends. Not only has it quickly replenished the Intel-shaped hole in its product line-up, but Apple is also making rapid strides in terms of product innovation with every new Mac launch. With the 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max upgrade launched late last year, it didn’t just put one of the fastest CPUs in a 14-inch laptop, but it also made “gaming on Mac”, a thing.    

M3 Max – the technical lowdown

Apple has been silent about the CPU and GPU architectures (as well as the exact process that it has utilised) within the M3 family of SoCs (system-on-chips) for some curious reason. While it is hard to keep a tight lid on hardware announcements these days, it has successfully managed to keep information from leaking in this one area. The codenames of the CPU cores used in the A17 remain a mystery to this day. At best, we can only connect the dots with some guess work. Since the M-series processors are derived from the A-series SoCs (seen in the iPhone) and share a comparable width (but of course they can run at higher frequency due to higher power budget), and because the M3 family is 3-nanometre, we have reason to believe TSMC’s N3B line was used in its production.

The performance cores in the M3 are roughly 15 percent and 30 percent faster than the M2 and M1. With the efficiency cores, Apple claims even higher gains – 30 percent improvement over M2 or 50 percent over the M1. In comparison to its M2 predecessor, the M3 Max features four additional performance cores, totaling 12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores and so, applications and tasks that rely on multithreaded operation are expected to benefit, subject to thermal conditions. On the GPU side, the M3 Max sees a slight increase in core count from 38 cores on the M2 Max to 40 cores. The bigger takeaway is the introduction of mesh shading and ray tracing (and a new technique called dynamic caching for seemingly more optimised memory use).

Also Read

Jio price hike: Old versus new prepaid plans compared, your mobile bill to go up by this much from July 3

Airtel price hike: Old versus new prepaid plans compared, your mobile bill to go up by this much from July 3

Airtel, Reliance Jio price hike from July 3: New prepaid, postpaid tariff plans compared

‘People are overestimating generative AI,’ MIT robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks says

The M3 Max retains the same 512-bit LPDDR5-6400 memory bus as its predecessors. (Given Apple’s GPU-intensive designs, absence of LPDDR5X memory is surprising.) Notably, the M3 Max boasts a staggering 92 billion transistors, marking a 37 percent increase over the M2 Max. The NPU maintains a 16-core configuration, offering around 18 tera operations per second (TOPS) of performance, an increase of approximately 14 percent over the M2’s NPU (but short of the A17’s 35 TOPS).

Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max – CPU performance

The review unit that Apple sent me has a 16-core CPU, 40-core GPU, 64GB of memory, and 2TB of storage. The price is Rs 4,29,900. You can get the same CPU and GPU performance but with less RAM and storage starting at Rs 3,69,900 or go all in for Rs 6,89,900 (128GB/8TB). Either way, it’s a huge investment, and so you’re advised to be sure of what you want to do with it, before making a purchase (since you can’t swap or add more). We’re focusing on the M3 Max version here, but if all you want is the portability of the 14-inch model (because that’s really its biggest USP), Apple sells versions with the less powerful M3 Pro starting at Rs 1,99,900 and the entry-level M3 starting at Rs 1,69,900 (though it has only 8GB of memory).

The M3 Max CPU can handle up to 16 threads concurrently. However, the increase in core count results in a notable uptick in power consumption. The chip can draw up to 56 Watts (versus 36W in the M2 Max), while running demanding tasks. The performance cores can hit speeds of up to 4.056 GHz while the efficiency cores can reach speeds of up to 2.567 GHz (albeit slower than those found in the base M3). Apple gives you a high-power mode for the first time in this form factor and while performance is largely fast and smooth, the real deal is that this MacBook Pro can hit top speeds on battery “consistently” without much trouble. Benchmark scores are expectedly off the charts. Single-core performance is impressive. Even resource-intensive applications like Adobe Premiere Pro or DaVinci Resolve pose little challenge. At the same time, apps designed for Intel Macs, too, work flawlessly through emulation via Rosetta 2 (the in-built activity monitor can show you which is which).

But it is important to understand that this is a small laptop rocking a big chip and so, there are occasions when performance is not completely stable, even more so in the automatic mode setting. It’s pure physics and hard to beat even for Apple. The dip is not a deal breaker so to say but something to keep in mind (especially when you’re paying so much money for it).

Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max – GPU and gaming

In our testing, the M3 Max GPU outperformed the RTX 4070 (in the Asus Zenbook Pro 14 OLED) in 3DMark WildLife Extreme Unlimited. Next to the M2 Max, the performance was at least 25 percent faster. However, the GPU’s true advantage lies in its shared memory which creators and video editors would appreciate. There are no performance limitations on battery either, unlike fast(er) GeForce GPUs. That said, stability issues persist in automatic mode here as well (high-power mode is clearly the way to go if you’re eying all-round great performance).

As for gaming, while the volume on Windows remains unmatched, Apple is on the right track at least now, starting with the switch to Apple silicon. Native games such as Resident Evil Village, Baldur’s Gate 3, Death Stranding, Hades and Grid Legends perform exceptionally well on the M3 Max-based MacBook Pro, some even clocking 60fps effortlessly, alongside emulated titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Cloud gaming and subscription-based services like CrossOver can open the platform up for Windows games somewhat. However, as impressive as the hardware is, the MacBook pro can’t replace dedicated gaming laptops for hardcore gamers. But its portability and the fact that it can game (however limited) on battery, could be a big sell for casual gamers. Not to mention, Apple is courting game developers now with even more gusto.

Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max – thermals and battery life

The cooling system of the MacBook Pro 14 is by no means weak but the significant heat output from the GPU cores when pushed suggests that cooling might be a limiting factor for this size. The high-power mode provides a noticeable performance improvement even if it comes at the cost of increased fan noise. But even at its extreme, the laptop doesn’t get “alarmingly” hot (temperatures can go up to 46-degree Celsius depending on the task/benchmark) or loud. For the most part, it stays calm and cool and quiet. The 72.6Wh battery inside the M3 Max MacBook Pro can last up to 12-hours on moderate use. Under heavy load, the performance is relatively worse (up to 2-hours), but it is mostly because the MacBook does not reduce its performance like rival Windows machines.

Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max — design and features

Externally, there is no telling the M3 Max MacBook apart from the M2 Max MacBook Pro or the M1 Max MacBook Pro before it. There are no discernible differences on the surface. The weight and thickness are largely the same which is incredible since you’d think more power and more advanced cooling would require at least some design tweaks here and there. The 14-inch model seems like an even bigger feat of engineering when that realisation dawns on you, but more realistically speaking, it’s all textbook Apple. A tighter control over the chip and associated tech gives the team enough legroom to make minimal changes elsewhere, cutting down on any additional cost year-on-year, so more budget can be allocated to say R&D (TSMC’s 3nm process is costly with Tape-Out costs alone amounting to about USD 1 billion, as per reports). Again, I am no expert, and all this is barely speculation, but this could be a big reason why market prices have shot up (profit margins also need to be factored in).

Anyhow, the design looks like it could stand on its own for another year or two. It looks modern. Not to mention, it’s made of top-notch materials. The construction is exemplary with great attention to detail across every nook and crevice. Like clockwork, Apple has been able to fashion a brand-new colour in this iteration. It is called space black. It doesn’t look “very black” per se — a dark grey perhaps — but its real USP is that it doesn’t smudge as easily and is easier to clean compared to say the midnight MacBook Air. Still, you must know that it’s part of the anodisation process and not an actual coating, so, it does smudge (just that it’s not as much as other all-black laptops). The catch is that the colour is only available with the M3 Pro and M3 Max models (not with the base M3).

I do mind the sharp edge that pokes at me when I prop it on my lap sometimes, or that the arrow keys are way too small for comfort, but otherwise it’s all smooth sailing. Very few machines are this thoughtful inside and out. Whether it is the slick keyboard or the “best in class” trackpad, the MacBook Pro shines at productivity without compromising on user friendliness. Connectivity options are aplenty with three high-speed Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI 2.1 ports along with an SDXC card slot and MagSafe connector for charging. The six-speaker setup is tuned to near perfection and supports spatial audio with dynamic head tracking (a headphone jack is also available). The 1080 webcam is decent (though I believe Apple should drop everything and bring one of the new iPad cameras to this thing). Wi-Fi version is 6E while Bluetooth is version 5.3.

Finally, I know the MacBook Pro doesn’t have an OLED screen, but its mini-LED based Liquid Retina XDR display can give many competing laptops a run for money in colour and accuracy. Apple has cranked up the SDR brightness to 600 nits in the M3 models, a quality-of-life improvement where the more is always merrier. The panel can refresh at up to 120Hz (ProMotion) and has a resolution of 3,024 by 1,964 pixels. Even though it is glossy, outdoor legibility is not a challenge for this machine.

Apple MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max – should you buy it?

The 14-inch MacBook Pro is the new gateway to the pro MacBook line-up (the 13-inch version was discontinued soon after its launch) and so most people will presumably be eying it for “affordability” (relative to the 16-inch model). The mobility aspect is a big factor for consideration as well.

The MacBook Air (which was recently upgraded to M3) gets in the way only if you’re considering the M3-powered base MacBook Pro (you should be a bit wary of buying it especially with 8GB of memory onboard). Otherwise, they are two very different rigs targeted at two very different sets of users. The case of the M3 Pro is a bit more complex as paper specs seem to suggest not a lot has changed relative to the M2 Pro (apart from the architecture), in fact it has fewer transistors (37 billion versus 40 billion in the M2 Pro) but because it’s a lower-powered chip compared to the M3 Max, it should hit the sweet spot for most buyers eyeing power and efficiency. Unless you can get the M2 Pro-based model at a lower price (Apple doesn’t make one anymore but you can still find it at third-party retail), the MacBook Pro 14 M3 Pro looks like it could be the new crowd favourite.

As for the M3 Max-based MacBook Pro 14, it stands out more for its technical showcase of Apple’s engineering prowess as the most powerful laptop in the 14-inch segment in terms of raw CPU performance. However, for maximum performance, especially under sustained workloads, the MacBook Pro 16 is recommended.

Follow FE Tech Bytes on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook.