iFixit did some digging on the new MacBook Pro and found that Apple’s anodization and dying process must have taken “a huge amount of effort, and trial and error,” according to metallurgist David Niebuhr.
Under a microscope, Space Black had higher peaks and lower valleys from an etching process than Space Gray. It still shows light fingerprints, but iFixit gives Apple an “A-for-effort.”
Apple’s stinginess with the amount of RAM in the new base model MacBook Pro 14 continues to be a story, with news today that vice president of worldwide product marketing Bob Borchers defended it by saying “8GB on an M3 MacBook Pro is probably analogous to 16GB on other systems” with no actual evidence to back that up. This is the same amount of RAM found in a $600 Mac Mini or a sub-$1000 MacBook Air, but here applied to a $1600 MacBook Pro.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Apple silicon and unified memory is impressive but it’s not magic and working memory is still working memory. If you are doing any sort of multitasking, like one might expect to do with a $1600 laptop that has Pro in the name, you will quickly run into limits with 8GB of RAM. Don’t buy the hype.
[AppleInsider]
Here’s my review of the M3 MacBook Pro 14. I’ve also been testing the 16-inch with the M3 Max — and while I’m still working on that review, comment on this quick post any burning questions you might have. (Like, does space black really fend of fingerprints?)
I’ll be going live at 2PM ET to answer’em!
I’ve been critical of Apple’s new base-model 14-inch MacBook Pro, which comes with just 8GB of RAM for a starting price of $1,599. Despite Apple Silicon’s excellent performance and the fact that Apple’s unified memory is faster than traditional RAM, working memory is still working memory and more is better, especially if you use a lot of apps or browser tabs.
Jason Koebler at 404 Media agrees and points out that relying on swap, which shifts data to the SSD when RAM is full, also shortens the life span of your computer, making it an environmental issue on top of a bad user experience. We should expect more from our expensive laptops.
[404 Media]
If you’ve been speccing out a new MacBook Pro this week and have poked around Apple’s configuration tool, you might have noticed that the options for the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips are... kinda weird. Memory is limited to certain configs, you can’t get the best CPU without also springing for the best GPU, and so on.
Quinn Nelson at Snazzy Labs has a compelling theory why: it’s due to the process node Apple is required to use for the 3nm chips TSMC is building and the necessary binning that results. It’s a good watch.
Dan Seifert runs down the news from Monday night’s Scary Fast primetime product event, covering what’s new about these updates to the MacBook Pro and iMac lineup and who should be the most interested in an upgrade. (Anyone who needs that Space Black exterior or someone who is replacing an Apple machine with an Intel processor or the first-gen M1 chip.)
Now that Apple’s Scary Fast event is over, if you actually load a 16-inch MBP up with 128GB of RAM, an 8TB SSD, and the most powerful M3 processor Apple offers, it will cost $7,199.00.
And it’s all black — space black, to be exact. Very 2006 MacBook, in the best of ways.
And Apple claims it will be up to 11 times faster than the last generation of Intel-based Macs. Which... I would hope so.
Apple’s chip speed charts are improving every year, but they’re still not nearly as functional as they could be.
They’re on 3nm technology, which should mean a whole heckuva lot faster than the current M2 family of chips.
The M1 and M2 were both launched many months ahead of their Pro and Max, but Apple’s dropping the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max together this time. Fascinating!
And they’re coming to the MacBook Pro, according to Tim Cook. Fingers crossed we get an iMac announcement tonight as well.
Alienware’s new m18 gaming rig is the first laptop to offer AMD’s new RX 7900M graphics. This GPU features a brand-new chiplet design from AMD, and will be paired with the Ryzen 9 7945HX mobile CPU, which has proven to be impressively powerful in our testing.
The m18 will also include user-replaceable memory and storage, a QHD 165Hz or FHD 480Hz display, an FHD webcam, and an optional CherryMX mechanical keyboard. It looks so far to be one of the most powerful gaming laptops ever — but it certainly won’t come cheap, with a starting price of $2,799.
Framework has begun shipping out AMD mainboards for its 13-inch laptop, which was previously Intel-only. The component experts over at Tom’s Hardware have popped open their 13-inch model and swapped its Intel Core i7 out for an AMD Ryzen chip. The process took less than 30 minutes. Less than 30 minutes!
“All upgrades should be this easy,” editor Andrew E. Freedman writes.
Microsoft has posted a new YouTube video showing off one of the most impressive new hardware features it announced at its Surface and AI event last week: Adaptive Touch.
This tool allows people with limited mobility in their hands to customize features like click zones, click sensitivity, double click speed, and palm rejection to make the Surface Laptop Studio’s touchpad easier to use. In this video, accessibility program manager Solomon Romney — who was born without fingers on his left hand — uses the Studio’s touchpad to copy and paste.
Acer’s Nitro gaming laptops are widely considered to be the best-value gaming laptops that money can buy (and they’re some of Acer’s best-selling products). The flagship Nitro V 15 has been upgraded to include Intel 13th-Gen Core processors, Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs, and up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM. You also get a 165Hz FHD panela and up to 2TB of storage. The whole thing starts at $699.99, which is the main attraction.
It’s V as in “five”, not as in the name of the BTS member. Just to clarify. Since I know that is a thought you all had.
