All the news from Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ Mac event – The Verge

Apple ‘Scary Fast’ Mac launch event: the 4 biggest announcements

2023-10-31T14:20:06-04:00

Apple's "Scary Fast" showcase has come to a close. During the launch event, Apple took the wraps off of some brand-new Macs that come equipped with the latest version of the company's in-house chip.

If you're curious about all the new products, here's a roundup of the major announcements from the event.

A more powerful line of M3 chips

As expected, Apple's M3 chips took the spotlight during this month's event. The new lineup includes the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips, which Apple says mark the "first personal computer chips" made using the more efficient 3-nanometer process.

In addition to offering a "faster and more efficient CPU," the tri …

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Apple can’t quit Lightning

2023-10-31T13:18:31-04:00

The Magic Mouse continues to be a helpless turtle. | Image: Wes Davis / The Verge

It's 2023, and I have a port complaint. Apple's "Scary Fast" event came and went, and new M3-powered iMacs were born. Yet there was a curious tidbit the company didn't mention: the Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad still have Lightning ports. In a USB-C iPhone world, what is that old port still doing there?

It shouldn't come as too much of a shock that Apple didn't update the crucial accessories. Tim Cook is like a supply-chain-and-logistics Legolas, always ready with a quiver full of old products and designs to maximize their value to Apple. Often, that's a good thing for customers, too. It means there are iPhones, iPads, and …

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Goodbye, Touch Bar, you held incredible promise

2023-10-31T10:36:42-04:00

The Touch Bar was too ahead of its time. This happens occasionally. We finally reach the point we can make a really cool idea technologically feasible but not feasible enough for widespread adoption. Think 3D TVs or augmented reality headsets. The Touch Bar, which is no longer available on any Mac sold by Apple, was like that. A really cool idea, executed pretty well, and never embraced by anyone but us diehards.

When the Touch Bar launched, it felt like touching the future. It was an OLED strip that recognized touch and replaced the function row of keys on the 2016 MacBook Pro. You could easily scrub through video and audio files in QuickT …

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Here’s where you can preorder Apple’s new M3-powered Macs

2023-10-31T09:07:11-04:00

The 24-inch iMac is back with a refresh, and it’s bringing a slate of M3 MacBook Pros with it. | Image: Apple

Apple’s first foray into the world of prime-time product launches (for those of us on the East Coast, that is) kicked off with a new generation of Apple Silicon, the M3 processor. And announced alongside the new M3 chips were the handful of computers Apple is putting them in — including a new 24-inch iMac, an upgraded 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro, and a new 14-inch MacBook Pro with a base M3 that kills off the controversial Touch Bar for good (pour one out for an Apple flop).

This may have been a somewhat low-stakes Apple event for the evening before Halloween, but even if none of these new Macs are radically different, a new generation of M-series chips is nothing to sneeze at. The $1,299 iMac shows that Apple hasn’t totally forgotten about its all-in-one desktop (even if it continues to dash our hopes of getting another 27-inch model). The new $1,599 MacBook Pro 14 with M3, meanwhile, makes the laptop with the good ports more attainable (albeit, with less RAM). Then, there’s the $1,999 MacBook Pro 14 and $2,499 MacBook Pro 16, both of which are receiving an annual yet entirely welcome spec bump.

All of these computers are due out in November, with most of them landing on the 7th. We’ll have to see how worthwhile these small improvements are when we review the new Macs, but for now, here’s where you can preorder them if you want to get in on the ground floor.

Where to preorder the new 24-inch iMac with the M3 chip

The 24-inch iMac is back with a modest refresh, offering the lowest barrier to entry for Apple’s new M3 processor. The all-in-one desktop comes in seven colors and starts at $1,299 with an eight-core GPU, an eight-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. (It can also be outfitted with a 10-core GPU starting at $1,499.) As for ports, it’s just like the M1 version from 2021, meaning the base model features two Thunderbolt / USB-4 ports while the $1,499 model gets an extra pair of USB-3 ports. Both configurations also now support Wi-Fi 6E.

The new 24-inch iMac is set to ship on November 7th and is now available for preorder at Best Buy, B&H Photo, or direct from Apple.

Where to preorder the new 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 chip

Ding-dong! The Touch Bar is dead. And we have the new base-model 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 to thank for it. This new entry point into the MacBook Pro line takes the chassis of the two previous models and cuts the price by reducing RAM and incorporating the base M3 chip. (Previous models only had Pro and Max-series chips.) It’s here to replace the out-of-place MacBook Pro 13 with the M2 chip and its dated Touch Bar.

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 starts at $1,599 — which is $400 less than the M3 Pro-equipped MacBook Pro it shares its body design with. It’s available for preorder now from Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, and B&H Photo, with an expected arrival date of November 7th.

Where to preorder the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros with M3 Pro / Max chips

Apple is once again bumping the chips in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, both of which now start with M3 Pro chips and are configurable with the higher-end M3 Max. Aside from a new fingerprint-resistant space black color, the high-end laptops are very similar in design and port layout to the M1 Pro models that first shook up the MacBook Pro landscape in 2021.

Like previous generations, the 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,999 (preorder at Apple, Amazon, Best Buy, or B&H Photo) with an M3 Pro chip, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 Pro starts at $2,499 (preorder at Apple, Best Buy, Amazon, or B&H Photo). Both models are also set to land on November 7th, with the M3 Max configurations coming at an undisclosed date later in November.

Update October 31st, 9:07AM ET: Added additional preorder links from more retailers.

Here’s what Apple really means when it says ‘shot on iPhone’

2023-10-31T08:40:08-04:00

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There’s a reason the event footage looked as good as it did, and that’s likely down to the fancy equipment used alongside the iPhone 15 Pro Max. | Image: Apple via Halideapp

Behind-the-scenes footage of Apple's Monday evening Scary Fast event reveals how it was filmed using an iPhone 15 Pro Max… with the aid of a full suite of professional recording equipment and studio lighting. Still images and a video reveal that (unsurprisingly) a great deal of fancy equipment - from drones, gimbals, dollies, industrial set lighting, and other recording accessories - is still required to make iPhone footage look this good.

Apple has utilized similar but far less extreme setups for previous events that were filmed using iPhones, including the Burberry spring / summer 2014 fashion show.

It's a neat way to promote the recordi …

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Apple announces a speedier M3 iMac

2023-10-30T20:30:00-04:00

The outside isn’t changing much, but the M3 processor will purportedly make this new 24-inch iMac two times faster. | Image: Apple

The 24-inch iMac is finally getting a refresh. At its "Scary Fast" event, Apple announced a new M3 version of the iMac that is supposedly two times faster than its over two-year-old M1 predecessor.

What's really new this time around is the M3 chip. The M3 has an eight-core CPU, up to a 10-core GPU, with support for up to 24GB of RAM and 2TB of storage. Supposedly, that ought to translate to a much faster all-in-one. Productivity apps, such as Safari or Microsoft Excel, will run up to 30 percent faster. For creators, the new chip enables up to 12 streams of 4K video, and Adobe Photoshop should also process photos up to two times faster. It a …

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Apple’s new M3 MacBook Pro marks the end of the Touch Bar

2023-10-30T20:30:00-04:00

Apple is finally moving on from the Touch Bar. The company has just announced a new entry-level version of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, replacing the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar keyboard. This new model has the standard M3 chip; the 14-inch model previously was only available with the higher-end Pro or Max chips.

The biggest news about this new MacBook Pro is the M3 chip. As rumored, the M3 is a 3nm chip, and Apple is promising some big performance improvements over the 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro, including Final Cut Pro rendering that's up to 60 percent faster. As usual, Apple only shared some selective performance stats, so it's not en …

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Apple’s new M3 chips have big GPU upgrades focused on gaming and pro apps

2023-10-30T20:30:00-04:00

Apple is unveiling its new M3 processors today, and all three include big improvements to the GPU side of the chips. The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max will all offer faster CPU performance, but crucially, the M3 family of chips will include significant changes to the GPU to improve professional apps and gaming performance. All three M3 chips will debut in new MacBook Pro models, with the M3 also part of a new 24-inch iMac.

The base M3 includes an eight-core CPU with four performance cores and four efficiency cores, and Apple claims it's up to 35 percent faster than the M1 for CPU performance. We don't know exactly how the M3 compares to the M2, bu …

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Apple’s new high-end MacBook Pro comes in black with up to 128GB of RAM

2023-10-30T20:30:00-04:00

Alongside a refreshed iMac and new entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro featuring the M3 chip (and sans Touch Bar), Apple is introducing upgraded models of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro and M3 Max processors today. Design-wise, they retain the exact same look and port layout as their predecessors but now come in a new "space black" color that replaces space gray.

The machines raise the bar in several ways, ranging from sheer performance to configurability. For example, the M3 Max MacBook Pro can be ordered with up to 128GB of RAM - a new high for Apple's laptops. Preorders start today, and M3 Pro models will be available on Nov …

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Apple’s best move is giving us what we want

2023-10-30T11:03:41-04:00

A bigger iMac has been rumored for a long time — but where is it? | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge

Earlier this year, I bought a 15-inch MacBook Air. In many ways, it's the computer I needed at the time - but in the four months I've had it, I must confess, it's not the Mac I wanted.

What I wanted was the bigger 32-inch iMac that's been rumored for years at this point. I was tempted by the 24-inch M1 iMac when it launched in spring 2021, but I've spent years using a 27-inch monitor and didn't want to downsize on screen real estate. All the reliable Apple prognosticators said the bigger version was in the works. How long could that take?

It is now October 2023, and I'm still waiting. While a refresh of the 24-inch iMac is rumored for Appl …

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