During Apple's "Scary Fast" product event, the company introduced a new lineup of Macs featuring the next-generation M3-series chips. While the external design of these new Macs remains similar to their predecessors, significant internal improvements have been made. The M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips all utilize the same CPU and GPU architectures found in the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro chip. Additionally, these chips are manufactured using a new 3 nm process from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC).
In terms of performance, Apple claims that the M3 processors' performance cores can run up to 30% faster than those of the M1, while the efficiency cores are up to 50% faster. It's worth noting that most of Apple's performance comparisons were made against the previous M1 generation. For example, the M2's P-cores were already between 10% and 20% faster than the M1's, and the M3 demonstrates further performance improvements. Apple also states that the M3 is up to 35% faster than the M1 in terms of peak power for E-cores.
Here is a breakdown of the CPU and GPU configurations, maximum RAM, and maximum memory bandwidth for each chip in the M3 family:
M1:
- CPU cores: 4 performance / 4 efficiency
- GPU cores: 8
- Maximum RAM: 16GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 66.6GB/s
M2:
- CPU cores: 4 performance / 4 efficiency
- GPU cores: 10
- Maximum RAM: 24GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 100GB/s
M3:
- CPU cores: 4 performance / 4 efficiency
- GPU cores: 10
- Maximum RAM: 24GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 100GB/s
M1 Pro:
- CPU cores: 8 performance / 2 efficiency
- GPU cores: 8 performance / 8 efficiency
- Maximum RAM: 32GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 200GB/s
M2 Pro:
- CPU cores: 8 performance / 4 efficiency
- GPU cores: 19
- Maximum RAM: 32GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 200GB/s
M3 Pro:
- CPU cores: 6 performance / 6 efficiency
- GPU cores: 18
- Maximum RAM: 36GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 150GB/s
M1 Max:
- CPU cores: 8 performance / 2 efficiency
- GPU cores: 32
- Maximum RAM: 64GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 400GB/s
M2 Max:
- CPU cores: 8 performance / 4 efficiency
- GPU cores: 38
- Maximum RAM: 96GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 400GB/s
M3 Max:
- CPU cores: 12 performance / 4 efficiency
- GPU cores: 40
- Maximum RAM: 128GB
- Maximum memory bandwidth: 400GB/s
The M3 series' GPU is based on the same architecture as the A17 Pro found in the iPhone 15 Pro, enabling hardware-accelerated ray-tracing support similar to Nvidia GeForce and AMD Radeon GPUs. Additionally, the M3 GPUs support "Dynamic Caching," which optimizes memory allocation for tasks, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading, useful for rendering complex scenes with multiple objects. Apple claims that the rendering performance of the M3 is up to 2.5 times faster than the M1 for workloads that leverage the new hardware acceleration features.
The media engine in the M3 series supports hardware-accelerated decoding for AV1 video streams. While this feature may be niche for home users, it aligns with the capabilities of modern integrated PC GPUs.
In terms of differences among the M3 chips, the M3 Pro has 37 billion transistors, fewer than the M2 Pro. With six performance cores and six efficiency cores, the M3 Pro includes an 18-core GPU and supports up to 36GB of RAM. The memory bandwidth for the M3 Pro is 150GB/s.
On the other hand, the M3 Max boasts 92 billion transistors, surpassing the 67 billion found in the M2 Max. The M3 Max consists of 12 performance cores, four efficiency cores, and a 40-core GPU. It supports up to 128GB of RAM and has a maximum memory bandwidth of 400GB/s.
To summarize the display support capabilities, the M3 supports up to two screens, including the internal display. The M3 Pro can handle three displays, and the M3 Max has the ability to drive up to five displays.
The event did not mention the M3 Ultra. If it follows previous patterns, the M3 Ultra would likely be a combination of two M3 Max chips.
