Is It Time To Update Your MacBook Pro Or iMac?

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let's look at whether it is time for you to upgrade your MacBook Pro or iMac with the new M3 models.

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So on October 30 Apple updated its MacBook Pro and iMac to new models that include the new M3 processor. If you're already using a MacBook or iMac you may be wondering whether or not it is time to upgrade. 

First let's take a look at what Apple announced. They came out with a 14" and a 16"  inch MacBook Pro. This replaced the former 14" and 16" MacBook Pro. So the entire MacBook Pro line is different although the MacBook Air's are the same. Now if you look at the new MacBook Pros the tech specs are pretty similar to what there was before but the main thing you'll find that is different is the chip inside it. The M3 chip is now used in these two MacBook models. You can get a range of these chips. You can get the base level M3 chip in the 14" MacBook Pro but not the 16". The 16" starts at the M3 Pro level and then goes to the M3 Max chip which you can also get in the 14" model. 

So you've got upgrades on these chips, so are these chips faster? Definitely yes. Apple shows that performance is, of course, better than the M2 chips. Naturally they are. In addition to that the GPU's on these chips include lots of new things that can be used for 3D, specifically games, but lots of future apps that also use 3D in their interfaces. 

The displays are improved although the displays were already great. But, these pro models have the liquid retina XDR display and now it's a little brighter than before. The M3 models also allow upgrades to larger amounts of memory although the base model MacBook Pro can still start as low as 8GB. The battery life has been improved as well. The ports are more or less the same but note that if you get the M3 14" MacBook Pro it has only 2 Thunderbolt ports and they are Thunderbolt 3. It's only if you get the M3 Pro or M3 Max processors that now you've got Thunderbolt 4 ports and you actually have 3 of them. Two on one side and one on the other. 

So what about the new iMac. The iMac looks the same. It's basically physically identical to the previous model. It comes in the same colors but as with MacBook Pro it is the new chip inside that matters. So, you only have the one choice. The M3 chip. But otherwise the display, camera, and most of the other aspects of the iMac are the same as the M1 model that was out before. 

The big change, really, is the processor. It's important to realize with the processors that as you jump generations from say M1 to M2 to M3 the change isn't as significant as actually going up levels, which are the base model, the Pro, the Max, and the Ultra. So while we don't have benchmarks yet for the M3 processors we can look at the benchmarks for the M1 and M2 processors and here they are. You can see here that when you're looking at something like the CPU, when you go from M1 to M2, you definitely see an improvement. But look at the improvement from the base M1 to the Pro, to the Max and from the base M2 to the Pro to the Max. Those are bigger jumps. So, for instance a M1 Pro chip is better than the base M2. A M1 Max chip is better than the M2 Pro. 

The difference is even bigger when you're talking about the graphics. So the GPU's on these chips, they go up of course if you go from M1 to M2. But if you look at the jump from base to Pro to Max you can see they are much bigger jumps here. Look at how if you have the Max M1 how much faster that is than the Pro M2. The same thing when you're looking at this other metric here. I only bring this up because a lot of people incorrectly assume that any M2 chip is better than any M1 chip. That's not the case. The level of the chip, the base, Pro, Max, and Ultra is what matters the most. The generation is an increment on all of those at the same level. 

So one of the key things to realize then is that if you're looking to upgrade to basically the same model MacBook Pro or the iMac and you already have Apple's silicon, so you've got the M1 iMac or the M1 or M2 MacBook Pro then it is probably not worth it at this point to upgrade to a M3 MacBook Pro or the M3 iMac. The change isn't going to be enough. 

Let's take a look at the options when you buy one. So here's the Buy Page and you can choose the 14" or 16" model. If you stick with the 14" model then you could go with the M3, M3 Pro, or M3 Max chip. If you go with the 16" model you just have the M3 Pro or M3 Max. Now note that getting a MacBook Pro with a M3 chip in it, that's making it very similar to a MacBook Air. Now there is no M3 MacBook Air but eventually at some point next year there will be. The M2 really isn't that far behind. Without the Pro Chip you're going to be missing the extra port, you're going to be missing Thunderbolt 4 and a variety of other things. So let's select the M3 Pro base model there. We can see we're already at 512GB or storage which is good. Because I don't recommend that anybody get the 256GB of storage. All your iCloud data is going to be there. All your photos probably are going to be there. It is going to be much faster than any external drive that you can get. Of course using external drive is going to make your MacBook Pro much less portable. You can see at this level you're getting 18 GB of memory. So much better than the 8GB of memory that you would get if instead you chose the base model M3 and then you're looking at 8GB of memory. So you can see how the base model MacBook Pro really isn't much of a bargain with just the M3 chip starting at 8GB of RAM. 

Now let's look at the iMac. You do actually have two choices of processor in the iMac but they are both M3. One is the 8-Core GPU model and the other is the 10--Core GPU model. If you go to the 10-Core GPU model you're also getting the full selection of colors whereas you're limited with the base model. Both of these models here have the  minimum amount of storage which I certainly don't recommend and 8GB of RAM which is fine for most users as long as you are not doing really intense graphic work or video work or 3D work. Then 8GB is probably fine for most personal computer users. If you customize the second model here then we can add in some more memory and go to at least the next drive level for $1900. If you're just a casual home user then 8GB of memory is the first place you should look to cut, never go down to this level of storage. It is just not going to enough. As a matter of fact for most home users it is worth it to go up yet another level in storage before you consider going up memory. 

I know there are a lot of people out there warning about getting as little as 8GB in your Mac. But I've had a M1 with 8GB or RAM, a M2 with 8GB of RAM and both work great for just about anything that home users want to do. So only if you are using it professionally for some really intense work that you really need to go up a level. Certainly if you've got the money to do it, do it. But, if you only have got $200 to spend then I would spend it on storage, not the memory there. The storage is going to limit you much more in the future. 

Now another thing to think about is the lifespan of a Mac. So when you purchase a new Mac from the original day that the Mac was released you've got between five and seven years before it looses the ability to have the latest operating system. The computer still works of course. You just can't get the latest and greatest that Apple comes out with. Then even after that you've got about two years of security updates. You can still use the Mac after that. You're just not going to get security updates from Apple. So if you are using say the oldest M1 Mac, the 2020 MacBook Pro then now it is already three years into this. So if you're looking for a lateral move, say from the M1 MacBook Pro to a M3 MacBook Pro then I don't think it is worth it at this point, yet. You've still got plenty of good years in your M1. 

But if you're also looking to upgrade to a higher level model, for instance going from a M1 MacBook Pro to a M1 Max MacBook Pro then it is a bigger jump. So in other words you're looking at doing two things at once. Getting a newer model but also a more powerful level of Mac. Then this is a good time to upgrade your MacBook Pro. 

But for iMac's there is no option like that. You're just going from M1 to M3. There is no M3 Pro or M3 Max version of the iMac. So you can't actually go up a level. So if you have a M1 iMac then I don't think it is worth upgrading to the M3 iMac. If you really want to go up a big level there then you want to be looking at, say, a Mac Studio System and not just sticking with the iMac just two years later. 

On the other hand, if you still have an Intel MacBook Pro or an Intel iMac then this is a great time to upgrade. You can see here even if you have a 2019 version of these it is getting close to that five year mark and if it is older than that it's getting closer to the seven year mark as well. It is a great time to make the jump to Apple Silicon. Your new Mac is going to be several times faster even if you stay at the same level. So even if you've had a powerful Intel MacBook Pro or powerful Intel iMac going to the Apple Silicon version and M3 version is going to be a huge jump and you're going to get improvements across the board of things like screen, the cameras, all sorts of things. 

Now if your Intel Mac is still working find for you then, of course, there's no need to upgrade. It's only if you want to. There's never a need to upgrade. But if you're looking to upgrade and you're looking for the right time, this is probably it. Going from Intel to Apple Silicon right now with the new MacBook Pros and iMacs, if those are the models you're looking for this is the time to do it. I don't expect Apple to introduce any new Macs before the end of the year and even in beginning of next year. The earliest we will probably see something, maybe, is at the end of January when they celebrate the 40 anniversary of the Mac. So this is a good time to buy or update a Mac now knowing that Apple is not going to come out with something next week or next month. 

I hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.