14-inch M3 Pro MacBook Pro: The sweet spot for price and performance

It’s 400 more than the base 14-inch model, but you'll be glad you paid the difference.

- THOMAS ARMBRÜSTER

The $1,999 14-inch MacBook EDITORS' Pro with an M3 Pro System on a Chip is $400 more than the base 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 SoC. While that higher price tag looks like a lot, the $1,999 laptop ends up being a better value. You get a faster CPU and GPU, more memory to work with, and more flexible connectivity options.

This review looks at how the $1,999 MacBook Pro compares to the $1,599 model. A full review of the $1,599 MacBook Pro M3 (fave.co/3PtHb83) is available for a more in-depth analysis of that laptop.

SPECIFICATIONS

Apple offers two standard configurations of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with a M3 Pro chip. The model in this review is the $1,999/£2,099 version. Our guide to the M3 chips explains the differences in greater detail (fave.co/3MZyVey).

All of Apple's laptops can customized with more memory and a larger SSD, which will raise the price. Our review unit has the following specifications: CPU: M3 Pro with a 11-core

CPU (5 performance cores, 6 efficiency cores), 16-core Neural Engine 

GPU: 14-core GPU 

Memory: 18GB unified memory (150GBps memory bandwidth) 

Storage: 512GB SSD 

Display: 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display; 3024-by-1964 native resolution at 254 pixels per inch; 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio; 1,000 nits sustained full-screen XDR brightness, 1,600 nits peak HDR content only, 600 nits SDR brightness; P3 color; True Tone; ProMotion

Ports: 3 Thunderbolt 4/USB-C; SDXC card slot; HDMI 2.1; MagSafe 3; 3.5mm audio 

Networking: Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax); Bluetooth 5.3 

Weight: 3.5 pounds (1.61 kg) 

Dimensions: 0.66×14.01×9.77 inches

Battery capacity: 72.4Wh

Price: $1,999