Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Space Black M3 Max MacBook Pro Review: We Can Game Now?!”.
( upbeat music ) All right, so there are two new things about this new laptop from Apple., The new color and the new chip. ( upbeat music ). Everything that was already great about the outside of Apple’s laptop redesign is still great.. It still has a bunch of ports. The full size HDMI.
The MagSafe is still here still has that high quality build the boxy design. The super bright display., Also, everything that was awkward about it is also still awkward about. It. Still has this nice big notch at the top, with just a webcam and no face unlock., But it comes in black now kind. Of., It looked a lot darker in Apple’s announcement. Video. Like the color is literally called Space Black right. So I’m expecting a really really black laptop.
And in the commercial it looks awesome.. They talk about this fancy new anodization process for the aluminum. So it’s not a coating, it’s an actual new chemistry process. That is a part of the anodization itself..
It’S supposed to be extra fingerprint resistant., But now that we actually have it here in reality I mean it’s darker, but like it’s just a little bit darker than the other Space Gray from before.. If you wan na see a black laptop, this is a black laptop. Like they make black laptops already., So Apple’s here is just it’s a darker gray.. I think it’s basically the darkest that Apple could get without showing a ton of fingerprints..
I mean it still does show some fingerprints a little bit.. It’S definitely not completely immune., But compared to some other black laptops. I’Ve tried it is better than those., So it’s somewhere in the middle of not so many fingerprints, but also darker than normal.. It’S fine, it’s darker, which is nice.
Like some camera angles. It hits it really looks dark, but you get the idea. It also if you’re curious.
It also comes with black apple stickers, and it also comes with a black MagSafe charging cable, but also that braided cable is darker than the end. And it also comes with a brick. That’S still white., So I wouldn’t say they fully committed to the Space Black theme.
Quite yet. I’ll give’em, partial credit., But then let’s talk about the chip inside., So the new three nanometer M3 family of chips gets announced and it does offer some nice improvements over the M2 family definitely.. It almost feels weird to compare it to the M2 stuff, because almost nobody with an M2 should be upgrading to this, but at least it’s a good frame of reference.. So I’ve been testing the absolute highest end M3 Max in this laptop, which, from the M2 Max goes from a 38 core GPU to a 40 core GPU.
And from 96 gigs of shared memory. To now up to 128 gigs. CPU wise Apple’s claims were about right. Somewhere in the 20, sometimes 30 % improvement range over last year, which is very respectable., And actually it’s a bigger jump in single core performance than I was expecting, which is awesome for just the Daily use the quick snappy everyday computing, browsing, type, stuff. And then GPU wise. This is where more people were hoping for a little bit of a bigger improvement.
And again it is a respectable bump., Not quite leapfrogging, the big, discreet GPUs, but still putting M3 Max’s GPU up at the level of M1 Ultra.. So that’s pretty impressive. And matching somewhere around AMD Radeon RX 6800 on benchmarks or about an RTX 3070, which is you know, we’re talking a fairly mid-range card at this point.. But that’s the thing about all this new GPU performance and the benchmarks, and all that is great, but what’s actually more interesting, at least to me, is what you’re actually going to do with that extra performance, that extra graphics, power. And for a laptop like this.
That’S typically games or high powered graphics, related applications., So yeah when you see that powerful new GPU in a laptop with new hardware, accelerated ray tracing for the first time in a Mac and the mesh shading, and all that probably the first thing you think is gaming.. But then you realize it’s a Mac., So probably not gaming., But really, I think the reason at least in my head, that most people don’t associate gaming with Macs is not because they’re not powerful.. I mean they’re not as powerful as the highest industry GPUs, but they’re.
Not bad., It’s just because the games that people play and are enthusiastic about are often not available on the Mac., Like I’m, not even a big PC gamer. But you already know if you want to play “ The Witcher ,”, the new “ Fallout, ,” “, Skyrim, ,”, “, Crysis, ,”, “, Apex, Legends, ,”, there’s a long list. And if you want to throw maximum GPU power at that game, to play it in the Best possible quality, you’re looking to optimize a PC, not buy a Mac., So I actually think – and I think it’s maybe worth an entire separate video. Maybe let me know if you’re interested, but I think gaming on the Mac is in an all time, interesting place right now, because again, lots of games are not available on the Mac, but this is the most powerful Mac.
That’S ever been made. And I’ve been playing with some of the games that Apple likes to show off like in the app store. They’re like “ Guys. We have games., There’s lots of games and they’re really good and they take advantage of the new stuff.”.
I’Ve been playing this game called “ Lies of P.”, It’s one of the ones they talked about in the keynote, and it takes advantage of the hardware accelerated ray tracing.. You can see it in the reflections and on the floor and in the sword and everything.. It plays amazing. Like it looks: great.
Frame rates, stay high., I’m playing at 4K resolution.. There’S a visual depth and detail. That’S beautiful., Plus macOS Sonoma has the gaming mode, which is allocating as much power as possible to this game.. It also lets you use a Bluetooth controller with way faster sampling and lower latency., And so just maxing out everything works.
Great., It’s an awesome playing experience.. I was very impressed.. I just don’t care about this game., I’m not invested in that particular game at all.. It was fun to play the demo, and I was impressed with the actual moment of the computing..
It would get a little warm and the fans would spin up, but the fact that it would work on those Mac settings is amazing.. I just don’t. I’M not invested in that game at all. And I think that sort of encapsulates the way I feel about all this extra GPU power is like you could use it for gaming, but if you’re gon na buy a computer for this much money to game you’re, not Buying a Mac., But then again, of course, this is a Pro laptop.
It’S a MacBook Pro., And so there are lots of other non-games that take advantage of this extra GPU power and of this new hardware, accelerated, ray tracing and the mesh shading and all of that. Things like Cinema 4D, and this laptop with this chip is better than Ever at all that stuff too. And I think, we’re actually gon na slowly start seeing even more apps on the Mac take advantage of this stuff as time goes on..
But my conclusion was okay. Look when the event happened, I watched it and that last video you can see in that hotel room and I was very excited about it. It got announced. I saw a new matte black MacBook with a new chip, and I thought that that new color on top of that new chip would be enough for me to go “ All right. You know what It’s finally time, I’m gon na upgrade.”.
So I did. I clicked the order button and I purchased a new maxed out M3 Max MacBook Pro in matte black., But now that I’ve actually had this review unit here and I’ve gone through. My testing and I’ve experienced it. The color is kind of nice, but it’s not quite as impressive and new as I was maybe hoping., And then the new chip it’s great and everything, but it’s not actually going to make a meaningful difference to my workflow.
With a couple of videos. I edit on the go on my laptop from the M1 Max laptop that I’ve been using., So I canceled. I logged in and I canceled my order and I will continue to daily what I have for the past. I guess three years now, with the M1 Max 16 inch, MacBook Pro.
Turns out it’s not for me.. Well, I mean, I guess it is a high-end matte black laptop., So maybe it is kind of for me., But I think the point I’m trying to make is if you already have an M family chip MacBook in the tier that you want, meaning if you have An M2 Pro or an M1 Pro M3 Pro is not gon na, be the huge difference for you.. If you have M2 Max or M1 Max M3 Max is not really for you.. This is like any other spec bump.
Far more for people with older machines., You didn’t need to hear me say this, but it’s true for people with older machines with Intel machines or with machines in a different tier, where this would really unlock something new in their workflow. And that’s. What’S great, about’em is you’re gon na get a better machine than ever..
For me, I’m gon na keep using M1 Max.. That’S a testament to how good that thing. Is., Maybe I’ll do a two years later, three years later review or something like that., But for now I’m glad there’s a new darker, color available., But yeah. You know it’s weirdly, not for me..
Still, a great laptop, still great displays. Amazing speakers awesome build quality battery life’s still awesome., But maybe my upgrade will come when they really commit to the matte black thing or there’s another huge upgrade somewhere down the line.. That’S my conclusion..
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