Who is the M3 MacBook Pro For?
When Apple unveiled the new baseline M3 MacBook Pro for $1,599, there was an immediate eyebrow raise. Surely Apple did not just reduce the price of its flagship laptop, right? Well, they did and they didn’t at the same time. Yes, Apple did technically introduce a new, cheaper MacBook Pro with the 14-inch ProMotion Liquid Retina XDR display, HDMI and SD card ports, and a new 3-nanometer M3 processor. The caveat to all of that is this device, being marketed to professionals, has some concessions that should make prospective buyers take pause.
Let’s start out on a positive note when talking about the M3 MacBook Pro. Anybody thinking of buying an M1 MacBook Pro has a good case for picking this new device instead. Sure, it is more expensive, but the upgrades over the M1 device are strong ones. The screen is significantly better, there are useful ports built in, the webcam is higher quality, it has MagSafe charging, more starting storage (512 GB), and the faster and more power efficient M3 chip. Nearly everything is better in this MacBook Pro as opposed to the M1 variant.
There are issues, however. The 8 GB of RAM in the baseline M3 MacBook Pro is a dangerous game of computer Russian Roulette. Even medium usage on a semi-regular basis can push things to a breaking point. As noted in my review of the base model 15-inch Air, I pushed it to its limit by having Zoom, Mail, Pages, and a few Safari tabs open while recording a podcast. A $1,599 laptop being choked out by basic office applications is an inexcusable money grab. Apple also surely seems content in sticking with 8 GB of RAM, touting during their last event the new Dynamic Caching system to help manage RAM in real time. Apple even doubled down and said in an interview that 8 GB of RAM on a MacBook is equivalent to 16 GB of RAM on a Windows computer. That is a bold statement, and one that some YouTubers have proven to be false. Even with MacOS being very efficient, those 8 GB of RAM will be pushed to their limit quickly. But will the core market for this MacBook even care about RAM?
Wait, what IS the core market?
That brings us to the key question of this article: who is the M3 MacBook Pro geared towards? Surely a professional will see the low RAM and slower/fewer ports and immediately upgrade to the M3 Pro MacBook Pro for just $400 more — so the target demographic isn’t them. The $1,599 price tag is likely too high for someone who just needs a computer for around the house. Those customers would be better served getting a MacBook Air or even an iMac — so they are not the ideal target either.
This is for the person who does not care about how much RAM they have or the implications of swap memory. This is for the person who does not care about gigahertz or performance and efficiency cores. This is for the person who does not know any better. They see “MacBook Pro” etched into the bottom, the pretty screen, and ports along the side and just pick it because it looks the same as the more expensive options. And there is nothing wrong with that, more power to these consumers. But their purchasing power at $1,599 could go toward so much more.
So in what instances would I recommend buying this computer? Well, there aren’t really any. If you are coming from an Intel Mac, purchasing any Apple Silicon Mac — not just the M3 — would be a night and day upgrade. If you are on an M1 device and are lusting after the ProMotion screen and ports, I suggest a refurbished M1 Pro or M2 Pro to quench that thirst. They will be cheaper than the new M3, have all the ports and excellent display, and will be just as powerful. But whatever you do, do not buy the M3 MacBook Pro.
