The long-awaited replacement for the 13-inch MacBook Pro is here, and it’s just as expected. Yet, the line between Air and Pro users is blurrier than ever.
Goodbye, 13-inch MacBook Pro. I won’t miss your cramped screen and Touch Bar. Hello, 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro, the new entry-level Pro on the block.
In many ways, this MacBook is my “what could’ve been.” Earlier this year, fed up with waiting for a larger iMac, I traded in my 13-inch Intel-powered MacBook Pro for the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air. I briefly considered the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro but wasn’t keen on the Touch Bar and wanted a bigger display. The 14-inch had the M2 Pro chip, which was more power than I needed and more dollars than I wanted to spend. In that context, the 15-inch Air made the most sense for my home setup.
If this 14-inch MacBook Pro had been around, I would have been much more conflicted.
The Good and The Bad
ReviewsJar Score: 8
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
Price: $1599
Pros:
- Great performance
- Long battery life
- A worthy new entry-level Pro
- It’s exactly what you want it to be
Cons:
- Starting with 8GB of RAM is silly
- Picking the M3 means losing a Thunderbolt port
- No space black, really?
Ports, Design, and the Lack of Space Black
The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,599 with the new M3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. For this review, Apple sent me a step-up configuration with the same M3 processor, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, bumping the price to $1,999.
This model features the base M3 chip. Apple also offers a 14-inch MacBook Pro with the beefier M3 Pro and M3 Max. The M3 Pro models start at $1,999, while the Max starts at a whopping $3,199. These more powerful models offer more (and faster) Thunderbolt ports, higher storage options, and more memory — starting at 18GB for the Pro (up to 36GB) or 36GB (up to 128GB) for the Max. It’s frustrating that Apple’s base M3 starts so underpowered with just 8GB of RAM.
Design-wise, there’s nothing groundbreaking. If you’re a longtime MacBook follower, you know what to expect. The display is pretty, the touchpad works great, there sure is a notch, but you get used to it, and typing has been enjoyable since Apple did away with the butterfly switches. The 1080p webcam makes you look like a human, not a potato, on calls. It’s everything you’d want from a MacBook Pro, including all the good updates from the past few years. It’s still annoying that Apple doesn’t let you upgrade individual parts, but at this point, do we expect different from Apple?
But while I enjoyed using the 14-inch Pro overall, there was one thing that really irked me: ports.
Port Politics
Since the move to Apple Silicon, the MacBook Pro has generally had three Thunderbolt ports, a headphone jack, MagSafe 3 port, an SDXC slot, and an HDMI port. The base model 14-inch Pro with the M3 processor only has two Thunderbolt 3 ports. That third port — and Thunderbolt 4 — are reserved for the M3 Pro and M3 Max models.
This is still a step up from the now-discontinued 13-inch and both Air models, which only have two Thunderbolt ports, a headphone jack, and nothing else. But why is Apple gatekeeping that third Thunderbolt port to the M3 Pro and M3 Max? The M3 chip only supports a single external display, while the M3 Pro and Max chips support two. The third Thunderbolt port is between the HDMI and SDXC slot of the M3 Pro and M3 Max models, so I suppose it’s the one Apple thinks you’ll use for external monitors. It still feels like an arbitrary line drawn to encourage you to buy a more expensive model.
For me, the appeal of a Pro over the Air is that you get a ticket out of dongletown. I often find myself wanting to plug a third device into my 15-inch Air, which means I have to scramble for a dongle or unplug something I’d rather not. I’ve had that issue with this M3 MacBook Pro, too. It’s not the end of the world, but it’s just the principle of the matter.
Faster, but Not Scary Faster
The performance boost from Intel to the M1 chips was significant. Now that we’re well into the third gen of Apple Silicon, the improvements are more incremental. Just look at our benchmark chart comparing the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air and the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro.
In nearly every scenario, the M3 MacBook Pro 14 is slightly better than the M2 MacBook Air 15 — close to the roughly 10 percent mark Apple stated at its “Scary Fast” event. I didn’t include our M1 MacBook Pro 13 scores because most of the benchmarks we ran on that machine have since been updated and are no longer comparable. However, looking at the Geekbench 6 scores, you can see a more significant improvement, roughly in line with the 35 percent bump Apple said it would get.
Benchmarks have their time and place, but I suspect folks looking at an entry-level MacBook Pro care less about benchmarks and more about how this laptop fits into everyday life. I also imagine there are lots of people like me who wonder if the extra juice of a MacBook Pro is worth it or if an Air would suffice.
First off, this is a quiet machine. The fans rarely kicked on, even during intensive benchmark tests like PugetBench for Adobe Premiere Pro or our 4K export test. Even then, the fans never got distracting. It wheezed a bit while I ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider on the highest possible settings, though it never got too hot. Even so, I maintain that Macs — let alone a base M3 — are not for gaming. You can if you want to, as long as the game you want is even available for Mac.
Battery Life
As for battery life, this laptop refuses to die on me. With the display at 300 nits, adaptive brightness disabled, and all battery-saving options turned off, I got between 12 and 14 hours of constant use every day. At 300 nits, you’ll get a few hours more at the more typical 200 nits for average usage. After a roughly three-and-a-half-hour writing session with the aforementioned settings and various other apps running in the background, I only lost 15 percent battery. I watched a two-hour movie, full-screen, and only lost about 20 percent. Your mileage will certainly vary, but just using this as I normally would, I’ve had a hard time getting this thing to zero in a single workday.
My everyday workload never taxed this MacBook either. At one point, I had an ill-advised 55 open browser tabs, plus my calendar app, a YouTube video going, Messages, Slack, my email app, Photoshop, and several PDFs open at the same time. It was all groovy. I also did this while using my 27-inch monitor via Thunderbolt, streaming Peloton earnings and a recording app. Again, no issues. And that made me realize how hard I whiffed it when I bought my 15-inch M2 Air.
Should You Get This Over the 15-Inch M2 Air?
For me, both the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 16-inch MacBook Pro have obvious audiences. Either you want the lightest laptop for an average workload at a good price or you’re purposely buying the biggest screen and a more powerful chip. It’s less clear for those of us hovering somewhere in the middle. It’ll inevitably lead you to where I’m at: debating between the 15-inch M2 Air and this 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro.
I have a personal stake in finding the answer. I was trying to save money and bought a base-model 15-inch M2 Air with just 8GB of RAM a few months ago. I regret that decision immensely. The short of it is, as soon as I open a 20th tab, the beachballing begins. Could I not have several dozen tabs open? Sure, but in 2023, it’s not too much to ask for a $1,300 computer to connect to a monitor and keep its cool when you have 20 to 30 tabs open. RAM still matters, and it’s silly that the base model only gets you 8GB. Of course, spend within your means, but I think it behooves everyone to get at least 16GB these days.
In a just world, I’d be able to upgrade the RAM on my existing Air, but alas. I’ve now fallen down a rabbit hole of deciding whether to trade in my Air for a model with 16GB of RAM or just buy a 14-inch Pro for myself. Budget aside, it comes down to whether you want an extra screen or extra ports.
Goodbye, Touch Bar
The 14-inch’s display feels much less cramped than my company-issued 13-inch M1 Air. I can use it comfortably without my external display, whereas that’s a total pain on the M1 Air
. But I also like the roominess of the 15-inch Air. Ultimately, I don’t think you can go wrong with either machine. You’ll get a lovely screen, a smooth typing experience, and excellent battery life. That’s a long way of saying if you’re hung up between the two, look at your workload. Do you need more screen real estate or ports? If you’re mostly plugging into a monitor or can work without a third port, the 15-inch M2 Air is a great option. If you need that third port or have a beefier workload than you’d like to admit, the 14-inch Pro might be the ticket. Either way, make sure you get the RAM you need.
Despite some nitpicks, the M3 14-inch MacBook Pro is a worthy upgrade to the old 13-inch model. It performs better, has a nicer screen, and more ports. The pros outweigh the cons, and it gets the job done. It’ll be interesting to see how the M3 Pro and M3 Max stack up to this entry-level model, but for now, I think the 14-inch Pro is a fine option if the price and the ports make sense for you.