This Was the Unexpected Star of Apple’s Big Mac Event

Apple announced new M3 chips, new MacBook Pros and a new iMac. But it was the “space black” finish that stole the show.

Published November 4, 2023

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At yesterday’s “Scary Fast” event, Apple announced the expected: a family of new M3 chipsets — there’s the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max — and an updated line of Macs powered by them. Specially, there are new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros and a new 24-inch iMac. All are up for preorder now and will start shipping next week.

Since the design of these updated MacBook Pros and iMac remains largely unchanged, the star of the show was ostensibly Apple’s new silicon and the performance gains — specifically with GPU — they are able to deliver over previous Macs with M1, M2 and especially Intel chips.

But there was a surprise star of Apple’s October event. What got the most oohs and aahs was the announcement of a new “space black” finish for select MacBook Pros.

The new MacBook Pros come in a slick matte black finish

a black laptop keyboard with a white background — The “space black” finish is reserved for MacBook Pros with either M3 Pro or M3 Pro Max chips.

All the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros will be configurable with M3, M3 Pro or M3 Pro Max chipsets. However, if you get one with an M3 Pro or M3 Max chip — basically anything but the baseline M3 chip — you have the option of getting a “space black” finish. It’s a dark aluminum finish that, according to Apple, has a special anodization seal to greatly reduce fingerprint marks. I’ve had the chance to check them out in person and they look pretty darn fresh.

If you don’t want the space black finish, you can get any new MacBook Pro in silver. The traditional “space gray” option is only available for 14-inch models with the M3 chip.

The new MacBook Pros are more affordable than ever

a couple of laptops — The entry-level M3 MacBook Pro starts at $1,599.

The smallest and most entry-level new MacBook Pro, the 14-inch model with an M3 chip, costs $1,599. This is actually $400 less than the cheapest MacBook Pro with the M2 Pro, which started at $1,999. And that’s kind of nice.

As for other new MacBook Pros, Apple has kept pricing the same. The 14-inch models with the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips start at $1,999 and 3,199, respectively. The 16-inch models with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips start at $2,499 and $3,499, respectively.

Apple has officially killed the Touch Bar

Apple has officially stopped selling the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the announcement of its M3 MacBook Pros. This was the last MacBook Pro that had the old design with a Touch Bar. It’s the end of an era. Maybe for the best.

The new iMac might be the biggest improvement

The iMac hadn’t been refreshed since Apple gave it a huge design overhaul in 2021. And while the newest iMac looks identical to its predecessor — it’s even available in the same exact colors — the fact that it has a M3 chip instead of a M1 chip means that it promises to be a significantly faster machine. Apple never released a M2 version of the iMac.

The M3 iMac starts at $1,299, same as before. There is no option to configure the new iMac with Apple’s higher-end M3 Pro or M3 Max chips.

So, what’s the deal with Apple’s new M3 chips?

As you’d expect, Apple’s M3 chips promise to be better and faster than their M2 or M1 predecessors.

The biggest thing that Apple emphasized with its M3 chips is their GPU performance; they have a new GPU architecture that supports new features — like Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading — that will help drastically improve the performance of professional apps and games that require a lot of GPU.

The CPU performance of the M3 chips is improved over Apple’s previous silicone as well. Apple claims that the M3 chips are up to 15-percent and 30-percent faster than their M2 and M1 counterparts, respectively.

Apple also claims that the improved efficiency of its M3 chips will allow the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros to get up to 22 hours of battery life — the longest of any MacBook ever.