Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max review – a gamechanger for professional users

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• VERDICT

Apple has come up with a standout product in the 16 inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max. It has created the perfect mix of power, performance, software and power efficiency that will enable professional users to do so much more in less time anywhere they want. It has truly set an all-new standard.

The new 16-inch MacBook Pro with Apple’s M3 processor under the hood is an absolute powerhouse that will change the working life of professional users.

I am typing this review on the Space Black 16-inch MacBook Pro which won’t go anywhere near testing the capabilities of this laptop but for creative professionals, coders, film makers and researchers who are dealing with high end applications and terabytes of data this is an absolute game changer.

The model we were loaned for review is running Apple’s M3 Max chip with 48GB unified memory (what we used to call RAM) and a 1TB SSD (solid state drive).

We received the new Space Black model which is stunning.

Apple says it was created with a new chemistry that forms an anodize seal to repel fingerprints.

In the time we’ve been using the MacBook Pro we’ve noticed there are less fingerprints and other marks, but it hasn’t eliminated them altogether.

But the good news is one easy wipe with a cloth and it’s back to looking brand new again.

To be fair, there is no way our workflow would bring the MacBook Pro with M3 Max above any sort of level that would raise a sweat.

But if your job is editing 4K and 8K videos, rendering 3D graphics, using Photoshop to edit huge images, going through mountains of data as a researcher or creating cutting edge games, then you are in the right ballpark.

We’ve been told that some tasks for professionals are so intensive they could only be performed on a desktop computer connected to power.

But what if I were to tell you the new MacBook Pro with M3 Max can allow you to perform those same tasks anywhere you want while running on battery power, that would really provide the type of freedom you wouldn’t have known before.

This flexibility alone makes the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max worth every penny.

And we’ll tell you up front, these laptops aren’t cheap but for the power, performance and flexibility they provide, to the appropriate user it is a “shut up and take my money” situation.

Our review model with the above specs is priced at $6,899.

What Apple has been able to achieve with its M3 family of silicon is groundbreaking.

The Holy Grail of computing is being able to provide high performance, tremendous capabilities and power efficiency. Apple has achieved this with M3.

The power and performance speak for themselves but it’s the power efficiency that everyone can truly appreciate.

We were already impressed by the capabilities of the new 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max but what you get on top of that is an incredible 22 hours of battery life.

In our years of reviewing laptops we’ve never seen power and performance backed with such high power efficiency.

The M3 Max chip aboard our review unit has a 40-core GPU which means it can deliver up to 20 per cent faster graphics performance than M2 Max and 40 per cent faster than M1 Max.

It also includes a new feature called Dynamic Caching which is like a high tech traffic cop that intelligently designates what resources your applications and tasks require to maintain overall efficiency.

Also on board is hardware-accelerated rendering features Mesh Shading and Ray Tracing which not only allows film makers and game developers to create more realistic light and shadows in their projects but also makes those games on the MacBook Pro with M3 Max even more enjoyable to play.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max was able to offer noticeable performance improvements when using high end applications like Redshift, Affinity Photo and DaVinci Resolve Studio.

With redshift the new M3 Max MacBook Pro offered a 5.3x improvement for faster rendering when compared to the 16-inch MacBook Pro with Intel Core i9.

Image processing in Affinity Photo was also 3.6 times faster and noise reduction performance in Davinci Resolve Studio was 2.7 times faster.

These improvements can help improve a professional’s workflow and the sheer amount of work they’re able to get through in a single sitting.

Anything that can save you time while maintaining the same level of power and performance is well worth paying attention to – and that’s exactly what the M3 Max powered 16-inch MacBook Pro can provide.

The 16.2 inch liquid retina XDR display has a resolution of 3456 x 2234 which gives you a grand total of more than 7.7 million pixels.

The screen has up to 1600 nits of peak brightness thanks to more than 10,200 Mini LEDs which provide 2,554 local dimming zones.

So you not only get a great view of your work but when it’s time to relax and watch a movie you can enjoy the amazing picture quality which includes HDR, so you see amazing detail in the lighter and darker areas of the screen.

It also sounds great thanks to the six speaker sound system with four force-cancelling woofers and two tweeters which can create a three dimensional sound stage with Spatial Audio.

You can enjoy this sound quality whether you’re listening to music or watching a movie with Dolby Atmos.

On our travels, we used the 16-inch MacBook Pro as not only our work device but also to watch movies and the experience was remarkable.

We also used the MacBook Pro to cross for our Sky News technology segments while we were overseas and took advantage of the 1080p FaceTime HD camera which automatically optimises the quality so we were looking our best.

We were also able to connect over Wi-Fi 6E which can tap into that standard’s 6Ghz band to achieve even faster wi-fi speeds.

On the connectivity side, there are three Thunderbolt 4 ports – two on the left and one on the right along with the HDMI port which makes it easy to connect to TV or a HDMI display without an adapter and the SD card reader. It also has a 3.5mm headphone Jack.

The M3 Max MacBook Pro offers full native resolution on the included display and up to four external displays – up to three with 6K resolution over Thunderbolt and one external 4K display over HDMI.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max is available now and starts at $5,999. The 14 inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max is available for $5,599.

VERDICT

Apple has come up with a standout product in the 16 inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max. It has created the perfect mix of power, performance, software and power efficiency that will enable professional users to do so much more in less time anywhere they want. It has truly set an all-new standard.