First Published: Oct 31 2023 | 12:32 PM IST

The 24-inch iMac, powered by the M3 chipset, is offered in 8-core GPU and 10-core GPU configurations at Rs 134,900 onwards. It supports up to 24GB unified memory and will be available in seven different colour options – green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue, and silver.

Both the MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac are now available for pre-order on Apple India online store, with availability starting November 7 at authorised Apple stores and select retailers.

Apple M3: What is new

The M3 line comprises the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. All three processors are based on the 3nm architecture. The baseline M3 chip supports up to 24GB unified memory. The M3 Pro and M3 Max support up to 36GB and 128GB unified memory configurations, respectively. Apple said the M3 chips feature Dynamic Caching technology for GPU that allocates exact amounts of local memory needed for a specific task. These processors also get hardware-accelerated ray tracing for better graphic rendering. Below are the chips configurations:

M3: 8-core CPU (4 performance + 4 efficiency) + 10-core GPU

M3 Pro: 12-core CPU (6 performance + 6 efficiency) + 18-core GPU

M3 Max: 16-core CPU (12 performance + 4 efficiency) + 40-core GPU

Also Read: Apple unveils new laptops, iMac, trio of powerful chips with improvements

MacBook Pro: Specification

The 2023 MacBook Pro is offered in 14-inch and 16-inch displays. The 14-inch display model is offered in M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max configurations, whereas the 16-inch is offered only in the M3 Pro and M3 Max configurations. Apple said the new MacBook Pro line has a recycled aluminium enclosure and sports a Liquid Retina XDR display with up to 1600 nits of peak brightness for viewing HDR content and up to 600 nits for SDR content. It runs on the macOS Sonoma, which features a Game Mode that reduces latency for wireless accessories.

 

24-inch iMac: Specification

The 24-inch iMac is available only with the baseline M3 chipset. It sports a 4.5K resolution retina display with P3 wide colour gamut and up to 500 nits of brightness. Similar to the MacBook Pro, the 24-inch iMac runs on the macOS Sonoma. It has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth version 5.3 for wireless connectivity, and up to four USB Type-C ports (including two Thunderbolt ports) and a Gigabit Ethernet standard on select models. Apple has added a 1080p inbuilt camera and a six-speaker system that supports Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos.

By Mark Gurman

Apple Inc. announced new a iMac, laptops and the third generation of its in-house Mac processor line on Monday, rolling out an M3 chip with major improvements to overall performance and graphics horsepower.

 

The new chip lineup relies on advanced 3-nanometer manufacturing technology and more efficiently handles graphics processing, Apple said in a presentation Monday. The base model has eight main cores — the processing engines on a chip — in addition to 10 cores for graphics. The announcement was part of a “Scary Fast”-branded product unveiling, an unusually timed event that kicked off at 5 p.m. California time.

New MacBook Pro models, also unveiled at the event, will run the new processors. That will make them more powerful while retaining their 22 hours of battery life, Apple said. Apple also debuted a version of its 24-inch all-in-one iMac that runs the M3. 

The company’s homegrown semiconductor business — known as Apple Silicon — has become a prized asset. Since switching to its own chips from Intel Corp. components in 2020, Apple has seen sales of its Mac computers grow sharply, helped by a broader run-up in tech spending during the pandemic.

But in recent quarters, revenue began to slide again and competition has intensified. The M3 launch is meant to help restore Apple’s advantage in the industry and get the Mac business back on track.

Mac sales are forecast to climb about 5% in the holiday quarter, with the revenue growing 5.5% in the fiscal year that began this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The switch to the M3 marks the first time Apple — or any other high-volume computer manufacturer — has moved to the 3-nanometer technology. The 3-nanometer process squeezes in more transistors, getting more technology into a tighter space. Such chips are designed to amp up performance while still saving battery life.

The company also introduced two other tiers of the M3 — Pro and Max versions — that are aimed at higher-performance machines. The M3 Pro chip’s central processing unit has 12 cores, with 18 for graphics. And the M3 Max has 16 main cores and 40 graphics cores, making it 80% faster than the M1 chip from 2021.

Apple’s announcement follows other signs that the computer processor business is heating up. Intel, its former partner, gave an upbeat forecast last week that sent shares soaring. Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. are working on new processors based on technology from Arm Holdings Plc. And Qualcomm Inc. unveiled a laptop processor last week that it touted as faster than Apple’s M2.