In one of the least surprising (or spooky) announcements of the year, Apple unveiled its rumored M3 chip lineup, including the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, at its October "Scary Fast" event. These powerful new processors are found in the just-announced M3 MacBook Pro, which will be available in a variety of configuration options on November 7.

The M3 MacBook Pro, Apple's most powerful laptop ever released, will be available on November 7 in both 14-inch and 16-inch models, with prices starting at $1999 for the former and $2499 for the latter. This is exactly the price we had expected, and each Pro revamped into M3 will be available for the same price as its M2-equipped predecessor.

The base $1,999 M3 MacBook Pro 14-inch will have 12 CPU cores (6 for performance and 6 for efficiency) and 18 GPU cores with up to 36GB of unified memory. This is a significant enhancement from the 10-core GPU and 16-core GPU found in the base M2 MacBook Pro 14-inch. It is also worth noting that the M3 series' efficiency cores are 15% faster than the M2 lineup.

The least expensive version of the new M3 MacBook Pro, which will be available next week, features the base M3 chip with 8 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores, and up to 24 GB of unified memory. It will be available on November 7, with prices starting at $1,599.

If you want a higher-end version of the M3 MacBook Pro 14-inch, you can opt for the model with the Apple M3 Max chip instead. This Mac configuration boasts 16 CPU cores (12 performance and 4 efficiency), 40 GPU cores, and up to 128 GB of unified memory. Amazingly, this is up to 80% faster than the M1 Max. This incredibly powerful MacBook will be available on November 7, along with the M3 Pro version.

Starting at $2,499, the M3 MacBook Pro 16-inch has the same CPU specs as its smaller sibling, with 12 CPU cores, 18 GPU cores, and up to 36GB of unified memory. Like the 14-inch model, it can be upgraded to a model with an M3 Max chip, which also has 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores, and up to 128 GB of unified memory.

Other than these significant processor improvements, the biggest upgrade to the M2 MacBook Pro models is Apple's claim of up to 22 hours of battery life for the M3 Pro. If true, this is truly spectacular. Incidentally, in our tests for the M2 MacBook Pro 16-inch review, the M2 Pro version ran for just over 14 hours and the M2 Max model for 18 hours and 56 minutes.

We will see for ourselves whether these super impressive battery claims are true when we review both the Pro and Max versions of the new M3 MacBook Pro.

The Liquid Retina XDR screens on these new M3 MacBook Pro models are 20% brighter when viewing HDR content. At this time, this appears to be the only major change on the display front, as the M3 MacBook 14-inch uses the same mini-LEDs as the M2 January model; the M3 MacBook 14-inch has a 14.2-inch screen (3024 x 1964 pixels), 254ppi), while the 16-inch M3 Pro has a 16.2-inch panel (3456 x 2234, 254ppi).

On the design and audio side, there are no significant changes. The new M3 MacBook Pro has a built-in 1080p webcam and a six-speaker sound system. As for design changes, these new models look almost identical to their M2 predecessors; the M3 Pro and M3 Max versions of the M3 MacBook Pro have been given a special "space black" hue.

It is great that Apple has finally announced these new MacBook Pro models and the M3 Pro and M3 Max chipsets that will power them. Because at this point, it feels like we've been writing about the M3 chip lineup since our early ancestors were fighting woolly mammoths without even the spear-strengthening M1 silicon.