The MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) is a laptop that we at Tom's Guide highly appreciate. When we first reviewed this powerful machine, we praised its "surprisingly fast performance" and "amazing battery life."

More than 18 months after its initial release, we still consider it one of the best MacBooks available. But if you were hoping for a successor to the Apple M3 chip to be announced at this Monday's "Scary Fast" October event, the news doesn't look good.

The cause of this potentially disappointing hardware absence is as predictable as a giant monkey falling from the top of the Empire State Building; Bloomberg's well-connected Apple guru Mark Gurman, in his latest "Power On" newsletter, stated that the new M3-powered 13-inch Pro will not appear at the event.

But it's not all gloomy news. The Cupertino staff fully expects to unveil 14- and 16-inch M3 versions of the MacBook Pro at the pre-Halloween event. If you prefer a slightly larger MacBook, that's obviously good news. But for those who prioritize portability above all else when it comes to Apple's iconic laptops, the lack of a rumored new 13-inch Pro is definitely a bit of a blow.

While the latest version of the MacBook Pro 13-inch has hardly aged a day, we sincerely hope the rumors are false. After all, the prospect of a backpack-friendly 12-inch MacBook M3 Pro with 12 CPU cores, 18 GPU cores, and possibly 36 GB of unified memory is very appealing.

The still-rumored (but at this point more or less confirmed) larger MacBook Pro M3 model will likely boast at least these specific specs. In other words, if you really want to upgrade your M2 13-inch model, the upcoming 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 is well worth the investment. After all, what's the point of gaining an inch in terms of display size?

If the MacBook is not your cup of tea and you are interested in Apple's desktop offerings, at least the iMac has an eerie forecast. The current iMac uses Apple's aging M1 chipset, but The Big A appears to be skipping the M2 chip altogether and going straight to the 2023 iMac, which is fortified with M3 silicon with at least 8 CPU cores and 10 CPU cores.

There are also rumors that a new iMac M3 high-end configuration may be announced on Monday, with the exciting prospect of an M3 Max-based iteration with up to 16 CPU cores and possibly 40 GPU cores.

Whether or not the M3 MacBook Pro 13-inch will be announced on Monday, there are only a few days left, at least. There are also persistent rumors that what is believed to be a larger version of Apple's MacBook Pro M3 will be available as early as November 8.

By all accounts, this is an exciting time to be an Apple fan.