The ULTIMATE M3 Mac buying guide (I asked Apple!)

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How do you know which M3 Mac to buy? In this video, I reveal what Apple told me about the M3 chips during a visit to their UK headquarters earlier this month. I wanted to find out who should buy the M3 iMac, and who the various versions of the M3 MacBook Pro are intended for. The answers are super interesting and will, I think, help you during your buying journey!
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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
02:01 - M3 iMac
05:17 - M3 MacBook Pro
09:45 - Wrapping up

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Which M3 Mac are you going for, and why?

[@shubhamkhadtale6698]

Requesting for a music and video stress test on mac m3 max would love to see it ❤ and a comparison to m2 pro mac mini

[@stefanlear]

I am leaning towards an M3 Pro, 36gb, 4tb hard drive, in the 14" MBP Space Black edition.

[@McBoston]

Probably the iMac. Been needing a good desktop.

[@RWBHere]

I bought the iMac with 24 GB of memory and 1 TB if storage for my wife, as a Wedding Anniversary present for a significant year. Why? Because I wanted her to have the best; something which she would never buy for herself. I also wanted her to have a computer which delivers results quickly, will run tomorrow's software smoothly and which will last for a decade. Her old iMac was a 2009 model. It now runs the current version of Linux Mint and is in the hands of a happy user who received it as a gift. My own iMac is the same as your model. My MBP is a 16" M1 with the original entry level RAM spec, with more storage, and I've no yen to upgrade it for a good few more years.

[@jimtipton8888]

I think the choices Apple offers is a blessing! I also think it is a curse. Never do I fret more than when I'm deciding which Mac is right for me. Portable or desk top? Which processor? Bin chip or not? How much RAM? How much storage? It's like getting married without even going on a date.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

A lot of people do that, to be fair.

[@ericpmoss]

For me, I get the biggest baddest one I can afford, with all the RAM I can afford, and as much storage as I can grit my teeth to buy. Then I keep it until vital software just won’t run on it. The last time I did that, the machine lasted 10 years, and was still nice to use, if slow with the latest bloatware.

[@jimtipton8888]

@@ericpmoss I did that last time and ended up buying the wrong size. 😤

[@adunford2664]

Apple should up the ram and storage in all of the macs as standard. It seems a bit tight to me for a high cost computer.

[@KPixton]

Mark, another excellent video! Thank you! After waiting and waiting for a larger iMac to replace my 2015 27" iMac and finally pulled the trigger on a Mac Mini M2 Pro and refurb M2 air 24GB 256 for almost list price. I will be doing a 27" monitor conversion. I appreciate your help!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Thanks for the kind words - and glad to be of assistance!

[@Halo9K]

Mark, as usual good video!

[@tonycook1532]

Thank you Mark for informative and entertaining videos!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

My pleasure!

[@marcuscady]

I joined your livestream before their Scary Fast event and asked about the M2 Pro Mac Mini that I was thinking about getting. After the event I ended up reconsidering and realizing that I really should make sure I have a portable machine. So I instead ended up going with the M3 Pro Macbook Pro. I was even able to get a deal on one through B&H that allowed me the beefier 12-core chip for the same price I would have paid for the base model. So I ended up with the 12-core CPU 18-core GPU model with 18GB of memory and 1TB SSD. This thing is incredible and has completely changed the game for me, especially coming from the base model M1 MacBook Air that I had for a couple years. Also, the Space Black color is gorgeous :)

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Nice - enjoy!

[@watchcommander2012]

Great Video Mark. My needs are met by the 16” MB Pro M3 Max Base configuration space black

[@drewmerklinghaus6988]

Mark, great follow up video on the iMac m3. I did watch your earlier video and I appreciated your unscientific render and transfer tests. I TOO - was yelling about the souped up RAM in the intel iMac. Your review actually did influence me to buy a NEW iMac m3, (my 2015 intel iMac is now struggling). I do professional work… photoshop and FCP. Apples iMacs have always served me well. I always max out my configuration with maximum ram as well as storage. I represent the pro user group that loves the iMac desktop all in one system and refuses to spend more than necessary. Thanks again. Keep the videos rolling.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Nice - thanks!

[@riaden13]

Hi Mark, My parents need a PC but I suggest an all-in-one. The M3 iMac, my understanding is that the 16gb ram is better and with the extra ports. But is the internal storage upgrade worth it or just connect an external drive instead? Mainly Office and other things and not being able to upgrade later is so bad for a company to do in 2023. Any assistance or recommendation is great, I also looked at a Mac Mini but its only M2 and then you need all the extra accessories. Thanks.

[@BigTunaAK]

lol love your commentary on iMac intel ram. Props to the views

[@Matthew-TI99-4a]

Question I am wrestling with for M3 Pro chip 14” - do I stick with base 512 or spend an extra £200 for 1TB?

[@PogueSquadron]

I guess my question is like…unless you’re doing video editing, and I mean heavy video editing for a KZbin channel, is there any need to go beyond 8GB of RAM? My wife has her MacBook Air, does podcast editing, and we might do a video version at some point. Her M1 MacBook Air is THE best computer she’s ever owned, and she’s in love with it. I was going to just suggest she get the upgraded iMac so we don’t have to futz with dongles, and she can use Touch ID.

[@renesch438]

I have an old Intel MacBook Pro, that needs upgraded. It still works but with all the new software updates it isn’t capable anymore. Do I save $$ with M1 or go for M3 is my question? I’ll be keeping it a long time. I do PS and Lightroom mostly. Lots of layers with big Raw files.

[@colebox6275]

I grew up in Wandsworth and the last time I went to Battersea Power Station was a school trip. This was the early eighties and Battersea was still an operating power station! Think I need to go back to see how it's changed...

[@MarkEllisReviews]

You definitely do in that case!

[@ronbokje6213]

I needed a replacement for my iMac from 2014, do some photoshop and some 360 video's but maybe only once a month. I remamber from my old MacBook Pro I use to have, that I have to clean out de dust a few times to get it working again. so I went for the m3 air with 16 ram and a 512 ssd, no fan so no dust problem. I hope it will be enough for my needs. so far it's working great, specially when the old one was not supporting latest photoshop

[@MrEwanc]

What's happened to your video about smartphone of the year, did I miss that..? I can't find it on your channel...

[@nickoru1]

If I edit videos and do some photoshopping, will m3 pro 18gb memory be enough?

[@JosephTorresSeph]

i love my m3 iMac and I am planning to get a M3 Pro Macbook Pro 14in soon.

[@murtazachaudhary3339]

Nice video

[@zith555]

I can't for the Mac Studio with m3 Chip

[@MrSean5123]

M3 i mac for music producing?

[@patrickthurston8811]

I had an m2 Mac book air and 8 gb of memory was not enough, for even daily use, docs, chrome, discord zoom I bit the bullet and got the 18gb Mac book pro pro

[@xray2785]

Thanks for an interesting video Mark. As someone who owns a lot of Apple kit, as well as others, I really hope you won’t get too close to Apple. A truly independent take on Apple and its products is valuable and why I subscribe to your channel. Tech journalists who are seduced into drinking Apple’s Kool Aid, who crave Apple’s favour, invites, and acesss, become “tamed” and lose their independence, and in effect, become part of Apple’s marketing machine. I genuinely hope you’ll protect your reputation for being truly independent journalist, independent of the Apple machine. Thanks again for your channel.

[@madhavtrivedi9500]

for someone learning animation and also programming, will the m3pro 16inch 18gb ram variant suffice?

[@ericpmoss]

IMO max the RAM, limited by your cash flow. Get 1TB and the rest of your storage can be external. Then use it until the software you must have just won’t run. The large screen is a blessing when viewing multiple code files, esp with the blacker blacks. Now, if you don’t need mobility, a maxed out mini and a big screen is really far better for coding.

[@glennmckenzie1096]

Balance of full and economy cores means I will try to find an M1 with decent ram. It appears that Logic manages much less on the M2/M3 series because they have more economy cores and fewer full cores - Logic doesn't use the economy cores much at all so they're almost redundant. Useless to me for all that extra money! I wonder if Final Cut is the same? Odd that Mac programmes are so poorly optimised for their own silicon!

[@alexstruenorth]

Tests should probably have the same RAM 😉

[@simonkensington-fellows6142]

I recently bought the 14inch MacBook Pro m3 16gb but wish I’d got the 36gb as I keep getting memory full notifications. The main culprits are Shift email app which seems to hog up to 4gb of ram and chrome which uses well whatever’s left!! As an SEO most of my work is in the cloud using chrome so I’m finding I have to consciously shut down apps to stop the memory full problems.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Sounds like Shift needs some work!

[@duffyrides]

Agreed @@MarkEllisReviews as my M1 MacBook Pro has never had an issue with 16GM of RAM while browsing the web and simultaneously editing in Davinci Resolve….as a side note though, Apple really just charges too much for RAM and Storage. But I feel like Apple users just accept that and get on with it.

[@Glenn-gf7fi]

@@duffyridesI think everyone agrees, open your wallet and think of England!😏

[@Sandilini]

I just pulled the trigger on a refurbished M2 Pro MBP 14” for $1,599

[@transitengineer]

Way to go, there is a lot of value in getting an M-2 laptop (smile...smile).

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Enjoy!

[@arvi8843]

That's cheap! Damn. I wish we have refurb store too. M2 Pro costs $1980 while M3 Pro costs $2300.

[@LordBagdanoff]

Is it worth to pay extra from 1TB to 2TB? Or just get an external drive?

[@kingvisu]

Just get external drive

[@LordBagdanoff]

@@kingvisu bought the 1TB 😄

[@mchambers140]

I feel Apple has made its lineup in a way where a Mac is more accessible than ever before. The MacBook Airs, in my opinion, offer the perfect entry point for those coming from intel, but can't justify the price of a MacBook Pro model. The M2 MacBook Air would be faster than the i9 MacBook Pro model. These M-Series chips are so good, that most people don't need to go with the higher tiers of chips.

[@transitengineer]

I am an odd Duck. Have never liked any of the Air laptops but, I do like the now discontinued M-1 and M-2, 13-inch MacBook models with the touch bar (smile...smile).

[@Namu4Life]

What M3 Mac to get for programming? What’s the best specs/sweet spot for each M3 Mac for what I’m doing?

[@DigiDriftZone]

What are you doing that 48gb or ram is not enough?

[@psysword]

Obviously hirez video editing

[@DigiDriftZone]

@@psysword I do high resolution video editing and my 38GB so far has been plenty - what kind of workloads require above 48GB? - I'm curious because I'm within the return window still of my M3 Max, so I wonder if I should upgrade or not.

[@baoboba]

@@DigiDriftZonemacos uses all available RAM and quick caches them or smth like that so more RAM gives you an incremental boost to whatever you’re doing, albeit there is a diminishing return the more RAM you have

[@DigiDriftZone]

@@baoboba any OS does that. That’s not my question.

[@MadelnMachines]

Choice = Upsell

[@adriennem3168]

Me likey your video.

[@zzzaaalll]

Have any one been torturing m3 max with chrome usage and hows it holding up? cause any windows laptop is a victim to chrome. is it same with this m3 max?

[@unclefart5527]

I guess I'll watch the video but I made up my mind and just dropped 32 extra GB RAM in my 2017 27" iMac. $100 bucks against being taken for 3-4-5 thousand. Really incensed at Apple now, the line is just engineered to rake in money (8 GB "PRO"?, really?). When the iMac slows again I hope there's more 5Ks on the market and it might be time to bail on Apple after a lifetime. They will lose customers and market the way they are going. Big mistake taking the popular iMac 27 5K off the market to sell very profitable discrete items that have to be optioned out another thousand dollars to begin with.

[@gustavoromo6879]

My prediction 2024 iPad Pros will come in space black and include the M3 Pro chip along with the already confirmed oled with LTPO. Maybe even better cameras. What I don’t know, up to 24gb of ram and maybe 4tb storage. I also think the iPad Air 12.9 and 11 inch will get the M3 and the regular iPad and iPad mini will get the A16 Bionic.

[@Halo9K]

Undoubtedly, the M3 is a powerhouse and that’s fantastic. I've been involved with personal computing since the humble 6502 was introduced in the Apple and Atari 800! S, it been great to see the power increase with each new generation and development. I just bought the M2Pro Mac Mini, (based on your videos) and just got it up and running a couple of days ago. I’m very impressed with it and feel the 16GB of RAM will, as you demonstrated, keep my meager usage going for quite some time. I wanted to wait for the M3 but I couldn’t wait that long. So, Apple will have to move on without me. I’m okay with that. After all, it’s not like I'm trying to solve the great mysteries of the universe, build a bigger better nuclear bomb, solve any great earth destroying problems. I’m just a guy who will use his Mac Mini for more mundane things. Which means the M2 Pro will more than meet my needs for years to come. The same goes for the Ultra2, iPad Mini 6 and iPhone 13Mini. Honestly, Apple has finally given us products that really don’t need upgrading every year,,,5 years,,,maybe never. 😊

[@Applecompuser]

@Halo9K Atari 900 was my first computer also. (Im using 5k iMac and 18 inch MBP from 2019.)

[@ialrakis5173]

there are plenty of Windows laptops with 8 GB RAM, kind of understand Apple's decision.

[@RATsnak3]

An m3 pro equipped mac is NOT a "serious gaming machine" lol. It's gaming CAPABLE. That is a step in the right direction, but the reality is that my mid range desktop from half a decade ago will completely destroy it in terms of gaming performance, and at half the price. Don't buy a Mac for gaming.

[@-.-smile]

A ‘Pro’ with 8GB 😂😂

[@davidjacobs6244]

As Mark said, it’s enough for some users.It all depends on what you are using it for.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

@@davidjacobs6244bingo.

[@clcl18cl18]

8 GIG version for this price is good value in 2023? Seriously? Sorry I can not take you seriously

[@kingvisu]

Unfortunately that is true it is value for money. I was surprised to see good performance from that 8GB ram. You will be shocked if you try one. Don’t compare 8GB with macOS with windows

[@pyjama9556]

Really glad their proud of still shipping 8gb as standard (laughable) and a whopping 256gb-512gb storage!🤪 Only people that see this as value are……well…..er…….??

[@daledevernon56]

M3 iMac possibly apples laziest upgrade.

[@davidjacobs6244]

A good upgrade for those of us coming from an old Intel iMac though.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

By what measurement?

[@daledevernon56]

@@MarkEllisReviews lightning accessories.

[@jptaylor]

The memory “argument “ you’re making is pure BS. EVERYONE should have 16gb minimum for such an expensive machine - you’re over justifying Apple’s choice to make even more money by gouging people. You’re doing a huge disservice by enabling Apple’s money grab. You’re appearing more and more disingenuous. Memory is dirt cheap these days. NO excuse for 8gb… it’s NOT a “choice”.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

I’ve been running my business on an 8GB machine for the last three and a half years with no trouble whatsoever. Out of choice. Every 8GB Mac I’ve brought into this business has been an incredible investment. How do you explain that?

[@jptaylor]

@@MarkEllisReviews you may very well be running your situations on 8gb, but that doesn’t make it a good value for MacBook buyers when for a tiny fraction of money additionally, Apple could lessen the quicker obsolescence of their product. Its greed, pure and simple. Justifying it as “a feature” and as a “choice”, is disingenuous.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

@@jptaylor it makes it good value for me. I’m a MacBook buyer. It is also not “disingenuous” - it’s an opinion. The 8GB machines are superb and they have an audience. If you want more RAM, add it at checkout.