Stuffed inside my brooding Space Black portable is Apple’s apex M3 processor, the M3 Max.
The base-model M3 will still support hardware-based ray tracing and mesh shading.
It’ll still have that blazing-fast neural data pipe.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
You’re buying a casually powerful Pro system.
There’s also a newiMac 24running on the base M3 SoC.
As with the previous 14-inch MacBook Pro, the matte keyboard feels as good as it looks.
But enough about everything that’s the same.
I want to talk about the new Space Black finish.
It’s not just black it’s a light-swallowing black.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The new color gives the laptop a bold, aggressive, and no-nonsense look.
I think any gamer would be proud to cart this laptop into their next tournament.
Just remember that this is a fingerprint-resistant MacBook Pro, not a fingerprint-proof one.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Overall, this is a beautiful screen.
Thanks to bright colors and inky blacks, everything on it gets a premium look.
Do I mind the FaceTime camera notch?
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Even when I played games and I played a lot of them I didn’t notice it.
It uses a standardized architecture, and then wraps more and more cores around it.
I ran a lot of benchmarks for raw performance scores, because that’s what you do.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The reason I often forget this?
Okay, the MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max is not perfect on the compatibility front.
The x86-compatibleSteam, which I used for most of my games, did crash.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
This is essentially a more efficient way of using available memory.
The result is a lot less wasted memory and more left over for managing other critical tasks.
Naturally, I played some games.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
The eight-year-old game looked good, and gameplay was smooth and immersive.
I usually wore myAirPods Pro(they connected instantly) so as to not annoy people around me.
It’s a beautiful and quietly atmospheric game that starts in an old, deserted train station.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Action generally looked smooth in most sequences, including fast-paced puppet-on-puppet battles.
But the detail was all there, and the system reported an average frame rate of 56.1.
Then I reran the test at the MacBook Pro’s highest native resolution.
The gameplay looked even better, naturally, though, the fps dropped to 33.8.
I played a wide variety of music, video, and gaming content through them.
It all sounded great, with voices sharp and high notes clear as a bell.
What this sound system lacks, though, is any discernable bass.
Remarkably, the MacBook Pro 14 still ships with a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max comes equipped with the same 1080 FaceTime camera as its predecessor.
My wife wasn’t as amused as I thought she’d be.
When I started playing the latter game I had about 73% battery life left.
Within a couple of hours, it was below 20%.
I do have some good news.
Should you buy the MacBook Pro 14-inch (M3 Max, 2023)?
Dont buy it if…
Money is tightOur tested system costs $4,299.
MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max Geekbench Benchmarks
You might be happier with the $1,599 MacBook Pro 14 M3.
First reviewed November 2023
Also consider… Its a solid alternative.
I did my best to run it through a variety of tasks and played multiple games on it.
Shadow of Tomb Raider (note framerate in upper left).(Image credit: Future)
I also ran a battery of benchmark tests to assess raw performance.
Read more about how we test
Shadow of Tomb Raider benchmark test(Image credit: Future)
Lies of P with Benchmark window open(Image credit: Future)
Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay.(Image credit: Future)
Lies of P Benchmark window(Image credit: Future)
