Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3) Review – Nearing Perfection but we Have Some Remarks
Temperatures and comfort, Battery Life
Max CPU load
In this test we use 100% on the CPU cores, monitoring their frequencies and chip temperature. The first column shows a computer’s reaction to a short load (2-10 seconds), the second column simulates a serious task (between 15 and 30 seconds), and the third column is a good indicator of how good the laptop is for long loads such as video rendering.
Average P-core frequency; Average E-core frequency; CPU temp.; Package Power
| Apple M3 | 0:02 – 0:10 sec | 0:15 – 0:30 sec | 10:00 – 15:00 min |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Pro 14 (М3, Late 2023) | 3.64 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 84°C @ 20.34W | 3.64 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 98°C @ 20.61W | 3.64 GHz @ 2.75 GHz @ 100°C @ 21.12W |
The frequencies of the P and E cores are rock-solid but the CPU temperature hits 100°C in long loads.
Stability (Cinebench R23 30-min test)
| Apple M3 | First run | Average Score |
|---|---|---|
| Apple MacBook Pro 14 (М3, Late 2023) | 10471 | 9890 |
After a 30-minute torture with the Cinebench R23 test, the score is just ~500 points lower than the first run which is a very good result.
Comfort during full load
The single fan isn’t working in light loads. When the CPU is stressed at 100%, the fan is noisy. Still, in this case, the keyboard and the two palm rest areas are cool enough for normal work.
Battery
Now, we conduct the battery tests with the screen brightness adjusted to 120 nits and all other programs turned off except for the one we are testing the notebook with. The battery is a 69.6Wh unit, which lasts 16 hours and 40 minutes of Web browsing or 14 hours and 17 minutes of video playback.
Brightness: 180 nits; Display Mode: SDR
Time to Full Discharge: Higher is Better
In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for automatic web browsing through over 70 websites.
Author: Nikolay Palaozov
Author: eng. Kroum NikolovHead of Engineering at LaptopMedia.com, inventor and innovator with 40+ years of experience in electronics and high technology.
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