Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3) Review – Nearing Perfection but we Have Some Remarks

Name: Apple MacBook Pro 14
Brand: Apple
SKU: B0CM5KC8X7
Price: 1643.77 USD
Availability: InStock

LaptopMedia.com Reviews and Analysis Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3) Review - Nearing Perfection but we Have Some Remarks Page 8

From: Nikolay Palaozov, eng. Kroum Nikolov 15 January 2024 / 08:00 1

8. Verdict

7. Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance Previous page Next page

Verdict

The Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3) is a premium-looking device that offers great build quality thanks to the unibody aluminum design. The build is solid and the hinge stiffness is perfect. The Magic Keyboard may not have the best key travel but it’s comfortable for long hours of typing. The big touchpad is the real deal here, it’s one of the best trackpads that we have tested up to date.

We intentionally bought the device’s base version with a 512GB SSD and just 8GB of unified memory. The latter is enough for normal work but if you open more than 12 websites at the same time, the memory will be filled and the swap file on the SSD will start to grow in size. That’s why, the 16GB version is more future-proof but you have to pay an extra $200 for it and a whopping $400 for the 24GB amount. Speaking of which, both memory and SSD are soldered so choose your configuration wisely before buying. At least you can connect an external HDD or SSD if you are running out of storage.

The I/O isn’t full of ports. You get two Thunderbolt 3 / USB 4 ports. If that’s not enough for you, you can have a look at the M3 Pro sibling that offers three Thunderbolt 4 ports and it also has a PCIe 4.0 SSD, while the NVMe of the device in front of us is limited to Gen 3 speeds. Still, the laptop feels responsive and fast for daily tasks, and the smooth touchpad pairs very well with the 120Hz display.

The Mini-LED 14.2” Liquid Retina panel has a resolution of 3024 x 1964. It’s very bright and it reaches 600 cd/m2 in SDR mode which is great for watching movies, gaming, or even for photo and video editing. The screen has 99% sRGB and 97% DCI-P3 color coverage. Its main downside is the PWM usage.

The CPU can maintain a stable 3.64 GHz for the P cores and 2.75 GHz for the E cores even in prolonged periods of long heavy usage. This results in good performance but the chip temperature reaches 100°C in this scenario. Luckily, the base doesn’t become too hot so you can use the laptop comfortably even when the internals are under heavy stress. The fan isn’t working in idle or in light usage. When the processor is doing the heavy lifting, the fan is noisy but it doesn’t sound like a jet fighter though.

The battery life, wow, 16 hours and 40 minutes of Web browsing or 14 hours and 17 minutes of video playback on a single charge. That’s a great result considering the potent hardware and the high res display. The Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M3) is a pricey premium laptop that has a great bright display, superb build quality, and comfortable input devices.

You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/apple-macbook-pro-14-m3-late-2023/

Pros

Cons

Limited I/O
Expensive
Soldered RAM and SSD
High temperatures during heavy loads
Noisy fan under long max system stress
The NVMe is limited to Gen 3 speeds for the 512GB variant

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Apple MacBook Pro 14

Processor: Apple M3 (8-core CPU)
VideoCard: Apple M3 GPU (10-core)
RAM: 8GB RAM
STORAGE: 1000GB SSD

Detailed review

$1799^.00 $1643^.77

Apple MacBook Pro 14

Processor: Apple M3 (8-core CPU)
VideoCard: Apple M3 GPU (10-core)
RAM: 8GB RAM
STORAGE: 1000GB SSD

Detailed review

$1799^.00 $1779^.64

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8. Verdict

7. Disassembly, upgrade options and maintenance Previous page Next page

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.