Apple's Scary Fast event was an unexpected but welcome treat for Mac fans this season. And in true Halloween slasher movie fashion, Apple has officially ended the life of one of its most controversial laptops: the 13-inch MacBook Pro. For years, this model was an absolute star with its Pro-level specs and impressive build quality. However, as Apple updated and released newer laptops, the 13-inch MacBook Pro started looking less appealing, especially when Apple’s own chips made their way into the Mac. At this point, Apple's move to discontinue the 13-inch MacBook Pro doesn't come as a surprise.

The laptop hit a rough patch in 2016 with the introduction of the Touch Bar, which came as a part of a major redesign. The new look also included a thinner chassis, changes to the keyboard, a larger trackpad, Touch ID and the removal of all ports except the Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack. As you may remember, the Touch Bar was a total hit or miss among the masses. Some people loved the innovation and the "magical" Touch Bar while others found it clumsy and not very useful. Apple eventually removed the Touch Bar by introducing the latest 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, but kept it on the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Beck Diefenbach / Reuters

In 2023, the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a good laptop but it’s just not worth the investment anymore. The base model comes with Apple's M2 chip, which has given a nice little boost. It has an 8-core CPU, a 10-core GPU and comes standard with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage, both of which can be bumped up for an additional cost. For day-to-day tasks and light work, it still performs well enough but well enough just doesn't cut it anymore for a "Pro" laptop. Especially when the new MacBook Air offers so much more and the 14-inch MacBook Pro has a better screen and more ports pro users actually need. Even so, Apple claimed for years that the 13-inch MacBook Pro remains one of its best-selling models. This likely has more to do with its lower price point.

Apple probably kept the model around as a budget-friendly Pro option, starting at $1,299, while the cheapest 14-inch model was $1,999. But with tonight’s introduction of the M3 14-inch MacBook Pro for $1,599, the 13-inch simply no longer makes sense — which would explain Apple's decision to move away from this one.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s "Scary Fast" October event right here.

On Monday at its “Scary Fast” event, Apple announced an updated line of 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros featuring a range of new M3 chips and Space Black chassis.

Compared to a similarly specced M2 model, a base M3 14-inch MacBook Pro will now start at $1,599 ($400 less than its predecessor) with prices going up from there for configurations with M3 Pro or M3 Max processors. Meanwhile, a base 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip will have the same $2,499 starting price as its M2 Pro-equipped predecessor.

The fresh Space Black color option–which looks more like a matte charcoal gray in person–will be available on both 14- and 16-inch systems with M3 Pro and M3 Max chips and helps hide fingerprints better than the classic silver models. The rest of the laptops’ hardware will remain largely the same including features such as Apple’s 1080p FaceTime cameras and six-speaker sound systems. The one small change is that the Liquid Retina XDR displays on the new M3 MacBook Pros can now display SDR content 20 percent brighter than before with peaks of 600 nits (up from 500 nits on the previous generation).

Apple

That said, thanks to the new M3 chips, these refreshed MBPs should have some very notable boosts in performance. In general use, Apple claims a 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is 60 percent faster than a 13-inch M1 model while still offering up to 22 hours of battery life. And if you move up to a laptop with an M3 Pro chip, you’re looking at 40 percent faster performance than an equivalent M1 Pro MBP. Finally, 14- and 16-inch M3 Max systems will support up to a massive 128GB of unified memory for improved workflows in apps like MATLAB, DaVinci Resolve and others. However, the most stunning figure is that when compared to the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pros (which date back to 2021), Apple is touting 11x faster performance for systems equipped with M3 Max chips.

Another important upgrade on the M3 chips is that they support hardware acceleration for both ray tracing and mesh shading. This could prove to be a massive improvement for gamers or people like animators and 3D modelers, who will be able to take advantage of the M3’s more efficient on-chip processing power in supported apps.

Apple

Pre-orders for all the new M3 MacBook Pro models go live today with M3 and M3 Pro systems shipping as soon as next week on November 7, with M3 Max configs slated to arrive slightly later next month. The 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro will start at $1,599 ($1,499 for education) or $1,999 for one with an M3 Pro ($1,849 for education) while the 16-inch M3 Pro MacBook Pro will start at $2,499 ($2,299 for education).

Follow all of the news from Apple’s "Scary Fast" October event right here.

Apple had a bit of a Halloween treat for Mac desktop aficionados at its "Scary Fast" event. As expected, the 24-inch iMac is getting more oomph thanks to Apple's new M3 chipset. The company says the latest model will be up to twice as fast as the last iMac, which has an M1 chipset. Those making the switch from an Intel-based iMac will find that the new model is up to 2.5 times faster than some of the most popular 27-inch models.

The M3 has an eight-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. The graphics cores support hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray-tracing. The chipset has a 16-core Neural Engine and support for up to 24GB of unified memory too.

Compared with the M1 iMac from 2021, the M3-powered version will deliver up to a 30 percent speed boost in Safari and productivity apps such as Microsoft Excel, Apple says. The company notes that games will run at up to 50 percent improved frame rates too. Creatives will be able to edit and play back up to 12 4K video streams, three times as many as before. Apple also says that processing images in apps such as Adobe Photoshop and tackling video projects in Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro will be up to twice as fast.

Apple

There aren't too many upgrades elsewhere in the latest Mac. Apple is sticking with a 4.5K Retina display, for instance. There are some handy changes on the connectivity front. The latest iMac supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 — the M1 iMac had Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Still, the M3 iMac might be worth the upgrade for those who have been clinging onto an older model.

Orders for the M3 iMac open today and it will ship on November 7. The base model comes with an eight-core GPU, two Thunderbolt ports, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse. However, it once again has a paltry 256GB of SSD storage and 8GB of unified memory. This variant will run you $1,299 (or $1,249 for education). It's available in green, pink, blue and silver.

If you'd like an M3 iMac that has a 10-core GPU, that starts at $1,499 ($1,399 for education). Other upgrades include two additional USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. However, the base storage and RAM remain the same at 256GB and 8GB, respectively. This model is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s "Scary Fast" October event right here.

Apple had a bit of a Halloween treat for Mac desktop aficionados at its "Scary Fast" event. As expected, the 24-inch iMac is getting more oomph thanks to Apple's new M3 chipset. According to the presentation in tonight's Apple Event, the latest model will be up to twice as fast as the last iMac, which has an M1 chipset. Those making the switch from an Intel-based iMac will find that the new model is up to 2.5 times faster than some of the most popular 27-inch models.

The M3 has an eight-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU. The graphics cores support hardware-accelerated mesh shading and ray-tracing. The chipset has a 16-core Neural Engine and support for up to 24GB of unified memory too.

Compared with the M1 iMac from 2021, the M3-powered version will deliver up to a 30 percent speed boost in Safari and productivity apps such as Microsoft Excel, Apple says. The company notes that games will run at up to 50 percent improved frame rates too. Creatives will be able to edit and play back up to 12 4K video streams, three times as many as before. Apple also says that processing images in apps such as Adobe Photoshop and tackling video projects in Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro will be up to twice as fast.

Apple

There aren't too many upgrades elsewhere in the latest Mac. Apple is sticking with a 4.5K Retina display, for instance. There are some handy changes on the connectivity front. The latest iMac supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 — the M1 iMac had Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. Still, the M3 iMac might be worth the upgrade for those who have been clinging onto an older model.

Orders for the M3 iMac open today and it will ship on November 7. The base model comes with an eight-core GPU, two Thunderbolt ports, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse. However, it once again has a paltry 256GB of SSD storage and 8GB of unified memory. This variant will run you $1,299 (or $1,249 for education). It's available in green, pink, blue and silver.

If you'd like an M3 iMac that has a 10-core GPU, that starts at $1,499 ($1,399 for education). Other upgrades include two additional USB 3 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port and Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. However, the base storage and RAM remain the same at 256GB and 8GB, respectively. This model is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver.

If you're more of a laptop fan, Apple also announced 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chipsets — you can get all the details on those here.

Follow all of the news from Apple’s "Scary Fast" October event right here.

There's nothing truly spooky about Apple's new M3 chips — except, perhaps, for how scared they'll make Intel, AMD and Qualcomm. During its "Scary Fast" Halloween Eve product event (at 8PM Eastern Apple, really?) the company officially debuted its new M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max chips. They'll be featured in the revamped MacBook Pro 14-inch and 16-inch, as well as the 24-inch iMac, which never got an M2 refresh.

Apple is mainly positioning the M3 chips as major upgrades over its M1 hardware — if you bought an M2 system, you're probably not itching for a replacement just yet. The M3's GPU is the biggest leap forward, delivering new features like hardware-accelerated raytracing and mesh shading, which will enable more realistic lighting and better geometry handling. Apple claims the M3's GPU is 1.8 times faster than the M2 and 2.5 times faster than the M1 in "Pro apps" — as usual, the company didn't reveal its testing criteria. You can also expect better power efficiency, as the M3's GPU can hit the M1's performance level while using half the power.

Here's how Apple's new hardware breaks down: The plain M3 features an 8-core CPU (made up of four performance cores and four efficiency cores) and a 10-core GPU. Apple claims it's up to 35 percent faster than the M1, and it can also support up to 24GB of unified RAM. The M3 Pro ups the ante with a 12-core CPU (six performance, six efficiency) and an 18-core GPU. It can squeeze in up to 36GB of memory, and Apple says that it's single-threaded performance is up to 30 percent faster than the M1 Pro.

Apple

And then there's the M3 Max, featuring a 16-core CPU (12 performance, four efficiency, a 40-core GPU and support for up to 128GB of RAM. Apple claims it's up to 80 percent faster than the M1 Max. It also sports two ProRes engines to satisfy even the most demanding video professionals.

The M3 chips are also notable for being the first PC chips built on a 3 nanometer process, rather than the M1 and M2's 5nm process. The increased transistor density helps with power efficiency, as well as providing better overall performance. According to Apple, the M3's performance cores are 15 percent faster than the M2's, while the efficiency cores are 30 percent faster. 

Given that Apple just debuted the 3nm A17 Pro for the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro, it's not too surprising that the M3 has been similarly shrunken down. In comparison, AMD debuted its 4nm Ryzen 7040 chip this year, and Intel plans to launch its Core Ultra Meteor Lake laptop chips in December, which is built on the "Intel 4" platform (using a 7nm process). The differences between architectures, some of which rely on newer tech like 3D stacking, makes it difficult to directly compare processing node sizes. But for now, Apple can lord its 3nm figure over the rest of the PC world.

When it comes to other upgrades, Apple says the M3's Neural Engine, which handles AI tasks, is up to 60 percent faster than M1 chips. The M3 also sport a media engine with hardware acceleration for H.264, HEVC, ProRes (both standard and RAW). That engine also finally supports AV1 video decoding, which should make streaming AV1 content more power efficient.

Like most chip makers, it makes sense for Apple to follow up a major release like the M1 with a minor refresh like the M2. The M3 needs to prove itself to be the substantial upgrade over the M1 that Apple claims. And with the addition of ray tracing and better graphics, it may finally make Macs more enticing for developers and gamers alike. (Just in time for major titles like Death Stranding and Resident Evil Village to hit the App Store.)

Follow all of the news from Apple’s "Scary Fast" October event right here.

On Tuesday, at its annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii, Qualcomm announced a major addition to its line of mobile chips with the Snapdragon X Elite, which the company is calling its most powerful processor to date. 

The Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite is the successor to last year's Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 line of laptop chips, which recently got a name change to reflect the huge leap in performance for this upcoming generation. Powered by 12 Oryon cores, Qualcomm claims the X Elite provides up to two times faster CPU performance compared to Intel's 13th-gen Core i7-1360P and i7-1355U processors while also drawing up to 68 percent less power. 

The chip is based on a 4nm design fabricated by TSMC with standard clock speeds of 3.8GHz with a dual-core boost of up to 4.3GHz. Qualcomm also includes 42MB of total cache with an LPDDR5x memory bandwidth of 136 GB/s. When compared to Apple's M2 chip, Qualcomm says the X Elite boasts 50 percent faster peak multithreaded performance. And thanks to its integrated GPU, the X Elite is said to offer twice the graphics performance as the i7-13800H at ISO power. 

Qualcomm

Qualcomm's new AI Engine should also provide a significant boost to machine learning-based tasks. Between its Oryon CPU, Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU, the X Elite looks to deliver up to 75 TOPs, which Qualcomm claims is 4.5 times more than its competitors. The chip was also designed to run large language models with up to 13 billion parameters locally with Qualcomm saying the chip offers the fastest Stable Diffusion performance of any laptop chip on the market. Other features include support for AV1 4K HDR video encoding/decoding, 5G connectivity (with downloads of up to 10 Gbps), Wi-Fi 7 and the company's built-in Sensing Hub.

The arrival of the Snapdragon X Elite is poised to be a major breakthrough for Qualcomm as it attempts to better compete against rivals like Intel and more specifically Apple, following the latter's transition away from x86-based chips to its custom-designed M-series silicon. The development of the chip's Oryon cores has been a multiyear process following Qualcomm's acquisition of Nuvia back in 2021. 

Roya Kohbodi/Qualcomm

That said, while the X Elite boasts some impressive specs and power numbers, the major challenge for Qualcomm is translating all that oomph into actual performance. That's because unlike Apple, Qualcomm doesn't have the luxury of being able to design both its chips and the software/OS its processors are running. And as we've seen in the past on devices like the Surface Pro 9, systems running Windows on Arm still don't feel as fast or responsive when compared to their more traditional x86-based counterparts. 

Thankfully, with retail PCs powered by the Snapdragon X Elite expected to arrive sometime in mid-2024, it won't be too long until we can see how Qualcomm's latest laptop chip performs in the real world. 

What good are AI-powered processors without apps that take full advantage of them? That seems to be the question Intel has been asking itself lately. The company just announced a new initiative, the AI PC Acceleration Program, which is meant to help developers create new AI-powered features that take advantage of Intel's upcoming Core Ultra mobile chips.

Those processors, which are due to arrived on December 14th, are notable for being the company's first to include a neural processing unit (NPU). Just like how a GPU speeds up gaming tasks, an NPU accelerates AI workloads, like the background blur feature in Windows 11's video chat Studio Effects. An NPU alone won't make people rush out to buy new notebooks, though. What Intel needs are compelling reasons for people to want AI acceleration.

Enter the AI PC Acceleration Program, which so far includes more than 100 software vendors and over 300 AI-powered features, according to Intel. These aren't just no-name developers either: Current participants include Audacity, Adobe, BlackMagic, Webex and Zoom. As part of the program, Intel connects developers with AI toolkits like OpenVINO, design resources, and marketing help. This is uncharted territory for most software makers, after all — Intel's assistance could help them to deliver useful AI features more quickly.

"We at Audacity are thrilled to be partnering with Intel to help bring powerful, open and, most importantly, free AI tools to a mass audience of AI PC users," Martin Keary, Audacity's head of product, said in a statement. "With time, we expect these kinds of initiatives to produce a new kind of creative environment for musicians, podcasters and audiophiles – a worthy successor to the traditional audio tools that have typified the last 20 years."

This isn't the first time Intel has tried to push developers to build new AI features, Robert Hallock, Intel's senior director of client technology and performance marketing, told Engadget. It runs similar initiatives for server and datacenters, which have led to around 1,000 examples of AI-enabled software. Developers will be able to sign up for the AI PC Acceleration Program online, and Intel will then determine there eligibility and the resources they'll require.

Hallock notes that the fruit of Intel's AI push won't just be limited to the company's NPUs either—they should also run on AI hardware from AMD and Intel without much extra effort. Looking ahead, he expects NPUs to be a common component in all PC processors, making them something developers can rely on even more. Developers will still target CPUs for latency-sensitive work, while games and 3D rendering will go straight for GPU power. But the NPU will be the go-to solution for long-running, power-intensive AI tasks because it's far more efficient than GPUs and CPUs.

"In the quest for performance per Watt, having this third accelerator makes a big difference," Hallock said. "It extends battery life, it allows GPU offloads. That's one of the key benefits."

Alienware just announced a refresh to the popular m17 R5 gaming laptop. The m17 was already a stellar example of an AMD Advantage system and the m18 kicks this up a notch or two. The Alienware m18 goes all-in with AMD integration, with the company boasting that its the “most powerful 18-inch AMD Advantage laptop” ever made.

The term AMD Advantage is marketing speak for a computer that’s built from the ground up for gaming via various AMD chipsets and technologies. To that end, the m18 is the first computer to feature the all-new AMD Radeon RX 7900M laptop graphics chip. These laptops also come equipped with the well-regarded AMD Ryzen 7945HX CPU. So, yeah, this thing’s a beast, with Alienware calling it a “performance juggernaut.”

The Radeon RX 7900M has been engineered to deliver “desktop-class” visuals even when playing power-hungry AAA titles. The GPU is filled with techy features, like second-gen raytracing accelerators, 16GB of GDDR6 VRAM and other “advanced capabilities to push the limits of gaming and content creation on the go.”

The Ryzen 9 7945 CPU helps everything move along thanks to 16 performance cores, 32 processing threads and AMD’s proprietary Zen 4 chiplet technology. The CPU was manufactured using the new 5nm design, the first for gaming laptops, which promises better power efficiency and faster performance.

These laptops ship with AMD’s Adrenaline Edition software suite, so you can access the SmartShift tool to shift power between the GPU and CPU in real-time to boost performance. Additionally, the company’s proprietary SmartAccess graphics tech automatically prioritizes game performance and reduced latency when using FreeSync.

Alienware

Laptops are more than just numbers on a spreadsheet, however, and the m18 has some other perks worth mentioning. These computers come equipped with Alienware’s Cryo-tech thermal regulation technology. This thermal interface material extends to both the CPU and GPU, with an expanded vapor chamber covering each component, helping to dissipate heat across the entire system. Four thin fans finish this process by pulling heated air through eight heat pipes and out via five vents.

You also get an 18-inch display panel equipped with both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, QHD+ resolution and a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz. You can overclock this refresh rate all the way to 480Hz at the expense of resolution for competitive gaming scenarios. An FHD webcam and an IR camera for facial recognition are also on board.

As for RAM and storage, there’s user-replaceable dual-channel DDR5 memory and you can shop options with up to three M.2 SSDs for a combined total of 8.5TB of storage. The laptop boasts some aesthetic flourishes, like an aluminum lid and bottom cover, an aluminum die-cast inner frame and an embossed "18" on the exterior. The m18 is available today with a starting price of $2,800.

AMD has unveiled the Radeon RX 7900M mobile GPU built around its RDNA 3 architecture, its fastest mobile gaming chip to date and "first-even chiplet laptop graphics." The company has positioned the new chips for high FPS 1440p (QHD) gaming rather than 4K as a way to boost regular laptop gaming. AMD is also touting its FSR 3 (FidelityFX Super Resolution) upscaling tech that's similar to NVIDIA's DLSS 3, promising a large boost in frame rates for games like Starfield and Forspoken.

As a flagship chip, the RX 7900M comes with 72 compute units (compared to 32 for the RX 7700S) and features 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, while consuming up to 180 watts — well beyond the 110 watt TDP of NVIDIA's RTX 4080 mobile chip. AMD claims it can outperform the latter by 7 percent on average in terms of frame rates, while offering an additional 4GB of GDDR6 RAM. 

AMD

In one example, AMD claimed it could beat a laptop with an RTX 4080 mobile chip by 27 percent on Starfield with a 62 fps frame rate (FSR 2, Ultra 1440p). In another, it said that Forspoken could run at 201 fps with FSR 3 turned on, compared to 63 fps with the setting disabled. It also listed higher frame rates for a number of rasterized games, though it was beaten by a majority ray-traced games run on NVIDIA RTX 4080 GPU-equipped laptops. This is an issue we flagged after reviewing the Radeon RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT desktop processors last year.

Along with the mobile GPU, AMD announced a partnership with Alienware, integrating its RX 7900M and Ryzen 9 7945HX processor into the m18 laptop. Along with those chips, that model comes with an 18-inch QHD+ (2,560 x 1,600) display, up to 64GB of RAM, 8.5GB of storage max, and more. That model, along with the RX 7900M, is set to arrive in Q4 2023, when we can hopefully put AMD's claims to the test. 

As gaming laptops and dedicated portable consoles like the Steam Deck eat up all of the press, it’s easy to forget the humble tower desktop. Alienware sure hasn’t, as it just announced the latest refresh to its popular Aurora line of mid-tower gaming desktops. The Aurora R16 is a legit monster that the company says can overclock to an incredible 6.1GHz to handle even the most advanced modern gaming applications.

As a matter of fact, Alienware says this is the company’s first system to reach beyond 6Ghz. This is due to the inclusion of an Intel Core 14th Gen processor, a two UDIMM memory architecture and a custom motherboard based on the Intel Z690 chipset. You can overclock via a BIOS switch to fly past that 6GHz benchmark.

Gaming PCs are also largely defined by the GPU, and the R16 ships with the scarily-powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 graphics card with 24GB of GDDR6X memory, though that’s the top-of-the-line model. You have plenty of GPU options here, all the way down to the GeForce RTX 3050 with 8GB of GDDR6 memory. You can also choose up to 64GB of DDR5 XMP memory and up to 4TB of SSD storage.

Aurora desktops have been a mainstay with PC gamers since 2009, but this latest release represents a near-total redesign. The R16’s inspired by the industrial form factor of the company’s Legend 3 gaming laptop. You get a nifty cube design that’s 40 percent smaller than last year’s R15, while still emphasizing accessibility and user upgrades. The chassis ships with either a solid door or a clear side panel so you can marvel at all of those sweet techy innards. The new cube shape also makes it easier to find the perfect spot on or under your desk.

Alienware

With all of that new power comes new thermal regulation requirements. The R16 boasts larger air-intakes and exhausts than the R15, with hexagonal side vents and a new vertical stadium to provide a larger surface area for airflow. The top face also features a larger surface area for the purposes of exhaust. All told, the company says these upgrades contribute to a seven percent reduction in overall temperature when compared to the R15, despite the added power. You also have your choice of air-cooled or liquid-cooled CPUs.

The R16 also integrates with the company’s Alienware Command Center 6.0 software suite, a first for desktops. This software lets you adjust nearly every aspect of the PC, from the AlienFX lighting, thermal regulation, game presets and much more. As for user upgrades, you have two DIMM slots for memory, 2x M.2 PCIe slots for SSD storage and an additional 3.5” HDD slot. All configurations also support Wi-Fi 6E and 2.5 Gbps ethernet.

The Alienware Aurora R16 will be available for purchase tomorrow and starts at $2,200. This is for a bare-bones model, however, so you could potentially pay hundreds more for access to each and every bell and whistle.