Apple’s scary quick October event: Everything revealed about the new MacBook Pro, iMac and M3 chips

It’s time for another Apple event, with a spooky twist. The company announced a surprise “Scary Fast” event last week, prompting rumors to speculate that Apple will unveil new chips to power a new batch of Macs.

As our resident Apple expert Brian Heater wrote, the new 24-inch iMac and MacBook Pro refresh would be the most anticipated new announcements from the October event, and as it turns out, he was right. Apple’s new M3 chipset was the focal point of the event, powering each of the devices Apple showed off at its half-hour pre-recorded event that had some fog, some bats, and ominous chorus music… but no major surprises For those following the rumours.

Since the event started at an uncharacteristically late time of 8pm ET / 5pm PT, so you may have missed the reveal while putting the finishing touches on your Halloween decorations, or watching Monday Night Football. Without judgement, we’re here to recap everything that was showcased at Apple’s October event in one place.

New M3 chipset

credit: apple

The “scary fast” part of Apple’s event, as expected, is the new M3 chipset. Apple has announced the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max, which will be included in Apple’s new 24-inch iMac, the MacBook Pros.

This time around, Apple has focused on graphics power, with hardware-accelerated ray tracing, mesh shading, and dynamic caching, which Apple claims “drastically increases average GPU usage” by allocating a specific amount of local memory to tasks. Certain. This new chipset has been frequently compared to its predecessor, the M1, with Apple claiming that the M3 offers 2.5 times faster speed than the M1 and that its CPU is 30% faster than the M1.

Check out the full list of the three M3 chipsets here.

New MacBook Pro models

credit: apple

Yes, the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros come with upgraded internals, but the first thing you might notice is the new color: Space Black. Below that color, you’ll find this new line of M3 chipsets. The 14-inch MacBook Pro could have any of the trio, while the 16-inch model will only come with the M3 Pro or M3 Max chips.

As we’ve noticed, the M3 chipsets packed into both models are focused on getting the most out of the new GPU, though Apple also boasts that the battery of both models can last 22 hours on a single charge.

Both are available for pre-order tonight, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro starting at $1,599 and going up to $1,999 with the M3 Pro. The base 16-inch MacBook Pro is priced at $2,499, and the price of the M3 Max chip upgrade for both models has not yet been revealed.

And this Space Black color is exciting news for any Mac fan still pining for the 2006 MacBook, whose dark hue hasn’t been replicated in subsequent MacBook iterations, even those of the Midnight MacBook Airs.

Check out the full rundown of the new MacBook Pro here.

The new iMac M3

credit: apple

Apple’s iMac line is getting a colorful update, with the addition of an M3 chip to add horsepower to the board shift. Apple is sticking with the 24-inch form factor, and upgrading the display with a 4.5K Retina display, a 1080p FaceTime camera, and a six-speaker system that supports Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio. The new iMac will be available for pre-order in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver options starting tonight.

The $1,299 baseline comes with an 8-core GPU and 8-core CPU, with the $1,499 version upgrading you to a 256 SSD.

For more information about the new features in the M3 iMac, head here.

Sneaky demo for iPhone

You may not have noticed, but at the end of the event, Apple dropped a quick note on the live stream: “This event was filmed on iPhone and edited on Mac.” It’s a bit of a victory lap, but as our other Apple expert, Darryl Etherington, noted, it’s pretty impressive that Apple filmed its entire half-hour hardware demo on a phone.

Full Scary Fast event recap

If you want to dive right in and experience the October event again or for the first time, you can grab the entire archive via the YouTube embed below Directly on Apple’s website.