Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023 M3 Max Review – M3 Max challenges HX-CPUs from AMD & Intel

The new M3 Max is mostly about the CPU performance and the results are really good. The multi-core performance was increased by more than 60 % compared to the M2 Max and even Intel’s H45 chips as well as AMD’s HS processors (Zen4) are clearly beaten. The single-core performance (+20 %) is also comparable to Intel’s H45 CPUs. Apple also improved the GPU performance and the results are also very good considering the maximum power consumption of 60 Watts, but there are definitely faster GPUs from Nvidia, at least when a power adapter is attached.

Otherwise, the MacBook Pro 16 is once again an excellent multimedia laptop with the M3 Max is pretty much the perfect machine for video editing thanks to the unified memory (which is also used by the GPU). The case including the ports as well as the input devices did not change, only the maximum SDR brightness was increased by Apple and is now above 600 nits. The maximum HDR brightness is still extremely high and the implementation of HDR contents is still much more comfortable in macOS compared to Windows.  

The MacBook Pro 16 with the M3 Max is Apple’s fastest laptop and the CPU performance is much higher thanks to additional CPU cores. The GPU Performance is also better and Apple managed to improve the efficiency, which is also noticeably by longer battery runtimes. The MBP 16 is still one of the best multimedia laptops and best overall packages on the market, but it comes at a price.

The new M3 SoCs are more efficient, because Apple managed to improve the battery runtime compared to previous models. The fans are a bit louder during medium workloads, but the maximum fan noise is pretty much identical. The new color Space Black looks very good and is not as susceptible to fingerprints as the Midnight color on the smaller MacBook Air, but you will still have to clean it from time to time.

There are definitely individual areas where the rivals are better, but especially the lack of maintenance options in combination with Apple’s extremely high prices for more RAM and SSD storage is a major drawback, but you will have a hard time to find a better overall package for multimedia purposes or video editing. Apple is still not the best solution when you want to play games, especially AAA-titles, but the situation is slowly improving. Native games run really well on Apple’s hardware, but the selection is just very limited.

An upgrade from the MBP 16 with the M2 Max could be an option thanks to the massively increased CPU performance, but the new MBP 16 with the M3 Max is most likely interesting for users of the old M1 Max models or as an upgrade from a M1/M2 Pro when you simple need additional performance. The increased SDR brightness is a certainly appreciated, but hardly a reason to switch.