Some machines arrive not as revolutions but as sharpened tools, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 Max is one such instrument. CNET's reviewer found that it doubles the speed of rendering work over its predecessor while its graphics gains for general computing barely register, a reminder that progress often lands unevenly across the tasks people actually do. Its familiar body and proven display carry forward unchanged, and the price climbs steeply for those whose labor truly demands that speed. For everyone else, the wisdom lies in matching the machine to the work before reaching for the
Apple's M3 MacBook Pro 16 Delivers Major Rendering Gains, Though Its Core Design Stays Unchanged
Rendering speed more than doubled, while general GPU compute barely moved
Mark
The headline number is rendering, right? It more than doubled?
Mimi
Yes. Cinebench 2024 GPU went from 6,144 on an M2 Max Mac Studio to 12,795 on this M3 Max MacBook Pro.
Luke
Worth noting that's a comparison across two different machines, a desktop and a laptop. The review frames it as generation-over-generation, but the chart isn't the same chassis.
Mark
And general GPU compute?
Mimi
Barely moved. Geekbench Metal went from 38 cores to 40 and the reviewer says the gain was small. So it depends on what you do.
Mark
Why does the design staying the same matter?
Mimi
The reviewer's complaints carry over: the notch, MagSafe disconnecting, the awkward 170-watt brick, a mediocre webcam.
Luke
Those are one reviewer's experiences. The MagSafe and outlet issues are his, not measured findings.
Mark
What about battery life?
Mimi
1,263 minutes in the streaming test, but the M2 Pro model lasted 1,474. So it's good for its class, not a record.
Luke
And the review doesn't explain why the M2 Pro lasted longer. That's unknown here, as is whether the brighter 600-nit display plays a role. The reviewer only wonders about the white point.
Mark
So who is it for?
Mimi
People whose work, like rendering, needs the speed. Others could look at the 15-inch Air or a cheaper configuration.
Il Polso
- Rendering speed more than doubles over the M2 Max, yet general GPU computation barely budges, leaving a split verdict on what the upgrade really delivers.
- Flagship configurations push past $7,000, forcing buyers to weigh whether their workloads truly justify the cost.
- The notch, a fragile MagSafe connector, a bulky 170-watt brick and a mediocre webcam keep friction alive in daily use.
- Reviewers steer buyers toward matching chip and memory to their actual work, with cheaper alternatives like the MacBook Air or a Mac Mini as possible detours.
Some machines arrive not as revolutions but as sharpened tools, and the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 Max is one such instrument. CNET's reviewer found that it doubles the speed of rendering work over its predecessor while its graphics gains for general computing barely register, a reminder that progress often lands unevenly across the tasks people actually do. Its familiar body and proven display carry forward unchanged, and the price climbs steeply for those whose labor truly demands that speed. For everyone else, the wisdom lies in matching the machine to the work before reaching for the top of the range.
CNET tested the 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max chip, 48GB of memory and a 1TB drive, priced at $3,999, and gave it an 8.6 out of 10. The reviewer's verdict was simple: much faster in some respects, and now available in a darker space black finish. The chassis itself is unchanged, weighing 4.8 pounds, with an anodized lid that hides fingerprints better from some angles but does not eliminate them.
The performance story is lopsided. In a rendering benchmark, the new machine roughly doubled the score of an M2 Max Mac Studio, and multicore CPU results climbed as well. Graphics computing for general tasks, however, barely moved. The reviewer noted that anyone buying for rendering would be delighted, while those hoping for leaps in gaming or general GPU work may find the upcoming game list unimpressive. In a photo-import test, the 16-inch model finished in just over eight and a half minutes, far ahead of the base 14-inch.
The display carries forward unchanged and remains excellent, with near-reference color accuracy and a peak SDR brightness of 600 nits. Yet the price is steep: the base model starts at $2,499, and a serious setup with more memory and storage approaches $3,100, while the fully loaded version reaches $7,199. The reviewer's advice was to buy only what the work requires.
Some frustrations remain. The notch cuts into full-width menus, the MagSafe connector sometimes lets go, the large power brick is awkward, and the webcam is only adequate. Battery life in a streaming test trailed the previous M2 Pro model. The reviewer's conclusion is that this is a very fast mobile workstation, justified mainly for those whose work depends on its speed.
The laptop CNET tested is the 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M3 Max chip, 48GB of memory and a 1TB drive, priced at $3,999 (£4,099, AU$6,899). It scored 8.6 out of 10 and kept the Editors' Choice standing earned by the M2 generation, which arrived earlier in 2023. The reviewer's verdict: much faster in some respects, and now available in a darker color.
The design is unchanged. The chassis launched in 2021, was carried into the early 2023 model, and returns again, weighing 4.8 pounds (2.2kg). Two physical changes stand out. Space black replaces space gray, with silver still offered, and the lid uses anodized aluminum meant to resist fingerprints. The reviewer found it works fairly well, though it sometimes seems the smudges are just less visible from certain angles rather than reduced. The keycaps still show finger oils, and their printed labels can wear off.
The performance story is lopsided. In Cinebench 2024 GPU, the M3 Max machine scored 12,795, against 6,144 for a Mac Studio with an M2 Max, so rendering speed more than doubled. Geekbench's Metal test, which measures general-purpose GPU computation, barely moved, going from 38 older cores to 40 new ones. The reviewer says that if he had bought the early 2023 model for rendering work, he would be complaining loudly. Apple added ray tracing and mesh shaders to the M3 graphics, but the reviewer finds few high-profile games available and the list of upcoming ones unimpressive.
CPU numbers rose too. Geekbench 6 multicore gave the M3 Max 16-core a score of 21,482, versus 15,014 for the M2 Max Mac Studio and 10,592 for the M2 Pro MacBook Pro 16. Cinebench multicore came in at 1,672, against roughly 1,043 to 1,048 for those two M2 machines. Single-core Cinebench was 140, identical to the M2 Pro model, so the multicore gain comes from higher frequency, more cores and how they are distributed. In a Lightroom test importing about 1,000 raw+JPEG photos and videos with lens corrections and full-resolution previews, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the base M3 took just under 20 minutes. The 16-inch finished in just over 8.5 minutes.
The display is unchanged, and the reviewer sees no reason to change it. Out of the box, white point deviation stayed within 100 kelvin across the standard D65 color spaces, with measurements near 6700K. Coverage was 99.7 percent of sRGB and 99.5 percent of P3-D65, with average color error of 1.5. Adobe RGB coverage was 88.6 percent, with the shortfall in saturated greens and cyans, which is common for native P3 panels. Peak SDR brightness is up to 600 nits from 500, and HDR reached 1,615 nits in small windows and 1,131 nits full screen. The reviewer wonders whether the brightness boost affected the white point.
Pricing is steep. The base model costs $2,499, with an M3 Pro (12-core CPU, 18-core GPU), 18GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The reviewer suggests serious users need at least 1TB of storage and probably 36GB of RAM, which lifts the price to almost $3,100. A maxed-out M3 Max with 128GB of memory and 8TB of storage costs $7,199. Apple did deliver the 128GB memory ceiling the reviewer wanted last time. Performance is consistent for a given chip across Apple's lines, so a Mac Mini with the same chip performs similarly, which simplifies buying. The new 15-inch MacBook Air is a cheaper alternative.
The complaints persist. The notch interrupts full-width menus in apps like Photoshop. The MagSafe connector routinely disconnects for him. The 170-watt power brick that ships with the M3 Max model is awkward in outlets, and USB-C charging does not avoid carrying it. The webcam is merely OK, partly because macOS offers no control over quality settings, and there is still no Face ID. In the streaming video battery drain test, the M3 Max lasted 1,263 minutes, behind the M2 Pro model's 1,474.
The verdict is that this is a very fast mobile workstation whose price is justified mainly by workloads that need the speed. Buyers should match configuration to work before paying for the top tiers.
Citazioni salienti
The reviewer says he would complain loudly had he bought the early 2023 model for rendering work, given the graphics gains.— Lori Grunin, CNET
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