Real World M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14” Review: Small Size, Big Power

After about five years of using an Intel MacBook Pro, I made the jump to the M-Series. I bought the M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14” edition. While a downgrade in screen size, it was a huge upgrade pretty much everywhere else. In this article, we will review the new M3 MacBook Pro.

You may have noticed that I took a hiatus from writing for a few months or so. This was not for any particular reason besides just being on the road all the time and shooting more images than I can count in more countries than I would’ve liked to. While I enjoyed being in so many studios in so many cities, I couldn’t have done it without some key pieces of tech that made my creative work a lot easier and simpler. In the coming weeks, I will be doing a series of reviews of some of the recent bits of kit that were helpful in making this possible. First on the list is the brain of the entire operation: the laptop.

There is not much I look for in a laptop. It has to have good battery life, enough USB-C ports, and good performance. With such criteria, my range is quite wide, to be frank. Given that I have been in the Apple ecosystem for the longest time, buying a MacBook was an obvious choice that I did not think about too much. However, which MacBook to buy was a whole other question in itself. I was mainly choosing between screen sizes.

Build Quality

It is like any MacBook before and every MacBook after: it is great. The body is traditionally made from metal and is traditionally expensive-feeling. I went for the space black version, which may seem like the worse choice; however, it is fairly fingerprint-proof. I clean my laptop regularly, so it remains in pristine condition for the foreseeable future. The rounded corners make it look a little futuristic and a little like the old MacBooks of the Steve Jobs era.

The keyboard is a huge upgrade. It features more travel than the old butterfly mechanism and is generally a much better typing experience. Seeing as I am typing quite a lot on it, it is a good upgrade, although it does take getting used to if you are familiar with the butterfly mechanism. That said, I do enjoy the new keyboard a lot more than the old one. As for the trackpad, it is fantastic as it was in the earlier models, not much to say about that.

The second design feature that I care a lot about is the ports. The new MacBook Pro features 3x USB-C ports, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and a MagSafe port. While I do find only three USB-C ports not enough for desktop use, they are ample for doing on-location tethered shooting. I have just enough ports to have two drives and a tether cable plugged in. Should I need an external monitor, the HDMI port takes care of that. Luckily, the MagSafe has made a return and has already saved my laptop from falling on the ground a few times.

Importantly for many users, the number of ports you get varies on the chip you pick. If you go with the stock M3 model, you will get one less USB-C port, which almost renders the computer unusable for any professional creative. The computer you should be looking at is the M3 Pro, as it provides the highest number of ports possible while also being small and portable.

As for the display, it got an upgrade in terms of brightness and refresh rate, making editing on the go a little smoother. The narrower bezels also make the usable screen real estate larger, while the notch does not bother anyone too much. I find the screen a little too small to use for studio productions and often connect to an external monitor. However, on location, it provides enough portability while also being large enough to see what’s needed.

Performance

Not to sound like every reviewer ever, but the jump from Intel to Apple Silicon has been insane. It is hard to compare the performance of the two laptops. While my previous computer had issues running one 4K monitor, the new one has no problems running two and then having plenty of editing apps, tabs, and even a game open. The monitor support is lacking, though; I wish it would support more than two external monitors.

As this is a very popular product to review, I won’t go too deep into praising the CPU performance and the nitty-gritty tech things. It’s fast, and plenty fast indeed. If you are editing images, you will not notice any signs of lagging, provided you have the right SSD and the right cable for it. The only real bottlenecks now are the drives you are using.

The metric I care about particularly is battery life. Not only how long I can edit on a long flight, but also how long I can use the laptop on location tethering and backing up. From my experience so far, I am able to safely use the computer for roughly half a day of shooting without needing it to charge. Afterward, the battery starts dropping below 20%, which would be worrying. Fortunately, I am able to charge it using the TetherTools USB-C 150W battery pack. As such, this lasts me a full day’s worth of shooting, with some juice left to spare. Overall, the computer has insanely good power efficiency and management. Of course, this assumes that you are not charging your camera via the tether cable.

Which One Should You Buy?

This is the real question. There are many different ways one can do on-location work and then heavy postproduction at home. Given that I can be away for weeks on end, I know I need my editing rig with me at all times. If, however, you simply shoot on location and then come back to your office without needing too much travel, I would say go for a Mac Mini or a Mac Studio. The performance is better than that of a laptop. If you are traveling at all times, then weight and size are considerations to keep in mind. As such, I can only recommend the M3 Pro MacBook Pro 14”. Sure, the 16” has better battery life and a larger screen, but if you try to edit on the miserably small airplane or train tables, the 14” is your only option. It is equally as powerful as the larger one while being smaller and more travel-friendly. On top of that, it fits perfectly into the Peli case that holds my camera.

What I Liked

• Battery Life
• Keyboard
• Screen
• Size and form factor

What Could Be Improved

• Lack of FaceID
• More USB-C Ports
• Price

Closing Thoughts

Coming in at a solid $2,249, this computer is not cheap. The upgrades, should you wish any, will set you back an average of $200. I opted for the cheapest model with the M3 Pro chip and do not look back on my decision. As most of the work I do happens on an external drive, I do not need extra storage on the machine itself. That money is better spent on more SSDs. Overall, the 14” M3 Pro MacBook Pro is the most optimal computer that is still adequately priced for an Apple computer while also providing enough power and performance to tackle any creative tasks now and in the future.