The MacBook Pro 13-inch (M2, 2022) is a laptop we hold in high regard here at Tom’s Guide. When we initially reviewed this powerful machine, we praised it for its ‘blazing-fast performance’ and ‘amazing battery life’.
Over 18 months on from its initial release, we still consider it to be one of the best MacBooks, yet if you were hoping its Apple M3 chip successor was going to be announced during this Monday’s ‘Scary Fast’ October event, the news isn’t looking good.
The source of this potentially disappointing hardware absence is about as predictable as a colossal monkey falling from the top of the Empire State Building. Bloomberg’s well-connected Apple guru Mark Gurman has stated in his latest ‘Power On’ newsletter that a new M3-powered 13-inch Pro won't be at the event.
The news isn’t all gloomy though, as we fully expect the crew at Cupertino to reveal 14- and 16-inch M3 versions of the MacBook Pro at its pre-Halloween event. That’s obviously good news if your preference is for a slighter larger MacBook, yet for those who prioritize portability over anything else when it comes to Apple’s iconic laptops, the rumored no-show of a new 13-incher Pro is definitely a bit of a blow.
While the latest edition of the MacBook Pro 13-inch is hardly long in the tooth, we would dearly like this rumor to be false. After all, the prospect of a backpack-friendly 12-inch MacBook M3 Pro with potentially 12 CPU cores, 18 GPU cores and 36GB of unified memory is hugely appealing.
It seems likely the still rumored (but more or less confirmed at this point) larger MacBook Pro M3 models will boast these specific specs at least. So if you’re desperate to upgrade your M2 13-inch model, the upcoming 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 could be well worth the investment. After all, what’s an extra inch in terms of display size?
If you’re desperate to upgrade your M2 13-inch model, the upcoming (though still rumored) 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 could be well worth the investment"
If MacBooks aren’t quite your vibe and you're more into Apple’s desktop offerings, at least the spooky forecast looks good on the iMac front. The current iMac uses Apple’s borderline decrepit M1 chipset, and it looks like The Big A will skip an M2 chip altogether and go straight to a 2023 iMac bolstered by M3 silicon starting with at least 8 CPU and 10 CPU cores.
There are also rumors that higher-end configs of a new iMac M3 could be announced on Monday, with the tantalizing prospect of a M3 Max-based iteration with up to 16 CPU cores and potentially 40 GPU cores.
Regardless of whether we see an M3 MacBook Pro 13-inch on Monday or not, at least we only have a couple of days to find out for sure. Rumors also persist that Apple’s alleged larger MacBook Pro M3 models could also launch as early as November 8.
However you look at it, this is an exciting time to be an Apple fan.
More from Tom's Guide
