Apple MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) vs Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M3)

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MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012) compared with MacBook Pro 14″ (M3)

	AppleMacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2012)	AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M3)
Overview
Released
Released	June 2012	November 2023
Display
Screen size
Screen size	13.3″	14.2″
Resolution
Resolution	1280 × 800	3024 × 1964 (better)
Panel
Panel	TN LCD	Mini-LED
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	–	120 Hz
Brightness
Brightness	–	600 nits
HDR peak brightness
HDR peak brightness	–	1,600 nits
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy display, 1280 × 800 native resolution and millions of colours. TN panel identified by Notebookcheck’s exact-model review; brightness and refresh rate unpublished by Apple.	Liquid Retina XDR display with mini-LED backlighting
Pixel density
Pixel density	–	254 ppi
Colour range
Colour range	–	Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours
Display features
Display features	–	1,000,000:1 contrast; 1,000 nits sustained full-screen HDR brightness; ProMotion adaptive refresh up to 120 Hz; fixed 47.95, 48, 50, 59.94 and 60 Hz rates; True Tone
Performance
Processor
Processor	Intel Core i5-3210M or Intel Core i7-3520M	Apple M3
CPU cores
CPU cores	2	8
CPU threads
CPU threads	4	–
Graphics
Graphics	Intel HD Graphics 4000	10-core GPU
Memory
Memory	4 GB or 8 GB	8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	128 GB to 1 TB	512 GB to 2 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	2.5 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz and 3 MB L3 cache, or 2.9 GHz dual-core Core i7 with Turbo Boost up to 3.6 GHz and 4 MB L3 cache. i5-3210M identified by Notebookcheck; i7-3520M by EveryMac.	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
GPU
GPU	Intel HD Graphics 4000	10-core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing; media engine supports H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW, video and ProRes encode/decode, and AV1 decode
AI engine
AI engine	–	16-core Neural Engine
Memory type
Memory type	1600 MHz DDR3 in two SO-DIMM slots. Core i5 has 4 GB, configurable to 8 GB; Core i7 has 8 GB.	Unified memory; 8 GB or 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	100 GB/s
Storage type
Storage type	Core i5 has a 500 GB 5400-rpm hard drive, configurable to 750 GB or 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. Core i7 has a 750 GB 5400-rpm hard drive, configurable to 1 TB or the same SSD capacities. Rows follow the CPU-specific maker storage sections. 8× slot-loading SuperDrive supports DVD±R DL, DVD±RW and CD-RW.	SSD; 512 GB or 1 TB, configurable to 2 TB
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 7 hours	Up to 22 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	63.5 Wh	69.6 Wh (better)
Weight
Weight	2.06 kg	1.55 kg (better)
Thickness
Thickness	24.1 mm	15.5 mm (better)
Width × depth
Width × depth	325 × 227 mm	312.6 × 221.2 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Built-in 63.5 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 7 hours wireless web in Apple’s test. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.	Up to 15 hours wireless web; marketed as 70 Wh, with actual rating 69.6 Wh in Apple’s footnote
Charger
Charger	60 W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management	70 W USB-C Power Adapter
Fast charging
Fast charging	–	With optional 96 W USB-C Power Adapter
Materials
Materials	Aluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad	100% recycled aluminium enclosure
Colours
Colours	Silver	Silver, Space Grey
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, MagSafe, headphone jack, SD card slot, Ethernet, Thunderbolt	2 × Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g	Wi-Fi 6E
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	4.0	5.3
Webcam
Webcam	720p FaceTime HD camera	1080p FaceTime HD
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	One Thunderbolt port up to 10 Gb/s, two USB 3 ports up to 5 Gb/s, one FireWire 800 port up to 800 Mb/s, Gigabit Ethernet, SDXC card slot, MagSafe, headphone port with digital/analogue audio line output and iPhone headset support and Kensington lock slot. Thunderbolt provides native Mini DisplayPort output; DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI and HDMI require separate adapters.	Two Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 3 and USB 4 up to 40 Gb/s; HDMI; SDXC slot; MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm jack with high-impedance headphone support
External displays
External displays	Built-in display plus one external display up to 2560 × 1600, both at millions of colours; dual display and video mirroring.	One external display with the built-in screen active; macOS Sonoma 14.6 or later supports two with the lid closed: primary up to 6K 60 Hz (or 4K 144 Hz), secondary up to 5K 60 Hz (or 4K 100 Hz), according to Apple’s updated display support page; original tech specs state HDMI up to 4K 120 Hz
Keyboard
Keyboard	Full-size backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor, 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys.	Backlit Magic Keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, including 12 full-height function keys
Trackpad
Trackpad	Multi-Touch trackpad supports inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three- and four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap and drag.	Force Touch trackpad
Speakers
Speakers	Stereo speakers with subwoofer	Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; spatial audio with Dolby Atmos
Microphones
Microphones	Omnidirectional microphone	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming
Biometrics
Biometrics	–	Touch ID
In the box
In the box	MacBook Pro, display cleaning cloth, 60 W MagSafe power adapter, AC wall plug, power cord and documentation; OS X Lion and iLife.	14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (2 m)