Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M3) vs Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M3) | AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, 2018) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | November 2023 | July 2018 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 14.2″ | 15.4″ |
| Resolution | 3024 × 1964 (better) | 2880 × 1800 |
| Panel | Mini-LED | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 600 nits (better) | 500 nits |
| HDR peak brightness | 1,600 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina XDR display with mini-LED backlighting | Retina display; LED-backlit IPS; millions of colours |
| Pixel density | 254 ppi | 220 ppi |
| Colour range | Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours | Wide colour (P3) |
| 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 | True Tone; scaled resolutions of 1920 × 1200, 1680 × 1050, 1280 × 800 or 1024 × 640 |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | Apple M3 | Intel Core i7-8750H, Intel Core i7-8850H or Intel Core i9-8950HK |
| CPU cores | 8 | 6 |
| CPU threads | – | 12 |
| Graphics | 10-core GPU | AMD Radeon Pro 555X, AMD Radeon Pro 560X, AMD Radeon Pro Vega 16 or AMD Radeon Pro Vega 20 |
| Memory | 8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB | 16 GB or 32 GB (better) |
| Storage | 512 GB to 2 TB | 256 GB to 4 TB (better) |
| CPU | 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores | Six-core Intel Core i7 at 2.2 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 4.1 GHz and 9 MB L3 cache, or Core i7 at 2.6 GHz with up to 4.3 GHz and 9 MB L3 cache; both configurable to Core i9 at 2.9 GHz with up to 4.8 GHz and 12 MB L3 cache. Exact i7-8750H, i7-8850H and i9-8950HK identifiers confirmed by MacGeneration. |
| GPU | 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 | Intel UHD Graphics 630 with automatic switching to discrete Radeon Pro graphics. The 2.2 GHz base has Radeon Pro 555X with 4 GB GDDR5, configurable to 560X with 4 GB GDDR5. The 2.6 GHz base has 560X, configurable to Vega 16 or Vega 20 with 4 GB HBM2; Vega options became available on 14 November 2018. |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory; 8 GB or 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB | 16 GB of 2400 MHz DDR4 onboard memory, configurable to 32 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 100 GB/s | – |
| Storage type | SSD; 512 GB or 1 TB, configurable to 2 TB | PCIe-based onboard SSD; 256 GB base with 2.2 GHz processor configurable to 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB or 4 TB; 512 GB base with 2.6 GHz processor configurable to 1 TB, 2 TB or 4 TB. Core i9 upgrades retain the storage and graphics options of their base configuration. |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 22 hours | Up to 10 hours |
| Battery capacity | 69.6 Wh | 83.6 Wh (better) |
| Weight | 1.55 kg (better) | 1.83 kg |
| Thickness | 15.5 mm | 15.5 mm |
| Width × depth | 312.6 × 221.2 mm | 349.3 × 240.7 mm |
| Battery life detail | Up to 15 hours wireless web; marketed as 70 Wh, with actual rating 69.6 Wh in Apple’s footnote | Lithium-polymer battery; up to 10 hours wireless web or iTunes movie playback and 30 days standby. Apple's June 2018 tests used the 2.6 GHz Core i7, 16 GB memory and 512 GB SSD. Weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. |
| Charger | 70 W USB-C Power Adapter | 87 W USB-C Power Adapter |
| Fast charging | With optional 96 W USB-C Power Adapter | – |
| Materials | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure | Aluminium enclosure |
| Colours | Silver, Space Grey | Silver; Space Grey |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 2 × Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 4 × Thunderbolt 3, headphone jack |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6E | Wi-Fi 5 |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 5.0 |
| Webcam | 1080p FaceTime HD | 720p FaceTime HD |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | 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 | Four Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports support charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt up to 40 Gb/s and USB 3.1 Gen 2 up to 10 Gb/s; 3.5 mm headphone jack. VGA, HDMI, DVI and Thunderbolt 2 output require separate adaptors. |
| External displays | 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 | Built-in screen plus two 5120 × 2880 displays at 60 Hz with over a billion colours, or four 4096 × 2304 displays at 60 Hz with over a billion colours |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, including 12 full-height function keys | Full-size backlit keyboard with 64 US or 65 ISO keys, four arrow keys, Touch Bar and ambient light sensor; third-generation keyboard designed for quieter typing |
| Trackpad | Force Touch trackpad | Force Touch trackpad with pressure sensing, Force clicks and Multi-Touch gestures |
| Speakers | Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; spatial audio with Dolby Atmos | Stereo speakers with high dynamic range |
| Microphones | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming | Three microphones |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | Touch ID fingerprint sensor; Apple T2 Security Chip supports secure boot and encrypted storage |
| In the box | 14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (2 m) | 15-inch MacBook Pro; 87 W USB-C Power Adapter; 2 m USB-C Charge Cable |
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