Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M3) vs Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)

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MacBook Pro 14″ (M3) compared with MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)

	AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M3)	AppleMacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2006)
Overview
Released
Released	November 2023	May 2006
Display
Screen size
Screen size	14.2″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	3024 × 1964 (better)	1680 × 1050
Panel
Panel	Mini-LED	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	120 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	600 nits (better)	300 nits
HDR peak brightness
HDR peak brightness	1,600 nits	–
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Liquid Retina XDR display with mini-LED backlighting	Widescreen TFT display; matte at launch, with glossy option added later in May 2006 with millions of colours. Exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished in the maker sources read.
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	Apple M3	Intel Core Duo 2.16 GHz (MacBook Pro Early 2006)
CPU cores
CPU cores	8	2
Graphics
Graphics	10-core GPU	ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (256 MB GDDR3)
Memory
Memory	8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB (better)	1 GB or 2 GB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 2 TB (better)	100 GB to 120 GB
CPU
CPU	8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores	Dual-core Intel Core Duo at 2.16 GHz, with 2 MB shared L2 cache and 667 MHz frontside bus. The record retains the maker’s clock and model rather than copying an unverified retail-chip specification.
GPU
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	ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (256 MB GDDR3)
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory; 8 GB or 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB	667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots; 1 GB standard, configurable to 2 GB.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	100 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD; 512 GB or 1 TB, configurable to 2 TB	120 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive, configurable to 100 GB at 7200 rpm. 8× SuperDrive with 2.4× double-layer DVD+R writing.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 22 hours	Up to 5.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	69.6 Wh (better)	68 Wh
Weight
Weight	1.55 kg (better)	3.1 kg
Thickness
Thickness	15.5 mm (better)	25.9 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	312.6 × 221.2 mm	392 × 265 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 15 hours wireless web; marketed as 70 Wh, with actual rating 69.6 Wh in Apple’s footnote	Removable 68 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 5.5 hours in Apple’s test. Maker reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
Charger
Charger	70 W USB-C Power Adapter	85 W MagSafe Power Adapter
Fast charging
Fast charging	With optional 96 W USB-C Power Adapter	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure	Aluminium enclosure
Colours
Colours	Silver, Space Grey	Silver
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	AirPort Extreme 802.11g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	2.0 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam	1080p FaceTime HD	Built-in iSight camera
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
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	3 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, dual-link DVI, ExpressCard/34, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output, and Kensington lock slot. VGA adapter included; composite/S-video adapter optional.
External displays
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	One external display up to 2560 × 1600 alongside the built-in screen through dual-link DVI; included VGA adapter, optional composite/S-video adapter.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, including 12 full-height function keys	Full-size backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys; embedded numeric keypad
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Scrolling trackpad with a separate button; two-finger scrolling, tap, double-tap and drag.
Speakers
Speakers	Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; spatial audio with Dolby Atmos	Built-in stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming	Built-in omnidirectional microphone under the left speaker grille
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
In the box	14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (2 m)	MacBook Pro, removable battery, 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter with AC wall plug and power cord, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Apple Remote and DVI-to-VGA adapter included. Mac OS X 10.4.6 Tiger and iLife ’06. Apple’s 24 April 2006 notice states shipping the following week, supporting May month precision without an exact delivery day. The optional glossy screen was introduced later in May and is not treated as an original launch configuration.