Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M3) vs Apple MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M3) | AppleMacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | November 2023 | July 2014 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 14.2″ | 13.3″ |
| Resolution | 3024 × 1964 (better) | 2560 × 1600 |
| Panel | Mini-LED | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 600 nits | – |
| HDR peak brightness | 1,600 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina XDR display with mini-LED backlighting | Retina LED-backlit IPS display, millions of colours; native 2560 × 1600, with scaled modes of 1680 × 1050, 1440 × 900 and 1024 × 640. Refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple. |
| Pixel density | 254 ppi | 227 ppi |
| Colour range | Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours | – |
| 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 | Apple M3 | Intel Core i5-4278U, Intel Core i5-4308U or Intel Core i7-4578U |
| CPU cores | 8 | 2 |
| CPU threads | – | 4 |
| Graphics | 10-core GPU | Intel Iris Graphics 5100 |
| Memory | 8 GB, 16 GB or 24 GB (better) | 8 GB or 16 GB |
| Storage | 512 GB to 2 TB (better) | 128 GB to 1 TB |
| CPU | 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores | Dual-core Core i5-4278U at 2.6 GHz (Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz, 3 MB shared L3 cache), Core i5-4308U at 2.8 GHz (up to 3.3 GHz, 3 MB), or Core i7-4578U at 3.0 GHz (up to 3.5 GHz, 4 MB). Exact identities documented by Primate Labs. Lower bases offer both faster processors; upper base offers the i7 upgrade. |
| 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 Iris Graphics 5100 integrated graphics, documented in Macworld's exact-model review |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory; 8 GB or 16 GB, configurable to 24 GB | 8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L onboard memory, configurable to 16 GB at purchase |
| Memory bandwidth | 100 GB/s | – |
| Storage type | SSD; 512 GB or 1 TB, configurable to 2 TB | PCIe-based flash storage; 128 GB or 256 GB with the 2.6 GHz base and all three processor choices. The 512 GB base has the 2.8 GHz i5, configurable to the 3.0 GHz i7 and 1 TB storage. Configurations retain these explicitly published base and upgrade combinations. |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 22 hours | Up to 9 hours |
| Battery capacity | 69.6 Wh | 71.8 Wh (better) |
| Weight | 1.55 kg (better) | 1.57 kg |
| Thickness | 15.5 mm (better) | 18 mm |
| Width × depth | 312.6 × 221.2 mm | 314 × 219 mm |
| Battery life detail | Up to 15 hours wireless web; marketed as 70 Wh, with actual rating 69.6 Wh in Apple’s footnote | Built-in 71.8 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 9 hours wireless web, 9 hours iTunes movie playback or 30 days standby under Apple's test conditions. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. |
| Charger | 70 W USB-C Power Adapter | 60 W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter with cable management |
| Fast charging | With optional 96 W USB-C Power Adapter | – |
| Materials | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure | Aluminium enclosure |
| Colours | Silver, Space Grey | Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 2 × Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 2 × USB-A, 2 × Thunderbolt 2, MagSafe 2, headphone jack, SD card slot, HDMI |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6E | 802.11ac (draft specification); compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 4.0 |
| 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 | Two USB 3 ports up to 5 Gb/s, two Thunderbolt 2 ports up to 20 Gb/s with native Mini DisplayPort output, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe 2 and headphone jack; support for digital/analogue audio line output and Apple iPhone headset remote and microphone. Ethernet and FireWire require separate Thunderbolt adapters. |
| 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 up to two external displays at 2560 × 1600, with millions of colours; HDMI supports 1080p at up to 60 Hz, 3840 × 2160 at 30 Hz or 4096 × 2160 at 24 Hz. DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI adapters sold separately. |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, including 12 full-height function keys | Full-size backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys, four arrow keys and ambient light sensor |
| Trackpad | Force Touch trackpad | Multi-Touch trackpad with inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap and drag |
| Speakers | Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; spatial audio with Dolby Atmos | Stereo speakers |
| Microphones | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming | Dual microphones |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | – |
| In the box | 14-inch MacBook Pro, 70 W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable (2 m) | MacBook Pro with Retina display, MagSafe 2 Power Adapter, AC wall plug and power cord; OS X Mavericks, iLife apps and qualifying free iWork apps |
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