14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 chip: 10 things you need to know about Apple’s new Pro-grade laptop

The baseline 14-inch MacBook Pro now starts at Rs 169,900, which makes it Rs 30,000 cheaper than the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Pro chip. In fact, it is just around Rs 35,000 more expensive than the 15-inch MacBook Air.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro gives you the option to choose different CPU options within the M3 family. This makes it much easier to pick up the MacBook Pro depending on the level of tasks and workflow you have. The entry-level model with an M3 chip just has a single fan and two USB-C ports, while the M3 Pro and the M3 Max variant have a dual-fan design with three USB-C ports, which can support up to two external displays.

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro is also the most affordable Apple laptop with a 120Hz refresh rate Liquid Retina XDR display with mini LED technology. Not just the refresh rate, but the new display on the MacBook Pro has a peak HDR brightness of 1600 nits and a peak SDR brightness of 600 nits.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro retains a full-sized HDMI port and an SD card slot, making it a creator-friendly machine that can be used to access content from your professional camera and plug in an external monitor without requiring an adapter or dongle.

No Windows laptop can match the battery life of a MacBook, and this statement stays true for even the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro M3. According to Apple, the laptop can offer up to 15 hours of wireless web browsing (when connected to a Wi-Fi network) or 22 hours of video playback. The device can be charged using the proprietary MagSafe port or it can also be charged using any USB-PD compatible Type-C charger.

The base model of the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 chip comes with a 10-core GPU, which is one of the first Apple Silicon chips to support hardware-accelerated ray tracing, further improving the gaming experience. On top of that, macOS Sonoma is also optimized for gaming, making it one of the first and most affordable MacBooks from Apple that gamers can consider.

Video calling and web conferencing are now a part of everyone's life, and you can look your best with the 1080p built-in web camera on the new MacBook Pro.

Despite being a professional laptop, the base model of the 14-inch MacBook Pro offers only 8 GB of RAM, which may not be sufficient, especially if you plan on doing any serious work on this machine. Memory upgrades definitely come at a steep price, where one might even consider the MacBook Pro with an M3 Pro chip instead of going for the M3 model.

The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro also misses out on the new Space Black variant, so it will look just like a previous-generation model with Space Grey and Silver colour options.

The MacBook Pro comes with pre-configured storage options and does not support storage expansion using an NVMe/SATA SSD like most modern Windows laptops do. The base model offers only 512 GB of internal storage, which could be limiting for professional users.