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I’m a reluctant hardware upgrader, but finally got an Apple Silicon machine. And I’m really, really noticing what others have said:

It’s snappy. Very snappy.

It’s snappy in a way that raw speed can’t explain. My perfectly fast Intel machine has lots of little pauses and lurches and burbles that are just…gone. Waking, launching things, plugging in the external display, all just poof! happen.

Why? Again, it’s not just CPU/GPU speed. It feels like there was some OS resource contention, some gear-shifting, some human-scale try-and-wait timer, that’s now eliminated.

Anyone have insight into why this is? I’m genuinely curious.

(It is also worth mentioning that on the CPU/GPU front, the M3 Max is just stupid fast.)

Because nobody asked, other quick thoughts on the new M3 MBP vs my 2019 Intel MBP:

I miss the old machine’s weight (~0.2 kg / 0.5 lbs lighter) and its shape. The curve of the case was so elegant.

The new keyboard is magnificent, even vs post-butterfly MBP.

As much as I wanted to like it, I don’t miss the Touch Bar, with one exception: adjusting brightness on multiple displays.

Dedicated SDXC port: why?? I’d rather have another Thunderbolt.

The notch bothers me •far• less than I’d expected.

@inthehands
How’s the trackpad? For a while it seemed the trackpads were regressing to be almost as bad as the ones on Windows machines.

@ronpar
It’s lovely. And I am fussy about such things.

@inthehands
That’s good to hear! Thanks for providing the feedback as I expect to replace an old laptop soon and I’m debating which to get.

@ronpar
I would of course recommend trying one out yourself, since I don’t know what things you’re sensitive to. But I find it to have exactly the precision and predictability I would expect from a Mac trackpad.

@inthehands
I will. Debating between the Air and the Pro and that was one of the things to compare between models.

And it isn’t being “fussy”, it’s having high expectations 😉

Paul Cantrell

@ronpar
Pro is a no-brainer for me since it’s my only machine and I mostly use it at one desk or another, but if I traveled a lot, I’d be torn.