We got Apple’s “Scary Fast” Halloween-themed event on Monday night (for some of us it was Tuesday). There are always some Apple-themed easter eggs in the background of these event videos. Even those were Halloween styled.
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The rumors had already spoiled most of this event. But getting most of the M3 generation of chips for the MacBook Pro family all at once, less than a year after the larger MacBooks Pro were released with M2 chips is quite an ambitious upgrade pace.
The MacBook Pro 13″ with TouchBar was replaced by a MacBook Pro 14″ with the plain M3 chip. There are some changes to the architecture of the M3 Pro, compared to the M2 Pro. We will have to see how that affects performance. The MacBook Pro 14″ with the plain M3, still only supports a single external display.
Apple was comparing performance of the new chips to the M1 (and sometimes Intel) instead of the M2. This is certainly a marketing “trick,” but it is also a more realistic comparison for most users. Very few people can afford to, or even want to upgrade to the newest model on every release. The accumulated performance increases over more release cycles are quite impressive.
This is exemplified with the new iMac, still sporting the same color palette, but now with the (plain) M3 chip, leap-frogging the M2 generation from the M1. Apple claims it to be twice as performant.
Apple has started, not very subtly, to message that it is time to upgrade from Intel Macs. On the other hand, Apple was still selling Mac Pro and Mac mini with Intel chips (the Mac Pro and 2018 Mac mini) until early this year. I don’t expect to see support for Intel being dropped from the macOS release in 2024. However, it is very likely that we will see more and more new features which will be limited to Apple Silicon Macs.
This year’s conference season might be over, but the 2024 conferences are already on the horizon. MacAD.UK 2024 will be May 22–24 in Brighton, UK. Registration for early bird tickets has started.
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📸Focus – Scary Fast
- Event Page with Video
- Apple unveils M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, the most advanced chips for a personal computer – Apple
- Apple unveils new MacBook Pro featuring M3 chips – Apple
- Apple supercharges 24-inch iMac with new M3 chip – Apple
- Behind the scenes at Scary Fast: Apple’s keynote event shot on iPhone – Apple
- M3 Chip Family Boosts Performance for MacBook Pros and 24-inch iMac – Adam Engst, TidBITS
- Apple M3 Pro Chip Has 25% Less Memory Bandwidth Than M1/M2 Pro – Tim Hardwick, MacRumors
📰News and Opinion
⚙️Platform Updates
- Customize user access to certain apps and services using Apple Business Manager
- Apple School Manager: Welcome, Document revision history
- Apple Business Manager: Welcome, Document revision history
- Apple Business Essentials: Welcome, Document revision history
🔐Security and Privacy
- This tiny device is sending updated iPhones into a never-ending DoS loop – Dan Goodin, Ars Technica
- Advancing iMessage security: iMessage Contact Key Verification – Apple Security Research
- So, State-Sponsored Attackers Are Targeting Your Mobile Device. Now What? – Tom Hegel, SentinelOne
🔨Support and HowTos
- Understanding Netskope Releases – Fraser Hess
- Enable dark mode with Jamf Pro 11, with a boost from Arc – Rob Potvin
🤖Scripting and Automation
- Setup Your Mac with SYM-Helper.app – Dan K. Snelson
- Setup Your Mac (1.13.0): Under-the-hood – Dan K. Snelson
- aws-samples/amazon-ec2-mac-mdm-enrollment-automation a script to automatically enroll Amazon EC2 Mac instances into MDM. API calls for Jamf Pro are included, as are templates for credential setup.
♻️Updates and Releases
🎧To Listen
- Just Us: Getting from A to B – Mac Admins Podcast
- 2023 developer survey on AI, passkeys, and more – Apple @ Work Podcast, 9to5Mac
🎈Just for Fun
📚Support
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