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Whatever you do, don’t buy a MacBook Pro right now

Luke Larsen
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The MacBook Pro on a wooden table.
Digital Trends

I know plenty of people walk into Apple Stores and buy a MacBook right off the shelf because they need one. I get it.

But if you’re considering a purchase of a MacBook Pro, in particular, it’ll really pay off to pump the brakes. Apple is holding a surprise product launch event next Monday, and if the rumors are to be believed, all three MacBook Pros are going to get updated. Upgrading all three at once would be an unprecedented way to upgrade these laptops for Apple as it simultaneously launches the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips.

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But even if the rollout is different than the reports indicate — trust me, it’s worth waiting it out to find out. Because if you’re buying a MacBook Pro (as opposed to a MacBook Air), you’re likely after some kind of extra performance. The M2 MacBook Air is plenty powerful for everyday work, but if you’re a professional content creator of any kind, you’ll need the extra CPU cores, GPU cores, and active cooling.

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And if that’s you, the rumored MacBook Pro updates should be quite a boon to what these machines can do. Don’t get me wrong — the current-generation MacBook Pros are already quite powerful, especially considering how quiet they are under load. But the M3 chips will reportedly deliver a significant jump in performance, which will vastly improve the efficiency of each core, using TSMC’s 3nm process. If Apple can deliver, it’ll be a bigger leap ahead than the M2 was over the M1 — that’s for sure. Apple doesn’t tend to increase price with each new generation, so that means extra performance for the same price by just waiting a week.

Even if you aren’t interested in the latest and greatest, new models always mean discounts on older generations. So, regardless of which generation you end up buying, you’ll either be paying less or getting more performance. You know you won’t be paying for lots of other extras either, as this update will be primarily just a chip upgrade.

Now, before you get too excited, we still don’t know exactly what Apple will announce next week. It could just be a new iMac or some updated iPads for all we know. But it’s worth waiting to see if new MacBooks really are in the works if you’re in the market for a powerful new MacBook.

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Luke Larsen
Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
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