M3/Pro/Max MacBook Pros - the cold hard truth! (CultCast #620)

This week: we’re looking at the cold hard truth of M3/Pro/Max MacBook Pros vs M2 and M1 generation — and there are some surprises. We also have rumors for iOS 18 and Apple is prepping a cutting-edge battery technology that will power your devices by 2025!

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This week‘s stories:

Apple’s new M3 iMac and MacBook Pros hit store shelves

• Apple’s new M3 iMac and MacBook Pros are now officially on sale in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and select other countries. If you live in one of those locations, you can pick up the latest iMac or M3-powered MacBook Pro from your nearest Apple Store.
• The new M3 Max MacBook Pro will go on sale later in November.

All M3 MacBook pros reviewed: Same cars, better engines

• Geekbench 6 benchmark results for the new MacBook Pro models already leaked last week. The results showed that the M3 chip is up to 20% faster than the M2 chip, the M3 Pro is up to 6% faster than the M2 Pro, and the M3 Max is up to 50% faster than the M2 Max and roughly on par with the M2 Ultra chip.

MacRumors: Apple Silicon Buyer's Guide: Which Chip Should You Choose?

• Choosing a new Mac often involves consideration of the many Apple silicon chips now on offer, so our comprehensive guide covers their generations, variations, and performance benchmarks to help you decide which is best for you.

Apple pauses iOS 18 and macOS 15 development to root out bugs

• After reaching Milestone 1, Apple developers reportedly stopped adding new features to Milestone 2 for a week because the code had too many bugs.

Apple gets ready to make much better batteries

• Apple is developing greatly improved batteries for its future devices, according to a new report. It appears the iPhone-maker wants to create a custom process in-house and own it — rather than outsourcing — just like it did with Apple silicon chips.

This one simple change would make every USB-C cable better

• Simple labeling is a big help when you need a certain cable for, say, fast data transfer, but none of your cables comes right out and IDs itself as the right one for the specific job. Does it support fast data transfer? How about fast charging?