This is one of the best laptops you can buy for those looking for a bit of performance i.e. Programmers, Audio Engineers, and Creators doing light creative work.

Note: Now that M4 is out, these should only be bought on a big sale.

We recommend the M3 Pro configuration with 18 GB memory for most users. This is enough for programming and most other high performance tasks. Depending on the complexity of the projects you are working on you may want to consider the 36 GB memory upgrade.

Please note, the M3 Pro chips and lower end M3 Max chip has less memory bandwidth than comparable M2 processors. For tasks that rely on very fast memory bandwidth like video editing, you may find the older M2 Pro versions of the MacBook Pro 14 perform similar to the M3 Pro version. The extra speed of the M3 Pro chip is offset by the reduction in memory bandwidth. So for you, if the M2 Pro version is $200 or more cheaper, you will want to consider saving money and getting that.

If you aren't bound my memory bandwidth the M3 Pro version is better delivering longer battery life and better performance.

We would advise you avoid the base "M3" models of these laptops. They only come with 8 GB memory, which will be extremely restrictive. Rather than upgrade this model to 16 GB, we recommend you buy the M3 Pro configuration that we recommended above. Those have 2 extra GB memory, a 3rd USB C port on the right side, a faster CPU & GPU, and a couple of other improvements.

Also, if you are planning to buy this laptop with the M3 Max chip, note that you will not get the same performance as buying the MacBook Pro 16 with that chip. It is fed less power in this 14inch laptop, due to a more constrained thermal solution. It therefore does not perform quite as well.