Apple Event

Dan Seifert runs down the news from Monday night’s Scary Fast primetime product event, covering what’s new about these updates to the MacBook Pro and iMac lineup and who should be the most interested in an upgrade. (Anyone who needs that Space Black exterior or someone who is replacing an Apple machine with an Intel processor or the first-gen M1 chip.)

Apple’s prime-time product event went by pretty quickly on Monday night, but if you just want the highlights, here’s a 10-minute version with everything you need to know about the new M3 chips, as well as its updated MacBook Pros and iMacs.

That’s right: despite finally bringing the iPhone over to the world of USB-C, Apple still only sells its Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Mouse with Lightning ports. Also, you still have to charge the Magic Mouse from the bottom in 2023.

Thank goodness! After Apple’s “Scary Fast” (and scary short) event, the Apple Polishing Cloth continues to be the most compatible thing Apple makes.

Boy, that was brisk. And we were left with a fun fact: the whole thing was shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max! Other than one moment where it looked like Johny Srouji was walking in front of a green screen, it really did look good. Especially in the dark.

Go read all our stories on The Verge, and stay tuned for all of our reviews and hands-on coverage as soon as we’re able to get our hands on these new devices. See you next time! Hopefully in the daytime!

And there was not a single scary costume! The vibes were spooky enough, but for an Apple event during prime time TV watching hours, I was hoping for something just a little... more.

Apple just took the old one, changed nothing, kept it at $1,299, added the M3 chip, and called it a day? At least it’s replacing the Intel models for good, but still.

To be clear, the 24-inch iMac is a lovely device. But... this is all we get? Not even a space black iMac?

The 24-inch iMac is getting updated to the M3 processor. The design is staying just as beautifully thin, but Apple is claiming it will be twice as fast as the M1 24-inch iMac.

22 hours of battery life sounds great, “11x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro” is a truly hilarious comparison, and I have high hopes for the performance on this thing.

The new Pro starts at $1,599, by the way, for the 14-inch model. The 16-inch model starts at $2,499.

Apple’s super-noticeable white cables have forever driven me crazy. I am... very into the new space black charger for the new space black MacBook Pro. I want it. I need it.

And it’s all black — space black, to be exact. Very 2006 MacBook, in the best of ways.

The MacBook Pro is starting to catch up to the Mac Pro! It used to max out at 96GB of unified memory, but the new Pro can go up to 128GB. That’s not quite as high as the 192GB in the latest Mac Pro, but you know, it’s a laptop. Can’t have everything.

And Apple claims it will be up to 11 times faster than the last generation of Intel-based Macs. Which... I would hope so.

The story is all about performance, it seems — not seeing any big design changes here. Kate Bergeron is guiding us through the ways it’s better for creators and a much better gaming machine.

Also, it sounds like the 14-inch Pro is the only one you can buy with a plain M3? Bergeron makes it sound like the 16-inch model starts with the M3 Pro.

Coming soon to a MacBook Pro (and I’m betting some other stuff) near you.

Apple’s chip speed charts are improving every year, but they’re still not nearly as functional as they could be.

We’re getting the traditional “deep dive into the weird specs of the new chips with Johny Srouji,” and one of the things he’s talking a lot about is ray tracing, which is crucial for drawing high-res and realistic virtual spaces. That matters for gaming, the metaverse... and the Vision Pro.

They’re on 3nm technology, which should mean a whole heckuva lot faster than the current M2 family of chips.

The M1 and M2 were both launched many months ahead of their Pro and Max, but Apple’s dropping the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max together this time. Fascinating!

And they’re coming to the MacBook Pro, according to Tim Cook. Fingers crossed we get an iMac announcement tonight as well.

We’ve been to Apple Park a lot in the light, but in the dark, it has a real... “supervillain lair slash college campus from a horror movie where no one survives” vibe?

A minute ahead of time, even, at least on my stream. We’re expecting Macs, chips, who knows, but so far, it’s just a squiggly hello.

Apple’s pre-event music can often be described as Banana Republic-core, but tonight’s event has a slightly different mood. There was some monk-like chanting going on when I started the stream, and now it’s a song called “Dark,” by Goldie, James Davidson, and Subjective.

The best way is to follow us along here, where myself, David Pierce, and Richard Lawler will be live blogging the event.

But if you want to watch the keynote, I’d recommend watching it here on a Safari browser. That’s what I’ll be doing. It tends to be the stream that starts earliest.

Alternatively, you can sit back on the couch and watch it on Apple TV.

And if none of those options work for you, there’s always YouTube.

I really can’t decide! On the one hand, Apple (specifically Craig Federighi, the Action Hero himself) loves being right on the edge of incredible cringe. But also, doing a whole Halloween bit during tonight’s event means a lot of meme risk and bad looks and congressional hearings where they show Tim Cook as a vampire and they’re like, “Yes, this, Apple is bad.” You know? I don’t know!

I think my ultimate guess is Craig in costume and only Craig in costume. But I might be more excited about this than new Macs.

We’re expecting M3 chips, a new iMac, and some updated MacBook Pros. And if Apple really leans into the spooky theme, maybe an updated Magic Mouse with a USB-C port on the bottom.

You can follow along live right here:

Stay tuned to our live updates — the event kicks off at 8PM ET / 5PM PT. We’re expecting the M3 chips and a handful of new Macs. Get your predictions in now.

Bloomberg reports that Apple will “likely” introduce an updated trackpad, keyboard, and mouse with USB-C at its “Scary Fast” event on Monday, and here’s hoping Apple uses that as an opportunity to put the Magic Mouse’s charging port in a better spot. If it doesn’t, I’m going to have to write a 2023 version of this article.