Will the MacBook Pro M3 be equal or better in performance to my MacBook Pro M1?

varjak paw wrote:

As with so many things, the answer is "it depends". The M3 chip is in and of itself faster in almost all measurements than an M1 chip, all other things being equal.

Here the OP is talking about going from a M1 Pro chip to a M3 chip.

The 16" M1 Pro MBP appears to have had

• A 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores (Geekbench scores: 2379/12214)
• A 16-core GPU
• 16 or 32 GB of RAM
• The ability to drive up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution with the lid open
• Three Thunderbolt ports, a MagSafe 3 port, a HDMI port, and a SDXC card slot
• A mini-LED backlit screen with support for playing prerecorded HDR video content

MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021) - Technical Specifications - Apple Support

The 15" M3 MBA appears to have

• An 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores (Geekbench scores: 3104/11807)
• A 10-core GPU
• 8, 16, or 24 GB of RAM
• The ability to drive one external display with up to 6K resolution with the lid open; a second external display with up to 5K resolution only when the lid is closed
• Two Thunderbolt ports, a MagSafe 3 port, no HDMI port, and no SDXC card slot

MacBook Air (15-inch, M3, 2024) - Tech Specs - Apple Support

Another possibility might be replacing the 16" M1 Pro MBP with a 14" M4-family MBP.

• The 15" M3 MacBook Air weighs 3.3 pounds. The 14" M4-family MBPs weigh from 3.4 – 3.6 pounds. All of these are lighter than the 4.7-pound 16" M1 Pro MBP.
• If you custom-order, you can get just about any processor, RAM, or SSD upgrade on a 14" MBP that's available on a 16" one. That wasn't true in the Intel days, when 15"/16" models got better CPUs and GPUs than 13" ones.
• With the upgrades to the maximum RAM capacity, Thunderbolt port count, and external display support for 14" MBPs with "plain" M4 chips, even one of those might be a worthy successor to a 14"/16" M1 Pro MBP in terms of computing power.

Apple – Compare Mac models – MacBook Air 15-in. (M3) vs. MacBook Pro 16-in. (M1 Pro or M1 Max) vs. MacBook Pro 14-in. (M4 Pro or M4 Max)

As with so many things, the answer is "it depends". The M3 chip is in and of itself faster in almost all measurements than an M1 chip, all other things being equal. But whether an M3-equipped MacBook Air will yield equal or better performance than your M1 Pro will largely depend on what software you run. If it's an application that would really stress the CPU, then your MacBook Pro with its better cooling might be able to run at top speed longer than a newer MacBook Air. If you will tell us about what you do with your Mac, we can probably be more informative.

Regards.