[greendave]

The M3 Pro has been restricted to prevent it from competing with the Max on CPU performance. Whereas the M2 Pro and M2 Max were essential identical on CPU performance (with the exception of the 10-core M2 Pro which was only standard on the low-end 14" model).

To me that feels like neutering.

Doesn't mean it's a bad chip/machine but clearly the product marketing people made the call here.

[JohnBooty]

To neuter an animal is to remove their testicles, eliminating their ability and drive to reproduce and generally making them less aggressive.

That's not what they did to the M3 Pro. What they did was, they improved it a bit relative to the M2 Pro. But not as much as they improved the models that bracket it.

I realize I'm complaining about needlessly hyperbolic tech-related smack talk on the frigging internet, which is sort of like complaining about moistness in the ocean. But still, lol @ describing a modest upgrade as "neutering."

You know what was neutered? The Apple IIgs. Those 65c816 CPUs could go up to like 16mhz, easy peasy. But they stuck a 3.57mhz 65c816 in there and never upgraded it so that the IIgs wouldn't encroach on the Mac. Now that was a real hatchet job.