I’m thinking about buying a new Apple MacBook Pro and am curious about how much Apple will offer me for a trade-in. Problem is, it asks for the number of “cores” and I don’t know how to find that on my Mac. Can you help out?
As Mac systems have become more powerful and sophisticated, the chips inside have increased in power and complexity too. Multiple CPU cores definitely gave us all a dramatic boost in speed, but also meant that we couldn’t just assess devices based on the architecture (like an “Intel i7”) or speed (remember the “GHz” ratings?). With the M-series RISC processors that have been the heart of all modern Mac systems, it gets even more complicated because the exact same computer can have a variety of different cores. Not only that, but now we have to worry about both central processor unit (CPU) cores and graphics (often referred to as “graphical processor unit” or GPU) cores!
What makes this most surprising is that Apple hasn’t updated the About This Mac window to add this information, leaving us to put on our deerstalker cap, grab our briar pipe, and play digital detective. Let’s do just that, shall we?
APPLE’S BUY-BACK OFFER AT THE STORE
I’m starting to think about replacing my MacBook Pro so I can just go through the steps for my own configuration. To start, I’ll go to the Apple Store – store.apple.com – and look at the 16-inch M3 Pro units…
That’s a lot of graphical and processor cores; notice the difference here is memory and that going from 18GB to 32GB adds $400 to the price. It’s worth it, though, if you want maximum performance. But I digress!
Just below these two options is this:
A click on “Get started” and I’m on the same path you were. It asks a few questions about my existing laptop’s screen size, etc, then I hit this screen:
This is critical and notice that you can have a 10-core CPU and anywhere from a 14 to 32-core GPU. It’s important to get this right to proceed. But how?
ABOUT THIS MAC? NOT SO MUCH.
The advice that Apple offers in the above window is to go to “About this Mac”, which reveals a tiny info window:
This is exactly where I’d expect to see “X-core CPU, Y-core GPU” but no information of this nature is forthcoming. A click on “More Info…” opens up a new Settings window with some additional info:
This shows AppleCare+ status, display details, and storage capacity, but still no cores. Now what?
At the very bottom of this Settings window is a button labeled “System Report…“. That’s what you want. Or you can go to Applications > Utilities > System Report if you prefer to launch it directly.
MACOS SYSTEM REPORT FTW
Turns out that System Report is a great utility just jammed with useful information about your computer. The first core count can be found right on the launch screen:
This reveals that my computer has 10 CPU cores. Jot that down!
To find out graphics cores, click on “Graphics/Displays” on the left side, and, again, buried in the info is what you seek:
There, finally, is the answer. I have a “late 2021” MacBook Pro with a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU. Now ya know!
Pro Tip: I’ve been writing about MacOS since the first release and have hundreds of helpful tutorials here on the site. Please check out my Mac help library for lots more useful content while you’re here!