In terms of ports, I think picture above the final MacBook Pro is actually pre-Apple Silicon certainly pre-M3 (the old 14” touchbar MBP hung around for M1/M2), the modern MacBook Pros even with the base M chip (and MacBook Airs) have more ports on either side than pictured.
Truthfully I really wouldn’t say we lost much. In fact, I was starting to have to buy USB adapters for my older 2013 Mac before I upgraded as newer accessories expect USB-C. It’s true that some of my older stuff is still USB-A but honestly the adapters between the two are pretty nice, nicer than the old dongles. I also don’t really have to use them because I got a monitor with mixed ports and kept my old USB-A hub. You can also buy hubs with multiple kinds of ports that are pretty cheap. But as I said, as you gradually replace your older accessories everything will increasingly be USB-C anyway. The reason we had to have all those ports back in the day was because each one was unique and there were so many even then if you didn't have the one you needed you still had to have a dongle. Basically since I upgrade my old machine dongles haven’t been a problem - at least no more than they were back in “the good old days”. That said, if you need an SD card reader, only the Macbook Pro models have one built in. The Airs don’t. Also note that 14" M3 Pro MBP models come with more ports than the base M3 14" MBP.
As for system requirements and photoshop, I don't use it myself but I saw that
@Clix Pix and
@Citysnaps were discussing Adobe products and may be able to answer that more concretely. However, I get the impression that the base M-chip in the 13”/15” Air and 14” Pro would be able to handle running most common photoshop tasks but I've heard that depending on your Photoshop utilization you might need 16GB of RAM. How much RAM you use in Photoshop is probably something you can check now with Activity Monitor. For Riven, given that its Steam page just says "Apple Silicon" for its system requirements I suspect it'll run on the base M3 just fine as well, probably fine on the 8GB of RAM. Overall I don't think you need the Max chip or even full M3 Pro on the 14"MBP - the base M3 on the Air/14" should be good enough and the cutdown M3 Pro on the 14" definitely good enough. However, the 16" comes with the full M3 Pro as its base model. So if that's the screen size you want you'll definitely get the performance you're after and then some.
I know in terms of size, the 14" Pro is smaller, but the screen quality is nicer. That said, the 15" Air is still lighter (marginally so compared to the base M3 14" and little more for the Pro/Max M3 14") and much lighter than the 16" MBP which has the biggest, nicest screen. Speaker quality is better on the MBPs. If you haven't already you should go to the store to pick them up and look at them to determine which you prefer. The Pro models, especially the 16", will also likely handle any heavy duty task with fans but if you aren't doing that very often the fanless, lighter 15" is probably better. It should be noted that the 16” MBP comes with the full M3 Pro and 18GB of a RAM as its base model which as I said would probably be more than enough for your needs but it is also the heaviest and most expensive ($2500) option listed here. The 15" Airs don't have the Pro chips at all but can upgrade their RAM from 8 ($1300) to 16 ($1500) to 24GB ($1700) - though the MBPs come with twice the hard drive space as base spec (256 vs 512). The 14" MBP can have the base M3 ($1600) and M3 Pro ($2000) chips. For my money I wouldn't get a base M3 14" MBP with 24GB ($2000), as for most people I would recommend going with the cutdown M3 Pro with 18GB for the same price. But the M3 14" MBP with 16GB ($1800) could save you some money relative to the Pro chip if you don't need the horsepower but do need the RAM. Also look to see which models have standard specs (e.g. a 15" Air with 16GB Ram and 512GB hard drive for $1700) rather than BTO because whenever Best Buy or Amazon has a sale those are the models they carry and will likely give you a discount. While I bought new this time around, my previous experience with Apple refurbished was excellent and I've heard that's generally the case. Another way to save some money and maybe getting the specs you want for a better price.
Depending on your timeline, M4 Macs are likely to be out by November. That said, it's not like we have an exact timeline, nor which models to expect - i.e. Apple could even choose the upgrade the desktops since they didn't get an M3 update. Further if you do decide that you want an Air, the Airs were just updated in the Spring and are unlikely to get updated to M4 until next year.
I hope this helps!
I still have my power book 540C, my silver 17 MBP & the Lombard is buried somewhere in my garage. None of them working though. I guess I’ll take them to an Apple store to see if they can erase & recycle them.
That's what I did.
CORRECTION: I initially miswrote that the 16" comes with the cutdown M3 Pro as its base, it comes with the full M3 Pro as its base.
