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Word on the street is that Apple is working on a dramatic redesign of the MacBook Pro. There are whispers of a thinner, lighter design; a new OLED display; and possibly touch controls. Some believe it will arrive at the end of this year, so why is Apple releasing new versions of the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros now? They have new chips, that\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s cut to the chase. The new M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros that Apple announced last month are spec-bump updates. The laptops themselves are largely unchanged, which means they retain their fantastic Liquid Retina XDR displays, Thunderbolt 5 ports, SD card readers, and more.\u00a0The significant changes are under the hood, which you can\u2019t see, and they\u00a0are\u00a0the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, better connectivity, and\u00a0faster storage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nArticle jumplist<\/p>\n
<\/default:svg><\/button><\/p>\n\n1. Introducing M5 Pro and M5 Max<\/li>\n 2. Faster storage and connectivity<\/li>\n 3. Performance benchmarks<\/li>\n 4. Final thoughts and buying advice<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/section>\nIntroducing M5 Pro and M5 Max<\/h2>\n\nMeet Apple\u2019s new chips, the M5 Pro and M5 Max.<\/p>\n
Photo: Apple<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
One key reason\u00a0why\u00a0you might want this MacBook Pro is\u00a0because\u00a0of Apple\u2019s new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.\u00a0These are vastly different chips from their predecessors because they are built using a new architecture and they possess a new type of core.<\/p>\n
To start, the M5 Pro and Max chips are built using Apple\u2019s new Fusion Architecture<\/b>. To put it briefly, Apple is connecting two heterogeneous dies using a low-latency, high-bandwidth die-to-die interconnect to form a single SoC.\u00a0Crucially, this\u00a0allows\u00a0Apple to improve multi-threaded CPU performance and enhance GPU performance in a\u00a0way that is\u00a0scalable and efficient.\u00a0If this sounds familiar, it\u2019s because both Intel and AMD use a similar approach that they call \u201cchiplet architecture\u201d.<\/p>\n\nThe display uses a mini-LED panel and looks fantastic. This has the nano-texture finish, which is quite effective at reducing reflection and glare.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
With these chips, Apple is also changing the nomenclature of its cores and introducing a new type of core. What used to be known as performance cores are now called super cores, and in\u00a0its\u00a0place is an all-new type of performance core.\u00a0This new performance core is built using a unique microarchitecture designed\u00a0for delivering great\u00a0multi-threaded performance<\/b>,\u00a0while maintaining\u00a0low-power\u00a0consumption for\u00a0lightly-threaded\u00a0workloads.\u00a0The goal is to enhance the multi-threaded performance of the M5 Pro and Max chips.<\/p>\n
On the subject of cores, it\u2019s interesting to see that Apple has changed up the core configuration of the M5 Pro and M5 Max.\u00a0These new chips have a lower number of higher-performance super cores, but\u00a0make up\u00a0for\u00a0it\u00a0with more performance cores.\u00a0The M4 Pro and Max, on the other hand, prioritise the higher-performance performance cores over efficiency cores. What\u2019s also worth pointing out is that the top version of the M5 Pro has the same CPU core configuration as the M5 Max<\/b>. This way, you\u00a0are not losing\u00a0out on CPU performance at all if you opt for an M5 Pro. They differ only in GPU core count \u2013 the M5 Max has more GPU cores.<\/p>\n
Take a look at the table below:<\/p>\n
\n
\n\n\n\nChip<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\nCPU cores<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\nGPU cores<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\nMemory bandwidth<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM5 Pro<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n15 (5 super, 10 performance)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n16<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n307GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM5 Pro<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n18 (6 super, 12 performance)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n307GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM5 Max<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n18 (6 super, 12 performance)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n32<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n460GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM5 Max<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n18 (6 super, 12 performance)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n614GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM4 Pro<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n12 (8 performance, 4 efficiency)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n16<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n273GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM4 Pro<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n14 (10 performance, 4 efficiency)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n20<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n273GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM4 Max<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n14 (10 performance, 4 efficiency)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n32<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n410GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n\nM4 Max<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n16 (12 performance, 4 efficiency)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n40<\/p>\n<\/td>\n
\n546GB\/s<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
These chips also feature higher memory support, greater memory bandwidth, and faster storage. The M5 Pro now supports up to 64GB of unified memory (up to 48GB) and has a maximum memory bandwidth of 307GB\/s<\/b> (up from 273GB\/s).\u00a0And as for the M5 Max, it still supports a maximum memory of 128GB, but maximum bandwidth is now\u00a0up to a whopping 614GB\/s<\/b> (up from 546GB\/s.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, you can see that the M5 Pro and Max chips are more than just mere updates over the M4 Pro and Max. Apple has carefully redesigned them to better meet the needs of its users. To know more about the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, I urge you to read my interview with Apple below.<\/p>\n
Faster storage and connectivity<\/h2>\n\nThese MacBook Pros have three USB-C ports and they all support Thunderbolt 5.<\/p>\n
Photo: HWZ<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Thanks to a new custom storage controller and firmware, the M5 Pro and Max MacBook\u00a0Pros\u00a0now\u00a0have\u00a0even faster storage.\u00a0The SSDs in them now have read and write speeds of up to 14.5GB\/s.\u00a0I ran tests using Blackmagic\u2019s storage benchmark utility and\u00a0managed\u00a0around\u00a012.5GB\/s on the\u00a0read and write tests<\/b>, which is twice as fast as the old M4 Max MacBook Pro.\u00a0One thing to note is that my M5 Pro and M4 Max MacBook Pros both came with 4TB of storage.<\/p>\n
Connectivity has been improved,\u00a0too, because\u00a0these laptops\u00a0get\u00a0Apple\u2019s N1 custom networking chip.\u00a0This means support for both Bluetooth 6 and Wi-Fi 7. This means a maximum wireless data transfer rate of up to 2.4GB\/s as long as you pair it with a compatible Wi-Fi 7 router. This is great because the lack of Wi-Fi 7 support was something that was lacking in the last MacBook Pros.<\/p>\n