- M1 Max still offers higher GPU power and memory bandwidth than the M5
- M5 focuses on efficiency, AI performance and power savings over raw performance
- Upgrade choice depends on workload battery priorities and creative needs
Owners of Mac Studio and MacBook Pro systems running on Apple’s M1 Max processor might be pondering the question every power user eventually asks: Is your machine still working, or is it time to move on to a new device?
Apple’s shift from the high-performance M1 Max, which launched in October 2021 alongside the M1 Pro chip, to the efficiency-oriented M5 that launched last week, shows how much things have changed in just a few years.
On paper, the M5 offers a modern design and better power efficiency, but its hardware serves a very different purpose, and not all Mac owners will care.
Inside Apple Silicon: Part 3 of a five-part series on M-class processors
This article is the third in a five-part series delving into Apple’s M-class processors, from the first M1s to the recently announced M5 and our projected M5 Ultra. Each piece will explore how Apple silicon has evolved in architecture, performance, and design philosophy, and what those changes could mean for the company’s future hardware.
the comparison
The M1 Max, which arrived a year after the original M1, was designed for sustained, high-performance workloads. It features 10 CPU cores and a 32-core GPU, along with 400 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
The M5 chip, which debuted in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the new iPad Pro, and an updated Apple Vision Pro, has up to ten cores divided between four for performance and six for efficiency. (There are actually two versions of the M5: the 256GB and 512GB iPad Pro models use a nine-core CPU with three performance cores.)
Its GPU count is reduced to 10 cores, with a memory bandwidth of 153 GB/s, less than half that of the M1 Max.
That reduction reflects Apple’s broader trend toward lower thermal temperatures and better output per watt rather than peak performance.
The M5’s estimated 25W system consumption makes it an attractive option for compact fanless designs, ideal for MacBooks and iPads, but it has its drawbacks.
Graphics-intensive tasks such as 3D rendering or machine learning will continue to favor the M1 Max, which maintains a raw shading advantage that current efficiency improvements cannot fully offset.
In CPU benchmarks, the M5 closes the gap with better single-threaded performance, benefiting everyday workloads and light creative tasks.
Its estimated multi-core score of around 17,865 beats the M1 Max’s 13,188, showing Apple’s continued optimization of its performance-per-core ratio.
For those who primarily work on web applications or coding, the M5 responds best in short bursts.
Memory bandwidth provides the clearest difference between the two chips. The M1 Max’s 400GB/s pipeline was built to handle multiple high-resolution video streams and large texture data. The M5’s 153GB/s max limit limits its capability for those scenarios.
Tasks that benefit from unified memory performance, such as Final Cut Pro exports or multi-layered Photoshop projects, will likely still run faster on the older chip when paired with similar storage configurations.
The energy efficiency and integration of the M5 are its main strengths. With an improved neural engine that reaches approximately 133 trillion operations per second, it surpasses the M1 Max’s 11 TOPS unit by a wide margin.
This benefits AI tasks on the device, including live transcription and photo enhancement, areas where the older chip’s architecture would be expected to show its age.
M5 maximum?
Therefore, Mac users’ choice depends less on age and more on purpose. The M5 offers a cooler, quieter and more balanced experience, especially on thin and light systems, but the M1 Max continues to offer unmatched GPU headroom for creative professionals.
For users looking for speed in sustained workloads, the older chip still maintains its advantage. For those looking for longer battery life, silence, and AI acceleration, the M5 is the clear winner.
That said, a true comparable comparison (apples to apples, so to speak) could emerge with the eventual M5 Max, which could appear within a year or two.
According to estimates from Google Gemini (which also predicted the specs of an M5 Ultra), the chip could include a 32-core GPU, 550 GB/s of memory bandwidth, an estimated multi-core score of around 28,555, and a Metal score close to 200,696, combining the raw performance of the M1 Max with the improved efficiency of the latest generation of Apple silicon.
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