- Apple has officially announced the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro
- It is among the first Apple products with M5 chip with the iPad Pro M5
- However, we will have to wait longer for the M5 Pro and M5 Max versions.
Apple followed up yesterday’s not-so-subtle teaser and officially announced its new 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro, one of the first products to feature its latest version of Apple Silicon, along with the new M5 iPad Pro.
The main update to the new MacBook Pro is the new M5 chip, which promises to increase speed, performance and efficiency. But unlike last year’s M4 MacBook Pro, there’s only one 14-inch M5 model so far; It seems that we will have to wait a little longer for the more powerful M5 Pro and M5 Max versions for the 16-inch model, which currently still has the M4 Pro and M4 Max.
You can pre-order the M5 MacBook Pro starting today, with prices starting at $1,599 / £1,599 / $2,499 before shipping on October 22. Wondering if you should buy one? Here’s what’s new, in addition to our initial spec-based verdict.
1. Apple’s new M5 chip debuts
Apple’s new M5 chip takes over from its M4 series, which arrived last year (the M4 in May 2024 and the M4 Pro and M4 Max in October 2024).
Naturally, the M5 is expected to be a decent step up from the M4, if not a huge leap. An iPad Pro M5 leak previously hinted at a 12% increase in single-core performance and around a 15% improvement in multi-core performance.
In reality, Apple is particularly touting improvements in AI tasks, claiming to get AI performance up to 3.5 times faster than the M4 chip and up to 6 times faster than the M1. That’s all thanks to a next-generation 10-core GPU that apparently has a neural accelerator in each core.
For specific scenarios, Apple says the M5 MacBook Pro delivers 7.7x faster AI video enhancement performance in Topaz Video compared to an M1 model, or 1.8x faster than the M4 version. In other words, the step forward compared to an M1 will be very noticeable, but it will be minor compared to the previous MacBook Pro.
2. There is now a 4TB option
Another new spec in this relatively minor update is that SSD performance will apparently be twice as fast as the M4 model, which Apple says means you can “load a local LLM faster.”
You can also spec a version of the M5 MacBook Pro with a 4TB SSD, but it will inevitably cost you – adding an extra $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$1,500 to the price. Oh.
Previously, that option was only available on the M4 Pro chip, but now owners of the base M5 MacBook Pro can also break the bank.
3. Otherwise, the design is practically the same.
As rumors predicted, the M5 MacBook Pro is physically a virtually identical beast to the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro.
That’s not a bad thing: We gave that laptop’s design full marks in our review, saying that it “looks and feels like it was carved from a couple pieces of 100% recycled black aluminum” and that “nothing feels or functions like it was left to chance.”
As before, it weighs 3.4 pounds / 1.55 kg, which means it’s not as light as the MacBook Air, but it’s still very portable. The ports are also the same, meaning it has an HDMI output, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, an SD card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
It also has the same Liquid Retina While that screen is great on its own, we called the nanotexture coating a “transformative technology” in our M4 MacBook Pro review.
4. The price is identical to that of the M4 model.
We feared a slight price increase for the M5 MacBook Pro, but fortunately, all versions cost the same as before, as you can see below.
The only differences are the optional extras; For example, you can now get a 4TB version for an extra $1,000/£1,000/AU$1,500. Naturally, that base price can increase quickly once you’ve added additional unified memory and more…
| Row 0 – Cell 0 |
14-inch M5 MacBook Pro |
14-inch M4 MacBook Pro |
|
16GB unified memory / 512GB storage |
$1,599 / £1,599 / $2,499 |
$1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,499 |
|
16 GB unified memory / 1 TB storage |
$1,799 / £1,799 / AU$2,799 |
$1,799 / £1,799 / AU$2,799 |
|
24 GB unified memory / 1 TB storage |
$1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,099 |
$1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,099 |
5. You can book it now
If you’ve been waiting to jump on an M5 MacBook Pro, you can pre-order it right now from the Apple Store.
Apple says it will arrive with customers starting next Wednesday, October 22, so you’ll only have to wait a week if it arrives early.
Should you buy one?
This is clearly a relatively minor upgrade for the MacBook Pro, but it’s still a very attractive option for creatives that is sure to upset the upper echelons of our best laptops guide.
Whether you should book one or not depends on your current situation. If, like me, you’re struggling with an older Intel-powered MacBook Pro whose days are numbered, it’s certainly shaping up to be a very solid purchase, especially if you regularly perform AI-powered tasks like video or photo editing.
However, if you already have an M-series MacBook Pro, or prefer lighter options like the MacBook Air, it might be worth the wait for a couple of reasons. Firstly, early M6 MacBook Pro rumors suggest the model could be a major upgrade, with an OLED display (possibly even with touchscreen capabilities), a slimmer design, and of course, M6 chips made on the smaller 2nm process.
Additionally, a recently leaked Apple Mac roadmap suggests we’re likely to get the updated 13-inch and 15-inch M5 MacBook Air in early 2026. These are just rumors at this stage, of course, but it’s food for thought if you’re on the MacBook Pro M5 pre-order button. Decisions, decisions…
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