Apple MacBook Pro (14-inch, M5) review: Raising the performance bar with M5

Apple is back with another hardware refresh of the 14-inch MacBook Pro, this time with its new M5 system-on-a-chip. The M5 provides a healthy boost in CPU performance over the M4 found in last year’s base 14-inch MacBook Pro and a significant uplift in SSD performance.

Our review unit came equipped with a 1TB SSD and 32GB of RAM, but those are both pricey upgrade options for what is the entry point into the MacBook Pro family. With an as-tested price of $2,349, it’s an expensive purchase for a MacBook without a “Pro” or “Max” in its CPU name.

Design of the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. That seems to be Apple’s mantra regarding the current design of the MacBook Pro. Apple has been using this same chassis for multiple generations, save for some changes to the available colors (like Space Black replacing Space Gray).

The aluminum chassis is still attractive. Our review unit came cloaked in Space Black, which is a fingerprint magnet. The chassis is solid, with none of the flex that you’ll find in systems that use plastic or a combination of plastic and aluminum. The one niggle that I have with the design is the cutout in the keyboard deck that allows your finger to slide in and lift the lid. The corners on either side of the cutout are sharp and can poke your fingers/hand if you’re not careful.

With that said, you get quite a few ports on this laptop, including three Thunderbolt 4 ports, a full-size SDXC, HDMI 2.1, 3.5 mm audio jack and a MagSafe 3 connector. I’ve always been a fan of MagSafe and was happy to see it return when the current chassis design debuted back with the M1 Pro and Max chips.

Many people complain about the notch at the top-center of the display, which houses the Center Stage camera. It’s somewhat of an eyesore, but I’ve become used to it over time. The way it’s positioned, it sits in the space that is usually occupied by the Menu bar for apps, so I don’t feel like I’m being robbed of any additional screen real estate. Do I wish that Apple found a better way to integrate the webcam? Yes. Does the current iteration really encroach on the daily usability of the laptop for me? No.

The other item of note with our MacBook Pro review unit is that it has the nano-texture display option, which costs an additional $150. The screen coating reduces glare and helps to minimize reflections, which can be beneficial outdoors, or in indoor areas with bright light sources.

Our 14-inch MacBook review unit measures 12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches and weighs 3.4 pounds, which is identical to last year’s model with the M4.

Apple MacBook Pro Specifications (M5, 14-inch)

Productivity and Graphics Performance on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Our review unit is equipped with Apple’s newly released M5 processor, which is also found (for now) in the iPad Pro and Vision Pro. When used in the MacBook Pro, the M5 features 10 CPU cores (4 performance cores, 6 efficiency cores),10 GPU cores, and a 16-core NPU.

The new MacBook Pro had no trouble outdistancing the other assembled competition — 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4), Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition (Core Ultra 7 258V), Dell 16 Premium (Core Ultra 7 255H) — in every performance benchmark.

Apple consistently delivers anywhere from 10- to 20-percent improvements over the prior generation when it comes to CPU performance, and the M5 is no exception. Using the Geekbench 6 synthetic CPU benchmark, our system achieved a single-core score of 4,288, roughly a 10% boost over the preceding MacBook Pro with the M4 chip. The multi-core score saw an uplifting to 17,926 versus 15,114 on the M4 (just over an 18% uplift).

However, the CPU isn’t the only area that Apple decided to address when it comes to hardware upgrades. When Apple announced the M5 MacBook Pro, it boasted a 2x improvement in SSD speeds over the previous generation. In our file transfer test, which copies 25GB of data, we saw 1,917.35 MBps compared to 1,167.29 MBps for the M4 MacBook Pro (also with a 1TB SSD). It wasn’t quite a 2x improvement, but is still a remarkable year-over-year leap.

We also saw a significant improvement in our Handbrake test, where we transcode a 4K video file to 1080p. Last year’s 14-inch MacBook Pro (M4) completed the job in four minutes and 57 seconds. However, the new M5-equipped model finished nearly a minute and a half quicker, taking just three minutes and 31 seconds.

We use Cinebench 2024 to stress test laptops, and the benchmark estimates a single-core clock of 4.6 GHz and a multi-core clock of 3.5 GHz. During our 10-run test, the system started at 1,042 and then settled in the 1,100 to 1,128 range for the duration.

The M5 includes a 10-core GPU, which provides up a 4x improvement in peak GPU compute compared to the M4 thanks to the inclusion of a dedicated Neural Accelerator baked into each core. Overall graphicps performance is said to increase by up to 30 percent over the GPU in the M4.

In the real world, we saw 57 frames per second (FPS) at 1200p and 28 FPS at native resolution in Shadow of the Tomb Raider. For comparison last year’s M4-equipped system recorded 36 FPS and 18 FPS, respectively. In addition, our review unit managed 44 fps at 1200p and 31 fps at native resolution in Cyberpunk 2077 using the “For this Mac” setting.

Display on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Apple’s MacBook Pro family uses an IPS display with Mini LED backlighting. This is a noticeable upgrade from the entry-level MacBook Air, with its more traditional LED-backlit IPS display. The “Liquid Retina” display has a 3,024 x 1,964 resolution and a “ProMotion” refresh rate that maxes out at 120 Hz.

Although this Mini LED can’t quite touch the black level performance of competing OLED panels, it still a great looking display. The nano-texture display option, as configured on our review unit, is a great addition. My personal laptop is an older 14-inch MacBook Pro (M3) with the glossy screen finish. It’s incredible to see the two side by side to highlight the difference in reflection reduction.

I’m not a musical kind of guy by any means, but I went to the theater last year with my wife and thoroughly enjoyed Wicked. Naturally, I’m excited to see the sequel, so I watched the final trailer for Wicked: For Good. Pinks and green are prominent in the trailer and looked wonderful on the display, and the Mini LED panel performed well in the more dimly-lit scenes featuring the Wicked Witch and her flying monkeys.

Among the assembled group, our 14-inch MacBook Pro proved to be the brightest, as measured by our light meter. It pegged 558 nits, just barely edging out last year’s model (556.6 nits). This performance placed it well ahead of the Yoga 9i’s OLED panel (421 nits) and the Dell 16 Premium (367 nits).

Color performance was virtually unchanged compared to M4 MacBook Pro, which shows that Apple is likely using the same panels year-over-year. We measured 81.7 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and 115.4 percent of the sRGB color space. However, the Yoga 9i had more saturated colors, thanks to its OLED panel.

Keyboard and Touchpad on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

One of the great things about Apple being conservative with redesigns for the MacBook Pro is that the excellent keyboard remains intact. Among laptop keyboards, Apple and Lenovo remain my far and away favorites, and the scissor switches on the MacBook Pro are a delight to use. They’re clicky with just enough travel to satisfy my fingers, and are far superior to problematic butterfly switches that Apple thankfully banished.

Apple employs single-zone white LED backlighting, which turns on automatically in low-light conditions. If you want to manually control the keyboard backlighting, you can do so by navigating to System Settings –> Keyboard.

Using the keyhero.com test, I leisurely strolled to 91 words per minute with 95 percent accuracy, which was in the same ballpark as my performance last year with the 16-inch MacBook Pro (M4 Pro).

Another feature that I like on MacBooks is the large haptic trackpad, which simulates a physical “click.” The benefit of this design over traditional top-hinged trackpads that you find in Windows laptops is that the surface will register a click no matter where you press. The glass surface also is smooth to the touch, allowing my finger to easily glide when navigating through macOS Tahoe.

Audio on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

The sound system on our review unit hasn’t changed compared to last year, which is a good thing. The six-speaker setup is one of the best you’ll find on any laptop regardless of price, and includes support for Dolby Digital, Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus and Apple Spatial Audio.

It’s not often that I can comment on noticeable bass effects in a laptop sound system, but the is most definitely the case with the 14-inch MacBook Pro. I played Rainey Haynes’ “I’m Old Enough to Rock and Roll,” which is a jamming track from one of my favorite 80’s movies: Iron Eagle. The steady drum line, synths and Tina Turner-esque vocals soar on the sound system. Even with the volume dialed up to near max levels, I could barely discern distortion.

Upgradeability of the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Upgradeability and MacBooks don’t go together. While you can remove four pentalobe screws at the bottom of the chassis to remove the cover, it won’t do you any good when it comes other upgrading system components. The M5 SoC is a system-on-a-chip design with our review unit’s 32GB included on-die. The 1TB SSD is soldered onto the motherboard, so you’re out of luck there as well.

In other words, you’ll want to ensure that you have select enough RAM and storage that you’ll need for the life of the machine at the time of purchase. Unfortunately, the upgrades are pricey (far more than you would expect in the Windows PC realm), with an upgrade from 16GB to 32GB of RAM costing $400 and boosting the SSD from the base 512GB to 1TB ringing in at $200.

Battery Life on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Battery life has consistently been a strong point for the MacBook Pro in the Apple Silicon era, and the M5 continues that tradition.

Our 14-inch MacBook Pro unit is equipped with a 72.4 Whr battery, enough to deliver 18 hours and 14 minutes of runtime using our battery test, which involves browsing the web, running OpenGL tests, and streaming video at 150 nits of brightness. However, this result was 20 minutes less than last year’s MacBook Pro with the M4.

Despite the 20-minute shortfall compared to last year, the result easily bested the Dell 16 Premium by 2.5x (7:15) despite its larger 99 WHr battery. The Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition was also no match, with a runtime of 12 hours and 47 minutes.

Heat on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

We measured skin temperatures during our Cinebench 2024 stress test on the 14-inch MacBook Pro. As soon as the test began, the system fans spun into high gear to keep the system temperatures in check.

The hottest point measured was near the left exhaust vent at 108 degrees Fahrenheit, while we saw 104 F between the G and H keys. The touchpad was much cooler at 82.8 F. The system overall felt warm, but it was tolerable to sit on my lap while wearing shorts.

During the Cinebench 2024 stress test, we measured temperatures using the TG Pro app. The overall system temperature, which takes an average of several components (i.e., power supply, battery, SSD, logic board, etc.) was 73 degrees Celsius (163 degrees Fahrenheit). The M5 itself registered 87 degrees C (188 F).

Webcam on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

Like last year’s mode, the new M5 uses a 12MP Center Stage camera. Image quality looked impeccable, with good detail in my face (wrinkles, grey hairs in my beard, and everything else), and excellent color representation. I used the camera while sitting on a couch with a brightly lit window behind me, and the picture still looked great without blowing out details or causing halo effects.

The Center Stage feature keeps your face centered in the frame during calls, should you move around in your seat. It’s a neat feature, but I prefer to leave the feature off — sometimes I just want to briefly duck out of frame to sneeze, and not everybody on a call needs to see that.

Software on the Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch)

The big change with macOS 26 Tahoe is the addition of the “Liquid Glass” makeover, a design language that it shares with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. This an overabundant use of translucent menus and icons, which reflect displayed content in real time. Liquid Glass has been controversial since it was first announced at WWDC, and Apple tweaked the effect during the beta period to appease the naysayers. Now that Liquid Glass is in its final form, I’m mostly OK with how it looks, mainly because its reach in macOS Tahoe isn’t as broad as it is in iOS or iPadOS.

Besides the fresh coat of paint for the UI, macOS Tahoe brings features like Live Translation for the Messages app and FaceTime, Live Activities for Mac, a refresh Phone app, Call Screening, more intelligent search Spotlight, and a universal clipboard (with history).

Apple Intelligence was a prominent new feature Apple announced last year for macOS Sequoia, but most of the headlining features involving Siri never materialized. Apple took a lot of flak for overpromising and underdelivering, and expect the previously announced Siri features to debut sometime next year. With that said, Apple stayed relatively mum about Apple Intelligence updates for macOS Tahoe.

With that said, macOS continues to be a well-rounded operating system with a slew of Apple-provided apps out of the box. One of my favorites is iPhone Mirroring, which allows you full access to your iPhone’s screen from your macOS Tahoe desktop. It especially comes in handy when I need to perform two-factor authentication verification with my phone, and my phone is in another room or I’m too lazy to dig it out of my pocket.

Apple MacBook Pro (M5, 14-inch) Configurations and Warranty

Apple offers three preconfigured options for the M5 MacBook Pro, all of which feature the M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU. The base system features 16GB of unified memory and a 512GB SSD for $1,599. The middle tier includes a 1TB SSD for an additional $200 ($1,799). The top configuration gives you 24GB of unified memory and a 1TB SSD for $1,999.

However, Apple also offers built-to-order configuration that allow you to further tweak the system to your specific needs. Our review unit came with 32GB of unified memory, a 1TB SSD, and the nano-texture display option, which brought the as-tested price to $2,349. That’s quite pricey for an entry-level MacBook Pro with Apple’s base-level chip.

If you want an M5 MacBook Pro with all the trimmings, opting for 32GB of RAM, a 4TB SSD, the nano-texture display option and the 96W USB-C power adapter balloons the price to $3,369.

Apple’s MacBook Pro comes with a one-year warranty. You can opt for Apple’s extended warranty, Apple Care Plus, which costs $99.99/year or $9.99/month. The coverage adds unlimited repairs covering accidents, 24/7 priority tech support, and battery replacement.

Bottom Line

Not only did Apple increase CPU performance for the 14-inch MacBook Pro this year with the brawny new M5, but it also delivered a healthy uplift in SSD performance. Despite the performance increases, battery life remains within the margin of error with last year’s model at over 18 hours.

The performance is wrapped in a high-quality chassis with plenty of ports for pro users, although the Space Black finish remains susceptible to fingerprints. Our usual complaints about Apple laptops remain, including the high price of SSD and memory upgrades.

I’ll add one more: the lack of Wi-Fi 7. I find it odd that a laptop starting at $1,599 doesn’t include Wi-Fi 7 as standard equipment, and this is made even more puzzling considering that Apple’s excellent N1 Wi-Fi chip is available already in the iPhone 17/Air/Pro and the new iPad Pro (M5). Both the Dell and Lenovo assembled here include Wi-Fi 7. While we reviewed the Dell 16 Premium and used it as a competitor here, the Dell 14 Premium, which aligns more closely with the 14-inch MacBook Pro in terms of size, includes Wi-Fi 7 standard in its base $1,249 configuration.

Speaking of the Dell 14 Premium, it is a worthy alternative to the 14-inch MacBook Pro. You can spec one out with a Core Ultra 7 255H, 32GB LPDDR5X, a 1TB SSD and a 14.5-inch 3.2K touch OLED for $1,949, undercutting Apple’s offering, as-tested, by $400.

If you already have a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip, I would recommend you sit this one out. However, if you’re coming from a much older M1 or M2 version, the performance gains are hard to ignore.

With that said, at its base price of $1,599 with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is a strong productivity workhorse. But once pricing starts cresting the $2,000 mark with hardware upgrades, the value proposition starts to wane.