M5 MacBook Pro First Impressions
Apple's updated 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro launched today, and we picked one up to compare it to the prior-generation M4 model to see how performance has changed year over year.
The
M4 MacBook Pro and the M5 MacBook Pro models are identical, and there are no changes to the design. Everything new is inside, and even that's limited.
There's an M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU inside, and it's built on a newer 3-nanometer technology than the equivalent M4 chip in the prior-generation machine.
On Geekbench 6 tests, the M5 MacBook Pro earned a single-core score of 4220 and a multi-core score of 16781, while the M4 MacBook Pro earned a single-core score of 3834 and a multi-core score of 15453. Apple says that M5 CPU speeds are up to 15 percent faster than M4 speeds.
As for the GPU, the M5 earned an OpenCL score of 48101 and a Metal score of 75536, while the M4 earned a score of 38023 and a Metal Score of 57822. Apple says that GPU speeds are up to 30 percent faster.
SSD speeds have also improved, and Apple says it's up to 2x faster. That proved to be correct in our Blackmagic disk speed tests.
In day to day use, you're not going to see much of a difference between the M4 and the M5 unless you're doing something that maxes out the chip like video editing or 3D rendering. Even then, it's a modest improvement.
There's no reason to upgrade to the M5 from the M4, but if you have an older M-series MacBook Pro or even an Intel machine, the performance improvement with the M5 will be night and day.
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