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M5 or M4 pro?

maflynn said:
The m5 gives you more storage, superior CPU and GPU, why wouldn't you go with the M5?
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Not sure the M5 will have better GPU scores. Based on leaked Russian tests on an M5 iPad, projections of some reviewers are that M4 Pro Macbook would still have better GPU scores than the M5 (Geekbench 6 Metal: 99K vs 75K on the binned iPad M5).
 
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Andre YUL said:
Not sure the M5 will have better GPU scores.
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The M5 absolutely will faster, apple is stating 1.6 fps performance in some games (they also state other improvements - I recommend going there). @leman dertails the GPU changes below, he's a member who has a lot of technical knowledge in these sort of things and from what you cans see there's significant upgrades of the GPU

leman said:
The changes to the GPU in M5 are in fact quite substantial:

- A second FP16 pipe for doubled FP16 compute (used for lighting calculations, but the game needs to be optimized for it)
- Doubled the integer multiplication performance (can be occasionally useful)
- Doubled the special function performance (exp/log — useful for advanced shading)
- Yet unknown changes to shader memory management, will likely improve occupancy
- More memory bandwidth, larger caches
- Maybe: a second FP32 add pipe for improved mixed FP32 calculations (haven't properly investigated this yet)
- Maybe: additional stuff like improved memory compression etc...
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If you plan to stress the CPU/GPU cores a lot, it may be worth getting the Pro chip for the extra performance cores and the extra fan, if you care about fan noise.
The base M4 MBP has only one fan, while the M4 Pro MBP has 2 fans. The one fan is louder than the 2 fans, when stressed, because it needs to be ramped up at higher rpm.

The base M5 MBP will likely also have one fan, but we will know for sure in a day or two.
 
Macintosh1984 said:
If I read correctly, the M4 Pro is inferior to the M5 only in terms of its single core and a few hours of battery life, but otherwise it's superior in every way. Or did I miss some other detail?
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I wouldn't even go that far. Looking at the Geekbench browser results, the M4 Pro's 3871 is not all that far behind the M5s 4263. In multi-core performance, the 17,862 scored by the M5 is not even close to an M4 Pro's 22570. While the base M5 will be better in tasks that do not use multiple threads, most applications that do run multiple threads (e.g. Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Final Cut, etc.) will have noticeably better performance on an M4 Pro system.

Looking over my saved Geekbench results, my current machine (M4 Pro) is around 45-50% faster than the M2 Max system it replaced (2664 vs 3861 single-core, 14980 vs 22570 multi-core). That is a far more significant jump in performance than anything we have seen from the M5 so far, and likely why Apple is targeting Intel and M1 users with this update.
 
dmccloud said:
I wouldn't even go that far. Looking at the Geekbench browser results, the M4 Pro's 3871 is not all that far behind the M5s 4263. In multi-core performance, the 17,862 scored by the M5 is not even close to an M4 Pro's 22570. While the base M5 will be better in tasks that do not use multiple threads, most applications that do run multiple threads (e.g. Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Final Cut, etc.) will have noticeably better performance on an M4 Pro system.

Looking over my saved Geekbench results, my current machine (M4 Pro) is around 45-50% faster than the M2 Max system it replaced (2664 vs 3861 single-core, 14980 vs 22570 multi-core). That is a far more significant jump in performance than anything we have seen from the M5 so far, and likely why Apple is targeting Intel and M1 users with this update.
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There's no doubt that the M5 is a great speed bump compared to the M4, especially on the GPU side. I'm certainly disappointed by the TB4, no OLED, but it's not bad.

I'm considering the M4 Pro, though, for its power in Multi-Core and Metal, but especially for the dual-fan dissipation system. It might be a fair price to pay for a machine that will last a little longer over the years.

It's clear that everyone has different needs, but the performance figures are irrefutable.

It's clear that when the M5 Pro comes out, it will be superior to the M4 Pro, but who knows how long it will take for the price to drop.
 
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Get the cheapest one and upgrade the RAM and SSD. Both are going to do video editing without any issue, you could go back and get an M1 Pro and up and not have any trouble with video editing.
 
Macintosh1984 said:
There's no doubt that the M5 is a great speed bump compared to the M4, especially on the GPU side. I'm certainly disappointed by the TB4, no OLED, but it's not bad.

I'm considering the M4 Pro, though, for its power in Multi-Core and Metal, but especially for the dual-fan dissipation system. It might be a fair price to pay for a machine that will last a little longer over the years.

It's clear that everyone has different needs, but the performance figures are irrefutable.

It's clear that when the M5 Pro comes out, it will be superior to the M4 Pro, but who knows how long it will take for the price to drop.
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Just upgraded my wife’s 10 year old MacBook Air to M4 Pro MacBook Pro. In the end I chose it over the M5 chip but I myself will wait for the M5 max, currently still using the last Intel based MacBook Pro.
 
tom2517 said:
Just upgraded my wife’s 10 year old MacBook Air to M4 Pro MacBook Pro. In the end I chose it over the M5 chip but I myself will wait for the M5 max, currently still using the last Intel based MacBook Pro.
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What motivated your choice for your wife's laptop?
 
wonderings said:
Get the cheapest one and upgrade the RAM and SSD. Both are going to do video editing without any issue, you could go back and get an M1 Pro and up and not have any trouble with video editing.
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It's pretty close in price. That's the dilemma. The M5 comes with less RAM. Once you bump it up to 24MB, the price gets close to the M4 Pro, especially since a sale on the M4 Pro is easier to find than a sale on the M5.
 
Andre YUL said:
It's pretty close in price. That's the dilemma. The M5 comes with less RAM. Once you bump it up to 24MB, the price gets close to the M4 Pro, especially since a sale on the M4 Pro is easier to find than a sale on the M5.
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Go with the cheapest option that has the ram and hard drive specs you need is what I would suggest.
 
wonderings said:
Go with the cheapest option that has the ram and hard drive specs you need is what I would suggest.
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I prefer getting the most computer that you can afford, I found that out by buying a M4 Pro mini and it was unable to play the games that I'm interested in. There's something to be said, about getting the best CPU/GPU that you can afford
 
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Decision is made. Keeping the Macbook w/M4 Pro chip bought on sale (15% off) and not getting the M5.

There is no bad choice here. Either would work fine for my daughter. For some AI, battery life and years of support, M5 might have been better. According to some reviews, M5 apparently runs a bit hotter than base M4 and, the base M5 has only one fan - if she eventually works on larger projects the M4 Pro with its 2 fans may have less thermal issues and be more silent. Heat can also be the enemy of durability. On most benchmarks I've seen, the M4 Pro is still faster than the base M5. M5 has faster single-core than the M4 Pro, but the difference is small and I don't think she'd notice. Thunderbolt 5 of the M4 Pro vs the 4 of the M5 is not a benefit for now, but may become relevant in a few years.

Increasing the memory of the M5 to match the 24MB is what moved the price up to almost the same as the M4 Pro on sale. I suppose that if the RAM is not relevant to you, that might tip the scales toward the M5 and you might either pay less or use that price difference to buy more storage instead, as the OP suggests.
 
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Andre YUL said:
Similar choice as the OP for my daughter, but with the same HD and 24GB on both. She's a student and will be doing smaller projects in Vectorworks and Autocad. Either would do according to the professor, but which would be best? I have 7 days to return the 14" 12-Core M4 Pro to Amazon.

BTW, I know the base M5 has Thunderbolt 4, while the M4 Pro has Thunderbolt 5. How about the fans? M4 Pro is dual fan. Does the base M5 have only one fan like the base M4? Thanks.
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Yea, the M5 is single fan like the M3 /M4.
 
GusMacker said:
I'm starting a new job that will require a substantial amount of video editing and need to upgrade my laptop now. Budget is a factor, and I am choosing between the new 14" M5 Macbook Pro (upgrading memory to 24GB and storage to 1TB) for $1999 or the 14" M4 Pro Macbook Pro base model (24 GB memory, 512 TB storage) for the same price. What do y'all think?
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If you are willing to do Apple Refurbished, the M4P MBP14 is $1,700.
 
Andre YUL said:
What motivated your choice for your wife's laptop?
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I thought about upgrading my wife’s old air to the newer air, but I no longer log my intel i9 MacBook Pro around anymore on trips, and the battery deteriorated to the point it can only be used with AC power plugged in. So I decided to go for the 14 MacBook Pro instead of the newer Air for both of us to use away from home while I wait to upgrade my own.
 
I had the same doubts as you. I chose the M5 simply because my main machine is a Mac Studio with an M2 Ultra, and I needed a portable, powerful, and super-efficient laptop. The M4 Pro seems to drain significantly more battery.

I’m replacing both my laptops (a 16" MacBook Pro with M1 Max and an M2 MacBook Air), and I think the M5 is the perfect balanced option.
 
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Personally I would go foir the M5. Max Tech has done its review and while the M4 Pro has great results the battery consumption at the end is no brainer. M5 all the way.

 
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tim@ipad said:
Personally I would go foir the M5. Max Tech has done its review and while the M4 Pro has great results the battery consumption at the end is no brainer. M5 all the way.

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This is also the reason I chose the M5..more power doesn’t always mean better..I’d rather wait a little bit more for an export than having a worse battery life. Efficient laptops have always fascinated me, more than powerful ones
 
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tim@ipad said:
Personally I would go foir the M5. Max Tech has done its review and while the M4 Pro has great results the battery consumption at the end is no brainer. M5 all the way.

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While the M5 is definitely a solid improvement over the base M4 as well as almost all M1-M3 SoCs, the battery life is a bit of a red herring when comparing a base SoC to a Pro SoC. The latter has more CPU and GPU cores, along with higher memory bandwidth. The kicker is the max power draw is significantly higher with Pro and Max variants, which will have a direct impact on battery life when being run under load for extended periods of time.
 
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C0re0 said:
What about the combination new MBP M5 plus Apple Studio Display / Display 2 (if it is really coming in 2026)? I think this would be the superior choice compared to a Mac mini plus ASD. You get (best of) both worlds - a nice desktop setup mit MBP in clampshell mode while also being mobile.

Other choice: The apple refurbished store no shows up with a Mac Studio M4Max (base configuration) for less than 2.000 EUR; Yes, probably overkill since I m not a pro video cutter and/or Foto professional. But the Mac Studio would more or less same price range as the aforementioned combinations.

As said, use case is I m starting getting into foto editing and maybe casual gaming. Any thoughts?
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My MacBook Pro M5 14" can't connect to an external monitor. No output signals. Previous models could. Don't know what is wrong with it. Maybe you will have a better luck using Apple's monitor.
 
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I was leaning heavily to M4 Pro chips advantages. But this is was an eye opening test. Especially since I want it for video editing, M5 seems to be the winner. It exports faster with less battery usage and disk is faster so simple everyday things will be faster.

But then M4 has thunderbolt 5 , which lets you edit right of an external drive with no slow downs plus more ram 48gb and 2 fan for extreme cases.

I am torn between them.

O
 
Jmac_ said:
I was leaning heavily to M4 Pro chips advantages. But this is was an eye opening test. Especially since I want it for video editing, M5 seems to be the winner. It exports faster with less battery usage and disk is faster so simple everyday things will be faster.

But then M4 has thunderbolt 5 , which lets you edit right of an external drive with no slow downs plus more ram 48gb and 2 fan for extreme cases.

I am torn between them.

O
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Thunderbolt 5 is heavily overkill in my opinion.. Thunderbolt 4 is more than enough for editing, with speeds around 2,800 - 3,000 MB/s. I mean, you can easily edit 12K RAW footage at that speed..
 
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fpenta said:
Thunderbolt 5 is heavily overkill in my opinion.. Thunderbolt 4 is more than enough for editing, with speeds around 2,800 - 3,000 MB/s. I mean, you can easily edit 12K RAW footage at that speed..
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You are absolutetly right, after googling even 6K is fine editing on thunderbolt 4 connection. I need to remind myself that people were doing editing mini movie style on way less powerful machines just 2 or 3 years ago.
I Have watched that Max video like 3 time, it is one of the video that made reconsider if should instead go for M5 instead of M4 Pro as i planned . Especially since my main goal video editing. M5 won on some important tests like video editing, battery, ssd he still recommended M4 Pro for the multicore performance. But that wasnt fully fair test , since M5 was limited by 16 GB and M4 had 24 Gb.

I am maxing out the ram on whichever i get. Even thou M5 ram is actually more expensive per GB. You think only 1 fan will be an issue long term on the M5 for exporting longer videos ? Any experience with 1 fan ?
 
Jmac_ said:
You are absolutetly right, after googling even 6K is fine editing on thunderbolt 4 connection. I need to remind myself that people were doing editing mini movie style on way less powerful machines just 2 or 3 years ago.
I Have watched that Max video like 3 time, it is one of the video that made reconsider if should instead go for M5 instead of M4 Pro as i planned . Especially since my main goal video editing. M5 won on some important tests like video editing, battery, ssd he still recommended M4 Pro for the multicore performance. But that wasnt fully fair test , since M5 was limited by 16 GB and M4 had 24 Gb.

I am maxing out the ram on whichever i get. Even thou M5 ram is actually more expensive per GB. You think only 1 fan will be an issue long term on the M5 for exporting longer videos ? Any experience with 1 fan ?
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My reasoning for going with the M5 instead of the M4 Pro:

- I already have a Mac Studio M2 Ultra as my main desktop, so I don’t really need top-tier performance in a laptop. I’d rather have better battery life, and bigger storage.

- In Europe, the M4 Pro costs €500 more for the same storage, so that alone doesn’t make it worth it and for roughly the same price, the M5 gives me 1 TB instead of 512 GB.

- The M5 is about 1.5 years newer than the M4 Pro, which is a big deal in the computer world..better efficiency, and more longevity in software support.

- It’s actually the biggest generational jump in Apple Silicon since 2021. Performance differences are small, but in some workloads the M5 even surpasses the M4 Pro.

- The encoder has been completely redesigned for the first time, it’s faster and more efficient for video editing, with better support for newer codecs.

- Battery life is clearly superior. Reviews show several extra hours of use compared to the M4 Pro.

- Thermals are improved..the M5 runs slightly cooler even with only one fan, while the M4 Pro tends to get just as hot (or hotter) with two fans. This means it’s simply a more efficient chip overall, delivering similar performance with less power. That's a strong point in my opinion

- The SSD is about twice as fast, which helps a lot when macOS starts using swap memory or during large file operations.

- Thunderbolt 5 is absolutely useless. We haven’t even reached the full potential of TB4 yet, so I’m not sure how we could really benefit from TB5.

Most reviews compare the 16 GB configs, not the 24 GB or 32 GB ones, so it’s not really a fair comparison...yet the M5 still performs amazingly well.

The M5 Pro will obviously outperform the M5 and M4 Pro, but if it keeps the same configuration options as the M4 Pro, there won’t be any 32 GB variant...only 24 GB or 48 GB if you go for the M5 Max, which adds quite a lot of cost. Or maybe the M5 Pro could start from 32 GB, but since the M4 already had 16 GB as the base option (just like the M5 now), I think they’ll probably keep the same base RAM sizes for the next generation. Apple has always been quite stingy when it comes to RAM.
 
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