MacBook Pro M5 review: Serious power, yet long battery life laptop

AApple’s Macs are moving faster this year Brand new budget MacBook Neo and a faster macbook air m5But now it’s time to upgrade its workhorse MacBook Pro with the fastest, most powerful M-series chips.

The latest MacBook Pro comes in two screen sizes and a huge range of chip and configuration options. Pricing for the 14in version with the M5 chip starts at £1,699 (€1,899/$1,699/A$2,699) and then moves up to the more powerful M5 Pro at £2,199 (€2,499/$2,199/A$3,499) before moving up to the 16in version or the top M5 Max chip. An expensive machine for professional workloads.

The laptop’s three chip versions create three tiers of machines: The M5 is for those who need roughly the performance of a MacBook Air, but want the Pro model’s brighter screen, extra ports, and other features.

The M5 Pro Edition is the laptop most MacBook Pro buyers should consider, offering significantly better performance for demanding workloads and faster WiFi 7. If your work requires an M5 Max chip with double the graphics power and up to 128GB of memory, you probably already know this.

The exterior of the laptop hasn’t changed much since then Design launched in 2021But it has stood the test of time very well. The solid aluminum body looks great and travels well, slipping easily into a backpack and resisting the kind of flex that causes screen cracks and other problems. The keyboard and trackpad are first class and the super bright and crisp 120Hz Mini LED screen is rarely rivaled in competing machines.

Apple sells a Nano Texture upgrade for the display glass, which diffuses glare very effectively and is worth considering. Coupled with constant 1,000NIT Screen brightness – Double the 13in MacBook Air – You can actually work outside in direct sunlight if necessary.

An excellent center stage webcam, high-quality mic, and some of the best speakers you’ll find on a laptop complete the package.

Specifications

• Screen: 14.2 inch Mini LED (3024×1964; 254 ppi) ProMotion (120Hz)

• Processor: Apple M5, Pro or Max

• To hit: 16, 24, 32, 36, 48, 64 or 128 GB

• storage: 1, 2, 4 or 8TB SSD

• Operating System: macOS 26.4 Tahoe

• Camera: 12MP center stage

• Connectivity (M5): WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, 3x Thunderbolt 4/USB 4, HDMI 2.1, SDXC, Headphones

• Connectivity (M5 Pro/Max): WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread, 3x Thunderbolt 5/USB 4, HDMI 2.1, SDXC card, Headphones

• Dimensions: 221.2 x 312.6 x 15.5 mm

• weight: 1.55 to 1.62 kg

fast, fast and maximum

The MacBook Pro has two confusingly different specifications depending on the processor you choose. The base model with the M5 processor lacks Apple’s new N1 wireless chip, which means it doesn’t have WiFi 7, Thread, and Bluetooth 6 connectivity.

The M5 Pro and M5 Max laptops offer all those features, with WiFi 7 being the most welcome now that it’s becoming more common in home and business WiFi routers. They also get faster Thunderbolt 5 ports for high-speed accessories.

Otherwise the M5 chip is about 20% faster than that M4 version from 2024 And faster in all metrics MacBook Pro M1 Pro from 2021Which makes it a fast machine in itself. Stepping up to the M5 Pro improves multicore processing by about 70% and effectively doubles graphics performance, while the M5 Max doubles the number of GPU cores again for workstation-level performance in the same ballpark as machines equipped with Nvidia’s power-hungry GeForce 5070 and 5080 graphics cards.

The result is that the MacBook Pro has the kind of raw performance typically associated with bulky gaming machines or desktop workstations, but is mobile and available entirely on battery power, with similar performance no PC laptop can offer.

Even in the smaller 14-inch version with the M5 Max chip, as tested, the MacBook Pro offers very long battery life for general computing. It ran 16 hours of regular light work, mainly browsing, word processing, messaging and note taking, along with a few hours of photo editing. The laptop still saw a solid workday with 30% remaining for heavy workloads of photo and video editing.

When pushed to the max, the battery lasts for 90 minutes before needing to be plugged in, which is probably enough to accomplish the most demanding tasks in a pinch.

Laptops equipped with the M5 Pro chip can expect about 18 hours of light work, with base-model M5 machines lasting slightly longer.

sustainability

The MacBook Pro is made of 45% recycled materials, including aluminum, cobalt, copper, gold, lithium, plastic, rare-earth elements, steel, and tin. Apple destroys computers Environmental impact in your report.

have a laptop generally repairable And Apple makes Repair manuals are available. battery should last Over 1,000 full charge cycles and may Replaced by Apple for £225. The company offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.

price

14in MacBook Pro starts at M5 £1,699 (€1,899/$1,699/A$2,699), the M5 Pro models start at £2,199 (€2,499/$2,199/A$3,499) and the M5 Max starts at £3,599 (€4,199/$3,599/A$5,799).

for comparison, macbook neo cost from £599, macbook air m5 cost from £1,099iPad Pro M5 price £9992026 Dell starts with XPS 14 £1,599 and price of razor blade 14 £2,400.

decision

The MacBook Pro continues to show that you can have your cake and eat it too with the right chips and software.

No other machine provides full workstation-level power away from the plug and lasts longer on battery. This is a powerful combination that surpasses all fashion workloads, even at the most attractive size of 14 inches.

It helps that it also features a best-in-class trackpad, keyboard, and one of the best screens you’ll find on a laptop. Plus it has great speakers and mic, a great web cam and a good port selection, including the now rare SD card slot, making it a photographer’s best friend.

All this capacity is not cheap and in many ways latest macbook air It’s an equally capable machine, especially if you’re looking at the base-model M5 MacBook Pro. But with rising costs of memory and storage and prices of rivals rising, everything is starting to look expensive.

So for those who need high-level power and long battery life in a quality, adaptable laptop, very little comes close to the MacBook Pro unless you specifically need Windows or Linux.

professional: A choice of extremely powerful M5-series chips, a minimum of 16GB of memory and 1TB of storage, very long battery life, a great promotion screen, a great center stage camera, lots of ports and an SD card slot, great speakers, Touch ID, a great keyboard and trackpad, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 6 and Thread support.

Shortcoming: No Face ID, no USB-A, RAM or SSD can’t be upgraded after purchase, expensive, no major upgrades over the M4 model, no WiFi 7 in the base M5 version.