Review: With the new MacBook Pro (M5), Apple is just showing off

In my review of the new M5 iPad Pro, I said that the new Apple tablet feels like a victory lap for Apple. Well, as an F1 fan, I'm going to use another racing metaphor to describe the newest MacBook Pro.

The new M5 silicon doesn't just surpass the competition; it actually laps the competition. Last year's M4 ship already sped past its rivals like Max Verstappen on a tear, and the next generation of Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite chips won't even appear in Windows laptops until 2026. In the meantime, the fancy new M5 chip is already here and ready to claim its place at the top of the performance podium.

Apple provided its new MacBook Pro to Mashable for testing ahead of its official release on Oct. 22. Since we've only had a few days to stress test the Apple laptop, we'll update this review with a more in-depth report next week, including a battery run-down test.

M5 MacBook Pro review: By the numbers

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

For my 2025 MacBook Pro review, Apple sent me a device with 16GB of RAM, 1TB of storage, and the optional Nano Texture display

• Display: Liquid Retina XDR display with HDR capabilities

• RAM: 16GB, 24GB

• Storage: 512GB, 1TB

• Size: 14 inches

• Colors: Silver and space black

• Resolution: 3024 x 1964

• Dimensions: 12.31” x 8.71” x 0.61”

• Weight: 3.4 pounds (1.55 kg)

• Ports: Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C), SDXC card slot, HDMI, MagSafe 3 charger, 3.5 mm headphone jack

• Brightness: 1,000 nits (1,600 nits with HDR content)

• Refresh rate: Up to 120Hz

• Touch ID: Yes

• Face ID: No

For now, the M5 MacBook Pro is only available in a 14-inch model, starting at $1,599, though I expect most users will want to pay more for additional storage and/or RAM.

M5 MacBook Pro review: Performance

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

It's not an exaggeration to say that Apple's M-series silicon has been revolutionary. Apple has shown that it can design processors just as well as it can design anything, and the M chips have set new standards of power and performance efficiency.

In our benchmark testing, the new M5 MacBook Pro received a score of 17,470 on the Geekbench performance test. That's a notable improvement over the M4 chip (though not radically so). The M5 achieved a 17 percent improvement over the M4, and while we saw a bigger leap in performance from the M3 to M4, it's still a noticeable jump. We've tested 61 Windows laptops, Chromebooks, and MacBooks for our guide to the best laptops, and the M5 MacBook Pro outperforms 93 percent of them. For the most part, only extremely specced-out (and extremely expensive) gaming laptops can beat it, with the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 Pro chip being the exception.

For context, Apple’s M-series chips have seemed untouchable ever since they debuted in 2020. Then, Qualcomm introduced the Snapdragon X Elite processor, which surged past the M3 chip and powered award-winning laptops like the Microsoft Surface 7. Well, it was nice to have some genuine competition while it lasted. As Mashable’s former tech editor Kimberly Gedeon wrote last year in her M4 MacBook Pro review, “Apple dropped the M4 chip and obliterated Windows laptops in one fell swoop.”

Now, we've got the M5 chip. Its 17,470 Geekbench CPU score easily beats the M4's score of 15,199 and the Surface Laptop 7's score of 14,548. Like I said, Apple has now fully lapped the competition.

The M5 processor can handle advanced programs without breaking a sweat

I recommend investing in the space black version and a microfiber cloth to wipe away fingerprints. Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

While I've only had a few days to stress-test the new MacBook Pro, I don't feel like I've come close to actually stressing its M5 chip, which has a 10-core CPU (four performance cores, six efficiency cores) and shiny new Neural Accelerators for running advanced AI models locally on your device. Apple also promises that the M5 “delivers over 4x the peak GPU compute performance for AI compared to M4,” and overall 45 percent better graphics performance than the M4.

Combined with a promised 30 percent bump in memory bandwidth, you can play demanding games like Cyberpunk. And at work, you can use Final Cut Pro while also uploading massive video files to the cloud simultaneously.

I've been playing around with large video files in Adobe Premiere Pro and AI plugins in Logic Pro, and so far, the new MacBook Pro has been up to the challenge. I suppose one day we'll get to a point where you can export 4K video files in seconds, but by today's standards, the M5 chip works quickly and efficiently.

One of my friends is a filmmaker and editor, and he's still using an M2 MacBook Pro for his daily workflow. He told me it's more than fast enough already for professional work, and at a certain point, Apple is just showing off.

So, if you need to create photos or videos professionally with tools like Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Logic Pro, or Final Cut, you'll get all the performance you need here. The same goes for AI models that need to run on your device. Only the most advanced power users will tax the M5 chip, and I haven't had any problems with overheating or excessive fan noise yet.

The new MacBook passes the Cyberpunk 2077 test

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Luckily for me, I'm playing through Cyberpunk 2077 for the very first time, and so I got to directly compare how this game runs on both a dedicated gaming laptop, the Lenovo LOQ 15 (AMD Ryzen 7, RTX 5060, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD), and the M5 MacBook. I'm happy to say it passed the Cyberpunk test. Now, did it perform flawlessly? No.

Occasionally, the graphics would get blown out, and some fine details (like hair) appeared more pixelated on the MacBook, but in general, it played smoothly and looked beautiful on the Liquid Retina display. (I played with 1080 resolution, 30 frames per second, and all ray tracing features turned on.) It was one of those "You can have your cake and eat it too" moments for me.

We may never think of MacBooks as gaming laptops, but thanks to the latest Apple silicon, Apple loyalists don't have to lose out on gaming anymore.

M5 MacBook Pro review: Familiar hardware, new software

The new MacBook comes with macOS Tahoe 26, which brings Liquid Glass to your laptop. Now, I'm personally a fan of the Liquid Glass aesthetic. I think it matches Apple's brand perfectly. That said, Tahoe doesn't deliver as many noticeable upgrades as iOS 26 or iPadOS 26. Still, I like the design, transparent elements, and animations. You can also use Apple Intelligence and Shortcuts to automate certain tasks, though I haven't found much use for this in my daily workflow yet (more to come on this).

The hardware on the MacBook is impeccably designed, as ever. I especially love the tactile keyboard and port selection — you get plenty of Thunderbolt ports, HDMI, 3.5mm headphone input, and an SDXC card reader. The speakers on the MacBook are also surprisingly strong, as is the webcam tucked in the notorious top notch, the one design complaint most users (including myself) have of the modern MacBooks. (Stop me if you've heard all this before.)

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Is the new MacBook Pro 14-inch worth it?

Here's where I get frustrated. We've reached the awkward part of virtually every positive review we've written at Mashable in 2025, where we tell you that this is both an excellent product and not quite worthy of an automatic upgrade over the previous version. We're now getting new versions of our favorite headphones, smartphones, laptops, and tablets so fast that the actual upgrades are quite iterative, and often extremely so. You simply shouldn't replace your tech that often (though Apple does have a trade-in program, if you must).

And because the M3 and M4 chips are already so good, the new M5 just isn't a must-purchase if you have a relatively new Apple laptop. Even the M1 MacBook Air is still going strong for casual users. As Mashable's Stan Schroeder, an experienced Apple gadget reviewer, said last year, "Apple's M series chips are too good for their own good." That's the case with a lot of tech these days, which is a shame. (Apple, Google, Samsung, if you're listening, do we really need a new flagship smartphone every year?)

I could also see some professionals skipping the MacBook Pro altogether, and instead opting for a Mac Studio with the 32-core M3 Ultra or an M4 iMac. The relatively small screen of the 14-inch MacBook will be limiting for a lot of professionals, though it's a great fit for college students who need to run advanced software and yet stay mobile. I think there's a strong argument for video editors specifically to combine a Mac Studio or iMac with the M5 iPad Pro. You can do your everyday edits on the desktop, then use the iPad Pro's OLED and HDR-capable display to review footage on the go.

All of this is a complicated way of saying that the M5 MacBook Pro is absolutely worth it for the right user, but one of many professional solutions Apple now offers. There's no denying that it's a powerful, efficient device, which offers an impressive power-to-dollar ratio. It's also a shoe-in for our guide to the best MacBooks.

M5 MacBook Pro 14-Inch

$1,349 at Amazon
$1,599 Save $250

 

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