Apple today announced new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models featuring M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, both built on a new Fusion Architecture that bonds two third-generation 3nm dies into a single chip using advanced packaging.
The Fusion Architecture is a first for Apple silicon, since previous chips used a single-die design. The two bonded dies house the CPU, GPU, Media Engine, Neural Engine, unified memory controller, and Thunderbolt 5 capabilities together.
Both chips feature an 18-core CPU, which is up from the 14-core and 16-core designs of the M4 Pro and M4 Max, respectively. The CPU now includes six "super cores" (Apple's new branding for its highest-performance cores) alongside 12 efficiency-focused performance cores. Apple claims up to 30 percent faster multithreaded performance over the M4 generation, and up to 2.5x faster than M1 Pro and M1 Max.
M5 Pro features up to 20 GPU cores, while M5 Max doubles that to 40. Each GPU core also now includes a Neural Accelerator, which Apple says delivers over 4x the peak AI compute compared to M4 Pro and M4 Max. Apple claims up to 50 percent faster graphics overall, with ray-tracing workloads seeing up to 35 percent improvement over the previous generation.
Memory gets a bump too. M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory (up from 48GB on M4 Pro), with bandwidth reaching 307GB/s. M5 Max retains its 128GB maximum but raises bandwidth to 614GB/s.
Storage is also notably faster this time around, with Apple claiming up to 2x faster read/write speeds compared to the M4 generation, topping out at 14.5GB/s. Base storage has also increased, so that M5 Pro models now start at 1TB, while M5 Max models start at 2TB.
The new MacBook Pros also get Apple's N1 wireless networking chip, bringing Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support. That's an upgrade from the Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 found in last year's M4 Pro and M4 Max models.
Other additions include a 16-core Neural Engine with a faster memory connection that Apple says speeds up on-device Apple Intelligence tasks, and an updated Media Engine that adds hardware-accelerated AV1 decode alongside existing H.264, HEVC, and ProRes support. There's also Memory Integrity Enforcement – an always-on memory safety feature Apple calls an industry first.
Thunderbolt 5 carries over from the M4 generation, but each port now gets its own dedicated controller on the chip, so all three ports can run at full bandwidth simultaneously. For external displays, M5 Pro supports up to two high-resolution monitors, while M5 Max supports up to four.
In terms of battery life, Apple says it tops out at 24 hours on the 16-inch model, and that users can fast-charge to 50 percent in 30 minutes with a 96W or higher USB-C adapter.
"MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max redefines what's possible on a pro laptop, now up to 4x faster than the previous generation," said John Ternus, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. "With Neural Accelerators in the GPU, the new MacBook Pro enables professionals to run advanced LLMs on device and unlock capabilities that no other laptop can do — all while maintaining exceptional battery life."
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at $2,199, while the 16-inch starts at $2,699. The 14-inch M5 Max model starts at $3,599, and the 16-inch at $3,899. The previously announced base 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 starts at $1,699. All models are available in space black and silver, with pre-orders opening tomorrow, March 4, and availability beginning Wednesday, March 11.
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