MacBook Pro M5: What Real Users Actually Think

We don't need yearly revisions. These things rip as they sit.

This post reads like ChatGPT.

As a 25 year Mac user, the expectation of a yearly update usually makes me roll my eyes. But brace for all the 'is an M3 still relevant in 2025' and 'Apple has stopped innovating' posts.

If you are using AI/local llm why did you choose 16GB Ram model? This makes no sense at all.

Memory pricing appears to be unchanged. $100 per 8GB on the Max chip models for 9600MT/s is shockingly competitive for Apple.

Nothing is lost. The area below MacOS menu bar and the notch is still a 16:10 panel. Think of it as a 16:10 screen with extra pixels above that can only be used by the menu bar.

I am mainly worried about redesigned M6 MacBook Pro being pushed back from 2026 to 2027. I don't care about boring spec bumps anymore.

I have been using the MacBook Pro M5 since launch on October 15, 2025. Battery life is one of the biggest highlights for me. I am a software engineer, and my daily workflow includes running Docker containers, local databases, multiple IDE windows, browsers with many tabs, and background services. Even with this kind of heavy workload, the MacBook consistently lasts the entire day on a single charge.

Yeah I was surprised that taking a MBP from 48GB to 128GB was only $1000. This feels like how much it would have cost two years ago. I guess they are just eating the supply cost increase.

The base gains for the processor are nothing small either. They are claiming 30%. I haven't had the chance yet to compare clock speeds so I don't know if it is raw IPC or another source, but 30% in a generation is pretty huge.

Values for peak points of Geekbench 6 ST power efficiency curve: M5 Super ~4250 score at ~8.4W, M5 Performance ~2950 at ~5.6W, M5 Efficiency ~1700 at ~1.7W. Apple's new middle/Performance cores are on par with Intel's P-cores in the Core Ultra 9 285HX.

Imagine most users don't even need more than 16GB and people's 8gb MBA M1's are still working just fine for them. Maybe consider not falling for the psychological marketing tactics of Apple and spreading FOMO around.

Imagine buying a Pro model in 2025 with 16GB RAM.

Given the choice between a 24 GB Air and a 16 GB Pro, the 24 Air might be the more reasonable alternative.

M5 Super & M5 Perf: ~500 points/W. M5 Efficiency: ~1000 points/W. The efficiency cores are clearly not here to be replaced — they remain the most power-efficient tier.

Out of all the laptops to say this about thermal throttling, you pick the apple silicon macs??

It's a phenomenal machine. Honestly it's a better choice than the M4 Pro for most people.

Just got one two days ago. Upgrade from intel MBP that had a failing screen. Holy shit is it awesome.

The 16gb / 1Tb storage situation is possibly worse. You can always get more external storage but that thing is gonna feel slow after 4-5 years because of the ram.

They deleted the efficiency cores in favor of a new class of P cores with more IPC by far. The M5 Pro/Max are effectively up two cores over the same-count M4 models.

I think the N1 chip is a meaningful advantage. Whether or not Wifi 7 is important, the chip just works better. The Air has the N1 chip — it's crazy the base MBP doesn't have this.

This machine not having WiFi 7 is a joke. I was really looking forward to that on the new 14 and that stopped me from upgrading. Maybe next year.

MBP 14 M1 Pro, looking for a reason to upgrade, haven't found one yet. Was thinking M5 but might hold off for the M6 redesign unless the M5 gets it.

I've just bought a MBP M5 16/512 for the same price as I can now get the MBA M5 15" 24/512. I have open return for 60 days. Strongly considering returning it and getting the MBA instead. I travel a lot and like how sturdy the MBP is, but planning on running AI locally for a business in a year or so, and I think the RAM will come in handy.

I still have the M1 Pro 14". Have not felt the need to upgrade to M3 or M4. Sure they would have been faster but I dont think it would be that much for what I currently do. I will wait for the OLED or whatever next model. These new M MacBooks are beasts.

Though I get the FOMO on some things, I would take a hard look at what you are using this computer for. Is Wi-Fi 7 something that is really that necessary for you? Is the change in bluetooth worth it? If you don't need the power of a MBP then don't get one.

I have a MBPro M3 for work and MBA M2 for personal. I just ordered a MBA 13 with 32 gb ram and 1tb. For my use case having the lighter form factor without a fan is great for bringing my personal work around. The wifi part is meh, 6e is plenty fast for any real world use.

The base M5 will have WiFi 6 and the older Bluetooth model. The 2026 pro and max versions have WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The pro and max obviously having a more powerful processor, faster data transfer etc.

Nice! I got the M4 for 1699$ CAD from Best Buy too. 400 off was too good to pass up!

People are failing to take into consideration the value of WiFi 7 five or more years in the future. It may not be that important today but what about by 2031+?

I'm more than happy to keep using my 16" M2 Max for at least a few more years.

I have the exact same configuration, also a dev running dockers all day etc. I'd be hard pressed to actually find something I don't like about this machine. I'm kinda sensitive to lag and slowdowns and there's none here. Except under ultra heavy local inference etc. Maybe the machine gets too hot for the lap sometimes. That's a nit pick where I'm reaching.

I bought the M5 Pro 48gb! OMG after going from i9 this is a true beast. I have been cleaning up my Harddrive files and was transferring gigs of data back and forth between it and an external SSD, while simultaneously downloading a pile of applications and I had at least 15 tabs open with various programs to view the files I was downloading — virtually 0 lag.

I have an m4 air, write code every day, make YouTube vids on davinci, have it hooked up to a monitor and other accessories via dongles. Sometimes run small LLMs (<=20b params) and it runs it all like a champ and is super portable. Recently I started making live streams and OBS seems to run pretty hot, like burn your finger hot. That's the only place where it has worried me and is making me strongly eyeball a new mb pro. Literally just for the fans.

Wifi7 is not that important, MLO still sucks. Wifi 6e is enough, if you have 6ghz router.

I was wondering about the difference between 2025 and 2026 M5 models too and ended up going with the 512gb version on sale for $1350 at micro center.

The SSD speed on the 1TB drive of the 2026 m5 MacBook (non-pro/-max) is quite a bit faster — on par with the pro/max instead of being throttled. Hope this helps, had to do quite some digging this week to find out the real difference.

16 GB wasn't enough even three years ago — modern browsers won't let me lie. He'll notice the lack of RAM sooner than any CPU slowness.

Just got one it's awesome.

I am agonizing around the same decision between the Air and Pro. The advantages of the MacBook Pro are the screen and the speakers. For local AI models, you need much more compute power, and there's an ongoing debate if a maxed out M5 pro is sufficient or if people should bet on whatever mac studio the future will bring.

I came from an i9. Just blown away. Went for 32GB and 4TB, so no bottlenecks and no need to carry external HDs around when I'm on the road.