14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 review – this is the power and performance you’re looking for

The 14-inch MacBook Pro is already a powerful laptop but Apple has made it even more powerful with the addition of its brand new M5 chip which sets it apart in terms of speed, performance and power efficiency.

Having this sort of power at your fingertips wherever you go will be a game changer for many users.

Whether you’re a business professional or a student, a content creator or a coder, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 let you work and play at your best.

The new M5 silicon incorporates powerful Neural Accelerator’s in the GPU which can accelerate AI workloads with on device Large Language Models (LLM) – something more people are using every single day.

The M5 also includes the world’s fastest CPU core and enhanced Neural Engine along with higher memory bandwidth.

This all adds up to the ultimate laptop for high-end users.

For our review we received a Space Black 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5. It has 32GB unified memory and a 1TB SSD drive.

The Liquid Retina XDR display included the nano texture option which reduced reflections and glare. It also reduced the visibility of marks and smudges.

Design-wise the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Looks just the same as last year’s model but it’s under the hood where you’ll find all the improvements.

Now we will never take the laptop to its limits with our regular workflow.

The most trying part of that would be video editing and outputting but nothing compared to other professionals, researchers, artists and designers who use high-end applications to produce remarkable results.

On the performance side, the new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 can render performance with ray tracing in Blender 6.8x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and 3.9x faster than the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4 released last year.

If you’re building a project in Xcode you’ll see the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 is 2.1x faster then the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and 1.7x faster than the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4.

But having this sort of power at your fingertips isn’t all about work it can also let you play some of the latest most sophisticated games.

With the14-inch MacBook Pro with M5, playing Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is 2.6x faster then the MacBook Pro with M1 and 1.8x faster than the previous 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4.

Put that all down to the 10-core CPU to blaze through tasks with speed and efficiency.

It features four high performance cause and six high efficiency cause to offer up to 20 per cent faster multithreaded CPU performance than the M4.

But at the same time it’s the computer equivalent of running on the smell of an oily rag with best in class performance per watt.

The 10-core GPU has introduced next level architecture which offers 1.6x faster graphics performance than M4 in pro apps and games.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 can support up to 32GB of unified memory, Apple’s new name for RAM.

That’s a 30 per cent increase over the prior generation which will be music to the ears of users like 3D creators or software developers who need to handle complex scenes and projects. It will be a lot easier now.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 is also built for AI and Apple Intelligence.

LLM prompt processing is 6.4x faster than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 and 1.8x faster than the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4.

Even the SSD storage is faster which makes the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 even snappier.

This latest storage technology means the laptop can achieve read and write speeds that’s twice as fast as the previous model launched less than a year ago.

The 14.2 inch Liquid Retina XDR display is stunning and can support a billion colours and achieve a peak HDR brightness up to 1600 nits and sustained full screen HDR of 1000 nits.

As you would expect, there are plenty of options when it comes to connectivity including three Thunderbolt USB C ports, HDMI port, a headphone jack and an SD card slot.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 can support up to two external displays along with full native resolution of the built in display.

It can also drive one external 8K resolution display at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 200Hz over HDMI.

There is also the 12MP Center Stage camera so you can stay centred in the frame even if you move around and the Desk View which provides a top down view of your desk for the times when you need to show something while you’re on a video call.

There is a six speaker sound system with four woofers and two tweeters to provide a remarkably expensive soundstage.

And it also incorporates spatial audio so you can listen to music or watch a movie with Dolby Atmos like never before and enjoy a real theatre-like experience.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Ships with macOS Tahoe which has an elegant liquid glass design and numerous smart features including live translation and powerful Apple Intelligence shortcuts.

But it’s the improved battery life that’s going to attract customers with up to 24 hours of use on a single charge and all the while performing at the highest level.

That’s four hours more battery performance than M1 and M2.

For our review we were able to squeeze out two full workdays out of the device before we even contemplated connecting the MagSafe charging cable.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 also supports fast charging.

With a 96W power adapter you can get up to 50 per cent battery after just 30 minutes of charging.

That’s absolutely remarkable stamina for a laptop this powerful.

Users will be able to get so much more done on the move without worrying about running out of battery anytime soon.

But one downside – still no WiFi 7 compatibility despite that feature being aded to the iPad Pro with M5.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 is available now and is priced from $2,499.

VERDICT

Apple keeps raising the bar with what the 14-inch MacBook Pro can do and thereby expanding the possibilities and breaking barriers for the right users. It has the speed and performance to make a real difference in someone’s workflow and empower users to do their best work.