Apple Surprise Launches 14-inch Macbook Pro With New M5 Chip
Apple has introduced an updated version of its 14-inch MacBook Pro, now equipped with the new M5 chip. The company says that while the laptop’s design remains unchanged, it gains faster performance, upgraded storage options, and extended battery life — up to 24 hours on a single charge.
The new M5 processor is at the center of Apple’s update. The company claims it delivers 3.5 times faster AI performance compared with the M4, owing to a redesigned GPU architecture that includes “a Neural Accelerator in each core.”
The 10-core GPU also offers up to 1.6x faster graphics performance and 1.6x higher frame rates in games. Apple says the chip’s CPU delivers up to 20 percent faster multithreaded performance, while memory bandwidth has increased from 120Gbps to 153Gbps.
The upgraded laptop runs up to 1.8x faster AI video enhancement in Topaz Video, 1.7x faster 3D rendering in Blender, and 1.2x faster build performance in Xcode, according to Apple. Overall, the company says the M5 enables 6x faster AI performance compared to the M1 chip. Storage performance is also reportedly up to twice as fast as before.
Hardware and Design
Physically, the M5 MacBook Pro mirrors its predecessor. It retains the same 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with a resolution of 3,024 x 1,964 pixels, capable of 1,000 nits sustained brightness in SDR and up to 1,600 nits peak for HDR content. The screen supports adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz and the full P3 color gamut, making it suitable for color-critical workflows such as photo and video editing.
Port selection also remains the same: three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI port, an SDXC card slot, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Other familiar features include a six-speaker system with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, and a 12MP 1080p Center Stage webcam. The laptop ships with macOS Tahoe preinstalled.
Users can configure the system with up to 32GB of RAM and 4TB of storage, although that top-tier SSD upgrade costs roughly $1,200.
Unlike in previous years, Apple is releasing the base-model M5 MacBook Pro ahead of the M5 Pro and M5 Max versions, which are expected later. This staggered rollout departs from the company’s 2024 approach, when all M4 variants launched together.
The 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro is available now for preorder starting at $1,599, with units expected to arrive October 22.
Image credits: Apple
