After shipping the M5-based version of the MacBook Pro 14 in the latter part of 2025, Apple has followed its usual pattern of releasing higher-end versions of its 14- and 16-inch MacBooks with Pro and Max versions of the processor. The new processors introduce a new chip architecture which Apple dubs "Fusion," referring to its method of combining two dies to scale its SoC rather than linking multiple SoCs. It's also releasing an M5 model of the MacBook Air.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max bring updated connectivity and improved battery life -- which was already excellent, but now rated for up to 24 hours -- to the laptops. They're otherwise unchanged physically from earlier M4 Pro and M4 Max models. Versions equipped with an OLED or touchscreen display are still somewhere in our future.
Prices for the new laptops start at $2,199 for the MacBook Pro 14 and $2,699 for the MacBook Pro 16 with the M5 Pro and $3,599 and $3,899 for the M5 Max. Preorders for all start tomorrow and start shipping on March 11.
The new laptops incorporate an N1 networking chip which brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Historically, the higher-end chips add CPU and GPU cores for improved speed overall as well as faster graphics processing. The M5 also introduced neural accelerator clusters on the GPU to boost performance on AI -- notably the math that's essential for image and video generation, which the Neural Engine can't handle as well.
It's not clear which dies Fusion combines, though the company specifically calling out the GPU as scalable it's likely that it's the second die. That makes the most sense, since moving the GPU to its own chiplet to makes it easier to scale performance independent of the CPU. This is essential since demand for tensor (for AI) and graphics processing power is growing rapidly, while the need for high-powered CPUs is a lot less at the moment.
M5 Pro and M5 Max specs
Apple M5 Pro Apple M5 Max Chip configurations (CPU/GPU cores) 15/20 or 18/20 18/40 or 18/40 Total CPU cores 15 or 18 18 Super cores 5 or 6 6 Performance cores 10 or 12 12 GPU cores 16 or 20 32 or 40 Neural engine cores 16 16 Neural engine generation 3 3 Maximum memory supported (UMA) 64GB 128GB Peak memory bandwidth (GBps) 307 460 or 614 ProRes accelerators 1 2 AV1 decoding Yes Yes
With the new architecture, Apple has rebranded its CPU core types -- retroactively for the M5, as well -- in order to reflect faster performance. "Performance" used to represent the fastest cores, but those have been renamed "super" cores. Now, performance cores seems to function as a more balanced version of efficiency cores, with less of an emphasis on power saving. Efficiency cores continue to be the power-saving performers.