Apple Upgrades its MacBook Pros with M5 Pro and M5 Max Chips and Better SSD Storage

Apple is upgrading its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, better SSD storage, and improved wireless connectivity. Models with M5 Pro chips now start with 1TB of storage, and Apple bumped the base storage to 2TB on M5 Max models.

With its M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, Apple is offering CPU architecture with “the world’s fastest CPU core. The chips can be configured with up to 18 CPU cores, with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores delivering up to 30 percent faster performance. The M5 Pro has up to 20 GPU cores and the M5 Max has up to 40, with new neural accelerators to speed up AI workloads.

Thanks to these new neural cores and higher unified memory bandwidth (up to 614GB/s on the M5 Max), Apple promises up to 4x AI performance compared to the previous generation, and up to 8x AI performance compared to M1 models. The M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory, while the M5 Max bumps that to 128GB.

On the storage front, the new SSDs in the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros offer up to 2x faster read/write performance than the previous generation, reaching up to 14.5GB/s. M5 Pro models support up to 4TB of storage, and M5 Max models double that to 8TB.

“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. Combined with even faster unified memory and storage, it empowers users to take their work even further, unleashing new possibilities and pushing the boundaries of what they can do.”

Besides the new in-house N1 chip that enables Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity, the latest MacBook Pros also add Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum microphone modes for enhanced voice clarity in audio and video calls. Other than that, Apple kept the same 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View, the same 3 Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports, HDMI port, and SDXC card slot. Apple also promises up to 24 hours of battery life on the 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro, but the M5 Max model drops that to just 22 hours.

The new M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pros come in space black and silver, and they’re available to pre-order starting tomorrow, March 4, ahead of their release on March 11. The 14‑inch M5 Pro model starts at $2,199, and the 16‑inch version at $2,699. The 14-inch model with M5 Max starts at $3,599, and the 16‑inch version at $3,899.