Apple’s week-long reveals continue. The company has officially updated its M5-powered MacBook Pro line-up by unveiling the latest 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The newer models focus heavily on AI performance, GPU gains, and faster storage, while retaining the Liquid Retina XDR display and long battery life the line is known for.
The new MacBook Pros are available in Space Black and Silver, with Malaysian pricing starting from RM8,999. Read on for the specifications for each model.
Design And Display
Apple retains the familiar MacBook Pro design, offering both 14-inch and 16-inch sizes in aluminium unibody finishes. The laptops feature the Liquid Retina XDR display with up to 1600 nits peak HDR brightness and up to 1000 nits for SDR content, alongside an optional nano-texture finish to reduce glare.
The machines include a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View support, studio-quality microphones, and a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio support. Connectivity includes three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI with up to 8K output, an SDXC card slot, and MagSafe 3 with fast charging support.
M5 Pro And M5 Max
The new MacBook Pro models run on Apple’s M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, built using a new Fusion Architecture that combines two dies into a single system on a chip. Both feature up to an 18-core CPU with six “super cores” and 12 performance cores, as well as a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core.
Apple claims up to 30% faster overall performance compared to the previous generation, alongside significant AI gains. The GPU architecture also delivers up to 50% better graphics performance compared to M4 Pro and M4 Max models.
M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory with up to 307GB/s memory bandwidth, while M5 Max supports up to 128GB with up to 614GB/s bandwidth. Storage now starts at 1TB for M5 Pro models and 2TB for M5 Max models, with SSD speeds reaching up to 14.5GB/s — up to twice as fast as the previous generation.
Meanwhile, battery life reaches up to 24 hours, and Apple says performance remains consistent whether plugged in or on battery. Users can also fast-charge up to 50% in around 30 minutes with a 96W or higher USB-C adapter. As for connectivity, Apple also introduces its new N1 wireless chip on both MacBook Pro models, enabling Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 for improved wireless performance and reliability.
macOS Tahoe And Apple Intelligence
The new MacBook Pro ships with macOS Tahoe, which introduces updates to Spotlight, deeper Shortcuts integration, and expanded Apple Intelligence features. Live Translation is built into Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app, while developers can tap into Apple’s Foundation Models framework for on-device AI tasks.
Continuity features include the Phone app on Mac for relaying calls from a nearby iPhone, along with Live Activities support. macOS Tahoe also introduces a refreshed Liquid Glass design and additional personalisation options.
Performance Gains Over Older Models
Apple highlights significant improvements for users upgrading from M1 or M4-series MacBook Pro models:
- AI image generation: Up to 8x faster vs M1 Pro/Max; up to ~3.7x–3.8x faster vs M4 Pro/Max.
- LLM prompt processing: Up to 6.9x faster vs M1 Pro and 6.7x vs M1 Max; up to ~4x faster vs M4 Pro/Max.
- 3D and video rendering: Up to 5.2x faster 3D rendering vs M1 Pro and up to 5.4x faster video effects rendering vs M1 Max; up to 3x faster than M4 Max in DaVinci Resolve.
- Gaming and AI video tools: Up to 1.6x faster ray-traced gaming vs M4 Pro, and up to 3.5x faster AI video enhancement vs M4 Max.
Apple also claims up to 8x faster AI performance compared to M1 models overall, thanks to Neural Accelerators integrated directly into the GPU cores.
Pricing And Availability
The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at RM8,999, while the education price is RM8,399. The larger 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at RM10,999, or RM10,199 for education customers.
For higher-end configurations, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max starts at RM14,999, with education pricing set at RM13,669. The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max starts at RM15,999, or RM14,799 for education.
Customers can order the new MacBook Pro models via Apple’s online store, the Apple Store app, Apple Store locations, and authorised resellers.
No More 512GB Option For The 14-Inch MacBook Pro M5
“Oh, and one more thing,” as Apple likes to say it. Alongside the Pro and Max variants, the company has updated the standard 14-inch MacBook Pro with the base M5 chip, which now comes standard with 1TB of storage and starts at RM6,999 (RM6,599 for education). In other words, the 512GB option has been discontinued.
To recap, the M5 version was launched back in November last year. It features a 10-core CPU, up to a 10-core GPU, support for up to 32GB of unified memory, Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC, and MagSafe 3, along with the same Liquid Retina XDR display and up to 24 hours of battery life. When it launched last year, the 512GB variant started at RM6,499, while the 1TB configuration cost RM7,499, making the new base 1TB configuration more affordable than before.
(Source: Apple Malaysia press release)
