M4 v M5 MacBook Pro: Which Should You Buy?

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Need-to-knows

• M5 chip is marginally quicker than the M4
• Design, display and ports are exactly the same
• M5 chip is faster at processing AI tasks
• Battery life is the same

Apple has updated the MacBook Pro. Again. This time, it’s the M5 chip making its debut, quietly slipped into the chassis of the 14-inch and 16-inch models. And now we’re faced with the classic conundrum: do you pick up the shiny new M5 MacBook Pro, or save some cash and opt for the only 1-year-old M4 version?

If you’re sitting there, M1 MacBook Pro whirring away on your lap and wondering whether this is the time to upgrade, this guide is for you. Let’s get started.

At a glance

Performance: The power gap that isn’t

Comparing Apple’s M-series chips has always been a difficult and largely pointless thing to do. Even now, the M1 chip is still highly powerful when you compare it to some Intel chips. But each generation does bring some marginal benefits over the last.

For example, the M5 chip’s biggest win is related to memory bandwidth (up to 153GB/s vs 120GB/s), which helps with large data handling and multitasking, and the addition of hardware-accelerated ray tracing tech which improves performance in relation to graphics processing.

In pure speed, there is about a 12% increase in performance when it comes to single core testing with the M5 also giving about a 2.5x faster read write speed. So it would be wrong to say there is basically no difference between the M5 and M4 chips. It’s just that the difference is marginal when you actually use them in day-to-day scenarios.

Unless you’re deep in the trenches of video editing, 3D rendering, or machine learning workloads, you won’t notice any drop-off with the M4. And even then, you will only really see a difference if you are pushing things to the maximum.

If the M4 MacBook Pro is a Ferrari, the M5 is a Ferrari with slightly shinier alloys and a few extra horsepower. 

Battery life and thermals

Both models deliver the same endurance: up to 24 hours of video playback and up to 16 hours of wireless web use, thanks to the same 72.4‑watt‑hour battery inside. There might be a small difference between the two related to any efficiency gains made by the M5 chip, but again, this will be negligible.

Thermals? Both are whisper-quiet unless pushed to the brink, and fans rarely kick in during normal use.

Display and design: carbon copy

There’s nothing to separate the M4 and M5 when it comes to the physical experience. You’re still getting:

• A 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display (3024×1964, 254 PPI)
• 1,000 nits sustained brightness, 1,600 nits peak (HDR)
• ProMotion support (up to 120Hz)
• The same high-quality six-speaker system
• Identical ports: MagSafe, three Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, SDXC slot, and 3.5mm headphone jack

No design tweaks. No chassis slimming. No weight changes. It is exactly the same. You might be noticing a theme here…

AI and storage

Apple claims that the M5 chip is optimised for AI-driven tasks more so than any other chip it has created. This supposedly translates into a 3.5x performance gain for AI tasks which is significant. So if your work relies on AI a lot, then the M5 MacBook Pro might genuinely be a better option. But if that is the case, you may want to wait for the more powerful M5 Pro/M5 Max chips to be released.

As for storage, the M5 MacBook Pro now enables you to buy 4TB of internal SSD space. This is more than the M4 MacBook Pro which maxed out at 2TB. Both base models still start at 512GB though, so it only really matters for those that need the most. Even then, you should probably just buy a much cheaper external hard drive.

Price and Value for Money

Here’s is the real crux of the matter.

The M5 MacBook Pro starts at $1,599/£1,599, while the M4 version has already begun appearing in Apple’s refurbished store and at third-party retailers for as low as $1,299/£1,299. That’s a $300 saving for a machine that’s 95% as capable.

The M5 offers more headroom if you want 4TB of storage or extra memory bandwidth, but most users simply won’t need that. The M4, hell even the M3 or M2, remains a workhorse for anyone who isn’t running Blender projects all day or developing AI models.

And for that reason, the M4 MacBook Pro clearly wins on the value front. Although saying that, if you did buy a new M5 MacBook Pro, you’d be getting lots for your money too. How much does that $300 matter for you? It’s the question only you can answer.

So, Which Should You Buy?

If you already own an M4 MacBook Pro: relax. You’ve got a brilliant laptop. Don’t upgrade.

If you’re coming from an Intel or M1 Mac: either of these machines will blow you away, but the M4 is better value if you pick it up refurbished or discounted.

If you absolutely must have the latest, the M5 is absolutely lovely and still provides great value even at full price.

Either way, you’re getting one of the best laptops on the planet so the decision really isn’t that hard.