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Apple didn’t make us wait long after that advertisement New M5 chips To find out what they are capable of.
We’ve got our hands on both iPad Pro and MacBook Pro 14 Powered by the new M5 chipset. It’s clear what kind of gap Apple has created between its new generation M5 chips and the older M4 chips.
What has changed from M4 to M5
On paper, there are some clear similarities. Both the M4 and M5 chips are available in 10-core configurations, which combine four high-performance cores with six low-power cores. The chips also come with 10-core GPUs, but the new M5 GPU cores include neural accelerators to boost AI and ray tracing performance.
Apple also has some deprecated versions of these chips that have fewer CPU or GPU cores. However, regardless of these revised numbers, Apple still uses the same naming system (buyer beware).
So, without changing the number of CPU or GPU cores, the performance differences you can expect are due to structural shifts. One of these features also provides higher memory bandwidth, with the M5 offering up to 153GBps compared to the M4’s peak of 120GBps.
How fast is the M5?
Having had the opportunity to test the M5 chipset in both a laptop and a tablet, we have a clear understanding of how fast it compares to the M4 in similar devices.
Across the board in our benchmarks, the M5-powered MacBook Pro shows performance gains over the M4 model. Single-core performance got a nice boost with the M5, up 13.7% in Cinebench R24 and 18.8% in Geekbench 6. To put that into perspective, that’s quite a boost On top For what was already one of the most powerful single-core CPU performance available to the consumer. Whether against AMD, Intel, or even Qualcomm, Apple still holds the lead in single-core performance.
Apple’s multi-core performance upgrades don’t seem to be very significant. In Geekbench 6, the M5 has an 18.5% lift over the M4, but Cinebench R24 only shows an 11.9% lift. We observed a similar narrow gap in… Face the iPad ProThe M5 outperformed the multi-core M4 by just under 10% in Geekbench 6.
Cinebench 2024 CPU (Multi-Core)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 8C/10C) 710Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 10C/10C), Low Power Mode 779Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 10C/10C) 999Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M2 Pro, 12C/19C) 1,043Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 10C/10C) 1,118Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3 Max, 16C/40C) 1,672Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 14C/20C) 1,744
However, the GPU is where Apple’s upgrades really shine. In Geekbench 6, Apple’s new GPU cores in the M5 delivered a 31% performance boost over the M4-powered MacBook Pro 14, and that increase rises to 45% in Cinebench R24’s GPU test.
Is the M5 better for gaming?
Video game graphics benchmarks showed similar progress, with the M5 leading the M4 by 35% in Steel Nomad, 45% in Steel Nomad Light, and 46% in Solar Bay Extreme. This performance was even enough to see the M5 MacBook Pro running Shadow of the Tomb Raider at 56 fps with the game settings at their highest and 1080p resolution.
Cinebench 2024 GPU
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, 8C/10C) 3,327Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 10C/10C) 3,970Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 10C/10C), Low Power Mode 5,265Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 10C/10C) 5,768Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 14C/20C) 9,037Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3 Max, 16C/40C) 12,795Apple Mac Studio (M4 Max, 16C/40C) 17,062
Does the M5 improve AI performance?
AI performance has also been significantly upgraded by new neural accelerators. In Geekbench AI, the M5 MacBook Pro not only outperformed the M4 MacBook Pro, but even the M4 Pro-powered model, by 12%. The M5 also dramatically improved image generation performance, nearly doubling what the M4 MacBook Pro could achieve in Procyon Stable Diffusion 1.5.
Geekbench AI (Neural Engine Quantitative Score)
Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 10C/10C), Low Power Mode 35,593Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M3, Late 2023) 36,992Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M4, 10C/10C) 51,002Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M4 Pro, 14C/20C) 51,356Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 10C/10C) 57,528
Even with all this extra performance, the M5 proves its worth. Battery testing of the M5 MacBook Pro showed that the new model increased runtime by a full hour, extending it to nearly 23 hours, compared to the M4 MacBook Pro’s roughly 22 hours of battery life.
Missing upgrade options
while New M5 chip It’s certainly a step up from the M4 and previous Core chips, and it won’t be an instant upgrade for everyone who uses Apple Silicon. At the individual base level, the M5 chipset is a good upgrade, but at the moment, there is only one version.
Previous Apple chipsets received Pro and Max versions that significantly increase the number of CPU and GPU. In some cases, a larger number of cores can still outperform a smaller number of higher-performance cores.
If you want a 16-inch MacBook Pro now, it should be the M4 model.
next to The M4 Pro chip in the MacBook Pro 16Combining 10 high-performance cores and 4 efficient cores, the M5’s multi-core performance actually lags behind by 21% in Geekbench 6 and 36% in Cinebench R24. The M4 Pro also features a 20-core GPU, which outperforms the M5’s 10-core GPU by an average of more than 30% in the Cinebench, Geekbench, and 3DMark tests.
For now, the M5 lineup may be a significant upgrade to those coming from previous M-series chips, but we’ll have to wait for the M5 Pro or M5 Max chips to see how the new silicon fully competes with the old.