Review: MacBook Pro 16-inch (M5 Max)

My test unit was provided by Apple for review. It was the 16-inch model with the M5 Max under the hood. As always, you’re able to get the M5 Max in the 14-inch size, and that’s where I prefer it. You need a 16-inch when you’re in pro-level applications all day and don’t plan on using an external monitor, but 4.7 pounds is a lot to pack around, and it doesn’t exactly fit on a table at a coffee shop.

There are no changes to the display, speakers, or webcam, but all remain top-of-class. That’s especially true of the speakers. I’ve always said the six-speaker audio on the 16-inch MacBook Pro is good enough to throw a party with and is likely louder, bassier, and fuller-sounding than any Bluetooth speaker you own. The display still comes with the optional $150 upgrade for the nano-texture glass, which is totally worth the money. It’s as clear as a glossy screen and deflects light and glare like a matte one.

Tandem OLED is reportedly coming. The color accuracy, clarity, and low input lag of OLED is unmatched, but beating the current Mini-LED MacBook Pro will be a tall order. It gets fantastic HDR performance, topping out at a peak brightness of 1,600 nits. Games, videos, and movies look gorgeous.

Similarly, the claimed 24 hours of battery life also have changed from previous generations. And although it won’t last that long in your daily workflow, it’s in another league compared to alternative Windows laptops such as the Asus ProArt P16. Those laptops can compete on power, but not on battery life.

The ports also haven’t changed in this model. However, Thunderbolt 5 debuted in the MacBook Pro in the previous generation, and it’s only become more useful over the past year as more accessory makers and docking stations become available that can take advantage of the higher bandwidth. I still wish there were some more Thunderbolt 5 external SSDs out there to put to use those higher bandwidth speeds.

This Is Outrageous

Let’s get to the only thing that really matters in this model: the performance of the M5 Max. Both the M5 Pro and M5 Max build upon the improvements already latent in the base M5 chip, such as the improved single-core performance and significant power-up for the GPU. The chips are stitched together using a new Fusion architecture found previously on the Ultra chips in the Mac Studio desktop. The M5 Max is two pieces of silicon, a significant change from Apple’s previous strategy of developing one singular, super-efficient chip. I don’t believe we’re really seeing the fruit of that change just yet, but it will likely be an important key to the direction the company’s chips will go in the future.

All that to say, the performance on the M5 Max MacBook Pro is stellar. And by stellar, I mean outrageous. And by outrageous, I mean it’s so fast it’s hard to know quite what to throw at it. It’s record-setting in terms of the standard CPU benchmarks like Cinebench and Geekbench 6. And remember: You can get an extra 7 percent of multicore performance when you use the High Power mode, which cranks up the fans.