Hi. I have an old 2015 MacBook Pro that has been an excellent workhorse. I am finally biting the bullet and going to get a new one. My research has led me to think an M5 Pro 15-Core. My question is: do I need the 48GB, or will the 24GB suffice? What difference will I experience between the two? I am a medium-level user, but as you can see, I like to keep my MacBook for a while, so 'future ready' is a factor. I appreciate any advice or opinion.
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14-inch MacBook M5 Pro 15-Core - 24GB or 48GB?
- Thread starter bokkestu
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Earlier this year, I picked up a 16-inch MacBook Pro with the 18-core M5 Pro chip, 48 GB of RAM and a TB of storage. It’s been a great machine. Good enough, in fact, that if I end up never replacing my M2 Max Mac Studio, the 16-inch MBP could become my main computer.
Having said all that, I don’t take the big, heavy 16-inch machine on the road much. It lives on another floor of my home from the Mac Studio. And the machine I upgraded to the new MBP from was a 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro with 24GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. I almost wish I didn’t trade in the 14-inch laptop because it was a great, portable set-up.
If I were to buy a 14-inch MBP today - either to replace or augment my 16-incher - I’d be right about where you are now. I’d go with the 15-core M5 Pro because most people don’t need anything more. Heck, a standard M5 chip is probably enough. But even the base Pro chip gives you broader memory bandwidth, which can be very helpful. Also, the MBP with base M5 has only one cooling fan while both M5 Pro versions have two fans.
Yes, a 1 TB SSD (it’s faster with the M5 family than with the M4s) should be fine.
Now… to your real question: 24 or 48 gigs of RAM? I can tell you that, for almost anything you’re likely come up against today, 24 GB will be fine. You don’t sound like a guy who’ll be working with LLMs. But if paying extra for 48 GBs won’t be a burden, I’d say that’s the ticket for a five-to-seven year service outlook... or longer.
If paying for 48 GBs will be too painful, then go with 24 and enjoy. Also, note that even MacBook Pros with the base M5 chip only have WiFi 6E. The M5 Pros - even the 15-core version - have WiFi 7.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Having said all that, I don’t take the big, heavy 16-inch machine on the road much. It lives on another floor of my home from the Mac Studio. And the machine I upgraded to the new MBP from was a 14-inch M4 Pro MacBook Pro with 24GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. I almost wish I didn’t trade in the 14-inch laptop because it was a great, portable set-up.
If I were to buy a 14-inch MBP today - either to replace or augment my 16-incher - I’d be right about where you are now. I’d go with the 15-core M5 Pro because most people don’t need anything more. Heck, a standard M5 chip is probably enough. But even the base Pro chip gives you broader memory bandwidth, which can be very helpful. Also, the MBP with base M5 has only one cooling fan while both M5 Pro versions have two fans.
Yes, a 1 TB SSD (it’s faster with the M5 family than with the M4s) should be fine.
Now… to your real question: 24 or 48 gigs of RAM? I can tell you that, for almost anything you’re likely come up against today, 24 GB will be fine. You don’t sound like a guy who’ll be working with LLMs. But if paying extra for 48 GBs won’t be a burden, I’d say that’s the ticket for a five-to-seven year service outlook... or longer.
If paying for 48 GBs will be too painful, then go with 24 and enjoy. Also, note that even MacBook Pros with the base M5 chip only have WiFi 6E. The M5 Pros - even the 15-core version - have WiFi 7.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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Tell us about your workhorse? How much RAM does it have? What do you use it for? How do you expect your use to change?
Having asked that, it will always be true that in some way 48GB is "better" than 24GB. But may not be needed.
I take it that you have decided the 14" screen is big enough and on how much disk to get.
Do you make use of the mobility or does it sit in one place all the time? If you make use of mobility, make sure you get a large enough SSD for current and future use - 1TB or more. If it sits in one place consider a Mini plus screen.
If the MBP feels even occasionally slightly slow, you will be blown away by the performance.
Thank you. I am thinking of the 48GB as it should allow me to be future-ready as applications get bigger and need more RAM over time.
The workhorse has 16GB. I use it for all the usual MS work apps: Teams, Copilot, etc. I often have several apps and tabs open at the same time. I also use Claude quite a lot for coding. I have decided to go to 14-inch as I travel more than I used to am feeling the workhorse is a touch big. I may miss the bigger screen. I do have a window laptop that is 14 and am getting good with it. I will go for a 1TB SSD. One of the biggest issues with the old workhorse is that I cannot update the OS and therefore a number of apps.
One final thought. I don’t know if you’re ordering directly from Apple or buying at an Apple Store or other retailer. But if all of the 48GB/1TB MBPs in stock have the 18-core M5 Pro chip, I’d just go with that if you can afford it. That was the case when I bought my 16-inch MBP.
Ben J.
macrumors 65816
Looking at the options in the mac store here in Norway, it seems to me that in order to get more than 24GB ram on the MBP you'll have to get the one with the M5 MAX chip, increasing the total price by roughly 60%. Also, I think a MAX chip with a custom amount of ram will be considered 'built-to-order' and may take many extra weeks to be made ready and shipped from China.
I use a few pretty ram-intensive apps on my 24GB M4 pro, and I never have problems with too little memory; Avid Pro Tools with large orchestral sample libraries, Adobe Lightroom w/thousands of raw images. And if you really don't need to have several ram-eating apps running at once, remember that these machines are so fast that quitting and relaunching apps takes only seconds.
Of course, if you have the money to spend, the M5 MAX w/48GB ram will be a fantastic machine.
OTOH, if you're not swimming in money, you could save a lot by getting the Pro chip with 24GB. In my country, we have consumer laws that lets me return an item like this, within 14 days, no questions asked. Should you not have this option, or miss the deadline, I'm sure you would be able to sell it easily, and lose less than 10% in the process.
I use a few pretty ram-intensive apps on my 24GB M4 pro, and I never have problems with too little memory; Avid Pro Tools with large orchestral sample libraries, Adobe Lightroom w/thousands of raw images. And if you really don't need to have several ram-eating apps running at once, remember that these machines are so fast that quitting and relaunching apps takes only seconds.
Of course, if you have the money to spend, the M5 MAX w/48GB ram will be a fantastic machine.
OTOH, if you're not swimming in money, you could save a lot by getting the Pro chip with 24GB. In my country, we have consumer laws that lets me return an item like this, within 14 days, no questions asked. Should you not have this option, or miss the deadline, I'm sure you would be able to sell it easily, and lose less than 10% in the process.
Probably varies across the world. In Australia, I can order a 14" 48GB with either 15 or 18 core M5 Pro. 64GB requires the 18 core M5 Pro. No need for an M5 Max unless you want 128GB.
My estimate is that you would manage quite well with 24GB, but that 48GB would be more future proof. What will coding look like in 5 to 10 years??
inventor7777
macrumors member
It depends on how long you plan to use it. If you are wanting to keep it for a really long time like your current one, it's probably worth it to get more RAM. However, if your workflow today fits comfortably in 16, then it may well fit just fine in 24GB.
It also depends on if you plan on doing more resource intensive tasks on your new Mac. E.g local AI, 3D design, etc.
It also depends on if you plan on doing more resource intensive tasks on your new Mac. E.g local AI, 3D design, etc.
Thanks. I have ordered the 48GB M5 Pro. Excited for it to arrive