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M5 or M4 pro?

fpenta said:
My reasoning for going with the M5 instead of the M4 Pro:

- I already have a Mac Studio M2 Ultra as my main desktop, so I don’t really need top-tier performance in a laptop. I’d rather have better battery life, and bigger storage.

- In Europe, the M4 Pro costs €500 more for the same storage, so that alone doesn’t make it worth it and for roughly the same price, the M5 gives me 1 TB instead of 512 GB.

- The M5 is about 1.5 years newer than the M4 Pro, which is a big deal in the computer world..better efficiency, and more longevity in software support.

- It’s actually the biggest generational jump in Apple Silicon since 2021. Performance differences are small, but in some workloads the M5 even surpasses the M4 Pro.

- The encoder has been completely redesigned for the first time, it’s faster and more efficient for video editing, with better support for newer codecs.

- Battery life is clearly superior. Reviews show several extra hours of use compared to the M4 Pro.

- Thermals are improved..the M5 runs slightly cooler even with only one fan, while the M4 Pro tends to get just as hot (or hotter) with two fans. This means it’s simply a more efficient chip overall, delivering similar performance with less power. That's a strong point in my opinion

- The SSD is about twice as fast, which helps a lot when macOS starts using swap memory or during large file operations.

- Thunderbolt 5 is absolutely useless. We haven’t even reached the full potential of TB4 yet, so I’m not sure how we could really benefit from TB5.

Most reviews compare the 16 GB configs, not the 24 GB or 32 GB ones, so it’s not really a fair comparison...yet the M5 still performs amazingly well.

The M5 Pro will obviously outperform the M5 and M4 Pro, but if it keeps the same configuration options as the M4 Pro, there won’t be any 32 GB variant...only 24 GB or 48 GB if you go for the M5 Max, which adds quite a lot of cost. Or maybe the M5 Pro could start from 32 GB, but since the M4 already had 16 GB as the base option (just like the M5 now), I think they’ll probably keep the same base RAM sizes for the next generation. Apple has always been quite stingy when it comes to RAM.
Click to expand...

I agree with all your points , especially the fact that M5 is newer technology and more efficient. Its really stange that M4 pro didnt manage to stay cooler with 2 fans. I just hope the M5 fans are not much louder during heavy load.

I think i can get over not having thunderbolt 5 for now.
Also one thing i am considering is M5 will have a better resale price in year or two if want to upgrade
The average person does not understand or care about M4 Pro having more cores or fans, they rather buy the newer M5 from you.
 
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Need some advice on my next MacBook purchase


Hey everyone,
I’m a trainer and I use a projector every day for my sessions. I usually have several PowerPoint decks open, around 20 Chrome tabs, and I play some videos during the training.


I also do a bit of video editing now and then — nothing crazy, usually no more than 4 streams at once.


Right now I’m using a 16" MacBook Pro M3 Pro (36 GB RAM, 1 TB), but I need something smaller and more portable.
I also need to make the purchase before 2026.


I’m hesitating between a MacBook with an M5 chip (24 GB / 1 TB) or a MacBook Pro M4 Pro (24 GB / 1 TB) — maybe refurbished.


What would you guys recommend?
 
Last edited:
frafra said:
Need some advice on my next MacBook purchase


Hey everyone,
I’m a trainer and I use a projector every day for my sessions. I usually have several PowerPoint decks open, around 20 Chrome tabs, and I play some videos during the training.


I also do a bit of video editing now and then — nothing crazy, usually no more than 4 streams at once.


Right now I’m using a 16" MacBook Pro M3 Pro (36 GB RAM, 1 TB), but I need something smaller and more portable.
I also need to make the purchase before 2026.


I’m hesitating between a MacBook with an M5 chip (24 GB / 1 TB) or a MacBook Pro M4 Pro (24 GB / 1 TB) — maybe refurbished.


What would you guys recommend?
Click to expand...

For the stated uses, I would say both computers would do equally great. Small nudge to M5 because it will probably get an extra year of OS support, and has better battery life.
 
Yeah, I kind of think the same — my main activity only really uses single-core performance, so I’m not sure I’d actually notice the benefit of the Pro chip in my day-to-day work.
 
For those who think Thunderbolt 5 is overkill/useless, I for one am very interested in (hopefully sooner rather than later) being able to connect my MacBook to a 6K 120 Hz display which I believe will require Thunderbolt 5. I think we are on the cusp of seeing these displays hit the market in the next year or so.
 
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