MyGeekScore: To put it mildly, the two most important changes under the hood of the M5 and M4 generations of the Apple MacBook Pro are the 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU capability. Both chips are similar in terms of the number of cores but with huge performance improvements: Apple claims a multithreading speed improvement of 20% over the M4 and graphics performance that is 1.6 times quicker than the previous version.

Memory bandwidth increases in boost in going from the M4, which has 120GB/s, to 153GB/s for the M5-roughly a 30% increase.

Pushing the M5 model, we also saw an upgrade for the SSD subsystem, which supports up to 4TB storage options with “up to 2″ faster SSD performance than the M4 generation”, as per Apple.

While there are clearly specification improvements to the M5, one ever wonders whether at all these specifications improvements lead to anything significant to your workflow at all.

Design, Display And User Everyday Experience

The caveat is that form factor, display, ports and battery life configurations between the MacBook Pro M4 and M5 are pretty much the same. Everything from the 14-inch Liquid Retina XDR display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, dimensions, and weight have been migrated from the M4 generation.

If you are upgrading from an M4 MacBook Pro, the daily experience will almost feel the same in most common functions of web browsing, office productivity, and streaming.

So there are no really noticeable changes in terms of feel and usability with most users; it is all about unseen power with the M5.

When Are Upgrades Worth Considering?

It would also be prudent to consider the M5 MacBook Pro as an upgrade if any of the following situations describe you:

Heavy creative workloads (video editing, 3D rendering or a large photo library) take up your time while you are working on demanding tasks; hence more bandwidth, GPU uplift and faster storage will literally save you time in an upgrade.

You’re banking on a machine that will last you for the long haul, thus need a chipset with some room for headroom in future-proofing (especially with on-device AI workflows).

In the first case, your current machine is an older model (M2 or earlier)-in this case, you’re going to feel an absolutely massive leap.

On the other hand, if you already have the M4 MacBook Pro and your workload is moderate (coding, office work, light media editing), you probably won’t experience a huge difference.General consensus among reviewers is that the upgrade from M4 → M5 is not as compelling as previous generation jumps.

Verdict: Is It Worth Upgrading At This Point?

Surely, for anybody that prioritizes raw performance, destined for future-proofing and heavy workloads, then the M5 MacBook Pro fits the bill-in simple terms, an investment that would pay dividends. If you are in the M4 currently, or if you have lighter usage, then save for the next big generational leap (rumored to be M6), or just skip this upgrade altogether and spend it on something else like more RAM, external monitor setup, etc.

In a nutshell: the winner is you-the right decision certainly depends on how you use that machine.

Reference: PCMag.com