Apple’s flagship 16-inch MacBook Professional has reigned supreme on this planet of creator-focused laptops since its M-series processor overhaul in 2021. Since then, we’ve principally seen the identical design with year-over-year chip bumps and small refinements. “If it ain’t broke,” proper?
If you wish to know all the pieces about this machine, you possibly can learn our assessment of the last-gen M4 Professional / M4 Max fashions — it just about all holds up with the M5 fashions that exchange them. However this time round, along with the standard testing and use of the brand new M5 Max mannequin, it’s price asking a selected new query: whether or not it’s best to contemplate a brand new MacBook Professional in case you’re presently utilizing an M1 Professional or M1 Max mannequin.
I see you within the feedback part, 2021 MacBook homeowners, questioning when an improve is price it. And I’m right here for you. We acquired our arms on some four-and-a-half-year-old MacBook Execs to check them in opposition to Apple’s newest and biggest, and it’s protected to say it’s price upgrading — for a few of you, at the least.
$3899
The Good
- Nonetheless the most effective
- Wonderful efficiency and battery life
- Double the beginning storage, and it’s blisteringly quick
The Unhealthy
- Nonetheless very costly, with a $400 worth enhance over the M4 Max (although you get additional storage)
For 2026, the 16-inch MacBook Professional has sooner processors, Wi-Fi 7 help, and twice-as-fast storage that now begins at greater capacities. The Professional prices $2,699 for an M5 Professional chip with an 18-core CPU and 20-core GPU, “simply” 24GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. At a beginning worth of $3,899, the M5 Max has an 18-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 36GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage — together with double-capacity reminiscence bandwidth over the M5 Professional (for sooner knowledge switch between the CPU and RAM). Our M5 Max check unit is souped up with a 40-core GPU, 128GB of RAM, 4TB of storage, and a Nano-texture anti-glare show, all costing an exorbitant $6,149.
- Display screen: A
- Webcam: A
- Keyboard: B
- Trackpad: A
- Port choice: B
- Audio system: A
- Variety of ugly stickers to take away: 0
The M1 Professional and M1 Max 16-inch MacBook Execs I acquired my arms on for some restricted testing have comparatively quaint specs. The M1 Professional is a 10-core CPU / 16-core GPU mannequin, with 16GB of RAM and 1TB storage (it value $2,699 when new in 2021). And the M1 Max has 10 CPU cores, 32 GPU cores, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage ($3,499 in 2021). Similar to the M5 Max, the unique M1 Max was all about these graphics cores for GPU-intensive workloads.
We put all of those laptops by means of the identical battery of benchmark assessments to seek out out simply how far the M sequence has are available in 5 years. In a nutshell: fairly far. The M5 Max’s single threaded scores in Geekbench 6 and Cinebench 2026 are round 65 to 76 p.c greater than the M1 Max, and its multi-threaded scores in the identical assessments are about 124 to 161 p.c greater. The 40 GPU cores of the M5 Max almost double the M1 Max’s 32-core GPU scores in each Metallic and OpenCL graphics frameworks.
CPU cores
Graphics cores
Geekbench 6 CPU Single
Geekbench 6 CPU Multi
Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)
Geekbench 6 GPU (Metallic)
Cinebench 2026 Single
Cinebench 2026 Multi
PugetBench for Photoshop
PugetBench for Premiere Professional (2.0.0+)
PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve (2.0.0+)
Blender classroom check (seconds, decrease is healthier)
Blender cosmos check
Premiere 4K Export (decrease is healthier)
Sustained SSD reads (MB/s)
Sustained SSD writes (MB/s)
Worth as examined
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M5 Max / 128GB / 4TB184043302914314561322743573489521571615482912494215351 minute, 10 seconds13638.9117814.19$6,149MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M1 Max / 32GB / 1TB1032245613019733071243444463429Not testedNot testedNot testedNot testedNot tested2 minutes, 3 seconds6741.387067.34$3,499MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M1 Professional / 16GB / 1TB101623361194943638713584173158825464276Not tested1626952 minutes, 50 seconds6685.356966.43$2,699
The variations between the M5 Max and M1 Professional are much more stark. The M5 Max scored 76 to 85 p.c greater than the M1 Professional in single-threaded CPU assessments and it greater than triples the M1 Professional’s Metallic and OpenCL GPU scores. In PugetBench assessments for Adobe apps, the M5 Max scored almost twice as excessive in Photoshop and effectively over double in Premiere Professional (141 p.c greater, to be precise). As for SSD learn / write speeds, the M5 Max equally beats each the M1 Professional and M1 Max. It’s greater than twice as quick, simply as Apple payments it. This takes storage that was already quick and kicks it as much as ludicrous velocity.
Proper-side ports: SDXC card slot, Thunderbolt 5, and HDMI.
Left-side ports: MagSafe, two Thunderbolt 5, and a headphone jack.
The one approach to inform a 2026 MacBook Professional aside from others are the brand new legends for Return, Backspace, and so forth. They’re now symbols from iOS. I don’t want it, nevertheless it’s wonderful.
The M1 Professional and M1 Max laptops I borrowed for these assessments each belong to professionals I do know who’re in no rush to improve. The M1 Max is our personal Kevin McShane’s, who tells me it’s nonetheless performing nice for each his video / audio work for The Verge (which is usually 1080p) and the cartoon and animation work he does in Clip Studio Paint and After Results on the aspect. Kevin says he’d solely contemplate upgrading if he had been constantly enhancing native 4K or one thing a lot heftier like 8K. For now, his M1 Max is okay, and I do know many M1 Professional / M1 Max homeowners really feel the identical (sure, I see your feedback). After working these assessments I can say that the M5 Max now affords a large improve, however few really want it. For individuals who do, the brand new MacBook Execs are noticeably sooner by way of uncooked chip, reminiscence, and storage efficiency, and a soar from the M1 technology to an M5 Max and even M5 Professional additionally means getting Thunderbolt 5, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, a a lot improved webcam, and a $150 possibility for an anti-glare display screen.
In my assessment of the M5 MacBook Air, I additionally observed one other sect of M1-generation MacBook Professional homeowners: ones contemplating a “downgrade” to the M5 Air after coming to phrases with an M1 Professional or M1 Max being extra pc than they actually wanted. An M5 Air doesn’t have as good a display screen or expansive a port choice as a MacBook Professional, and its fanless design will throttle efficiency below very heavy and prolonged hundreds, however take a look at the benchmark desk under. On pure efficiency, it’s now a stable various to an M1 Professional if you’d like one thing lighter and cheaper. The 14-inch MacBook Professional with an everyday M5 additionally presents a step up from an M1 Professional, with out sacrificing these “Professional” niceties.
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M5 Max / 128GB / 4TB
MacBook Professional 14 / Apple M5 / 16GB / 1TB
MacBook Air 15 / Apple M5 / 16GB / 1TB
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M1 Professional / 16GB / 1TB
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M1 Max / 32GB / 1TB
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M2 Max / 32GB / 1TB
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M3 Max / 128GB / 8TB
MacBook Professional 16 / Apple M4 Max / 128GB / 4TB
CPU cores1810101010121616Graphics cores4010101632384040Geekbench 6 CPU Single43304208417523362456278731884011Geekbench 6 CPU Multi2914317948165671194913019148332127726422Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)145613490594766143638733078724791480115870Geekbench 6 GPU (Metallic)227435775957603571358124344138285156095192753Cinebench 2026 Single734736727417446Not testedNot tested663Cinebench 2026 Multi89524486341331583429Not testedNot tested7881PugetBench for Photoshop1571612354115138254Not testedNot tested1114713424PugetBench for Premiere Professional (2.0.0+)154829711226186164276Not testedNot testedNot tested145350PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve (2.0.0+)1249425088245378Not testedNot testedNot testedNot tested103051Blender classroom check (seconds, decrease is healthier)154446162Not testedNot tested2219Blender cosmos test35Not testedNot tested695Not testedNot tested4839Premiere 4K Export (decrease is healthier)1 minute, 10 seconds2 minuts, 47 seconds2 minuts, 53 seconds2 minutes, 50 seconds2 minutes, 3 seconds1 minute, 39 seconds1 minute, 30 seconds1 minute, 18 secondsSustained SSD reads (MB/s)13638.917049.457049.456685.356741.38Not tested7191.317340.85Sustained SSD writes (MB/s)17814.197317.67480.556966.437067.34Not tested9126.127969.07Price as examined$6,149$1,949$1,499$2,699$3,499$4,299$7,199$6,149
The M5 Max affords a groundswell of velocity upgrades for the highest p.c of customers who at the moment are feeling the restrictions of a three- or four-year-old laptop computer, however there’s after all nonetheless that looming rumor of an Extremely-like MacBook Professional with a touchscreen OLED presumably coming this yr or subsequent. There’s no hurt in holding out to see if that unicorn is on the horizon, even when like me you’re simply curious how Apple will lastly revamp this design. (How about some enjoyable Neo-like colours, Apple? Execs like shade, too!) However for those who really feel they want extra energy now, the M5 technology of MacBook Execs is a pleasant soar ahead.
Images by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
2026 Apple MacBook Professional 16 M5 Max specs (as reviewed)
- Show: 16.2-inch (3456 x 2234) 120Hz Mini LED, 1,000 nits
- Processor: Apple M5 Max (18-core CPU / 40-core GPU)
- Unified reminiscence: 128GB
- Storage: 4TB SSD
- Webcam: 12-megapixel Heart Stage digicam with Desk View
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6
- Ports: 3x USB-C / Thunderbolt 5, SDXC card slot, HDMI 2.1, MagSafe 3 charging, 3.5mm combo audio jack
- Biometrics: Energy button with Contact ID fingerprint reader
- Weight: 4.7 kilos / 2.14kg
- Dimensions: 14.01 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches / 355.7 x 248.1 x 16.8mm
- Battery: 100Wh
- Worth: $6,149
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