Advice needed - MBP Pro M4 Max - buy it or M5 or wait for M5 Max?

[Radek.w]

I’m contemplating a purchase of a new 14-inch MBP for a few months already. I did my research and I decided to go with M4 Max (16-core CPU, 40-core GPU), 64 GB of RAM, and 2 TB of storage as this setup will allow me to do some of my work with ML/LLM/AI locally. I can get this config for ~4850 USD where I live. I was holding back a bit as I was hoping Apple would release new laptops in October. And they did, but only the base model. With 32 GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a charger, it costs ~3100 USD.

When is Apple going to release M5 Max MBPs? How much better will they be vs. M4 Max?

Because now I’m a bit torn between 3 options:
- Buy M4 Max and accept that Apple will release a better device in a few months.
- Buy M5, use it for a few months, and sell it when Apple releases M5 Max (it should be easier than selling used M4 Max at that point).
- Buy M5 as a permanent option with the assumption that I won’t be doing any of my “AI” work locally.

On top of the “AI” use cases (mostly via PyTorch), I need this machine for Xcode, Android Studio, Cursor, and a bunch of other dev-related things. Not sure if the basic M5 will be powerful enough to handle those though. What should I do?

 

[casperes1996]

Base M5 would give you a poor-ish experience compared to M4 Max with your use case. It’d still be okay. I use M1 Pro at work with Xcode and Android studio all the time and it works fine. But M4 Max at home office is a lot better. A lot.

The performance difference between M4 Max and the future M5 Max can most likely be pretty accurately estimated by the delta between M4 and M5 in percent applied to the M4 Max. It depends on what metrics you look at but can be decently substantial. Anywhere from 10% to 45% or more.

I would wait but it depends how urgently you need it.

 

[JSRinUK]

I do a lot of hobbyist AI/LLM work and my primary advice would be to go for the highest bandwidth and most RAM which, right now, is the M4 Max with 128GB. (Or M3 Ultra). However, in a laptop format, you’ll be seeing a fair bit of heat and a big reduction in battery life.

For light-use cases, you can make sacrifices (I also do some of this on my M4 Pro MBP 24GB), but if AI/LLM is what you’re into then your current shortlist should include the Studio with 128GB RAM.

I would not buy the base model (M4 or M5) due to memory bandwidth. AI/LLM will work, they’re still great machines, but you’ll be constrained.

 

[iSuzan]

If you thinking for a few months already I would wait for the M5 Max.

The M5 will be available tomorrow, right? So there will be plenty of tests for this machine you can watch and see if it would fit to you.

 

[maflynn]

The M5 will be available tomorrow, right? So there will be plenty of tests for this machine you can watch and see if it would fit to you.

Sage advice, wait and see how the benchmark is trending.

With that said, its doubtful a straight up Mx processor will beat out a Max, so the decision is by the M4 Max or wait for the M5 max. The old adage applies - if you can wait, then wait, if you must buy now, then buy now. We have no idea when the Max is coming, many people speculate that it will be 1st qtr 2026, that means waiting up to 6 months - and that's IF it comes out in Q1 of 2026

 

[The Game 161]

unless you need it now i would say people should wait for the OLED macbook pro end of next year with the new re-design

 

[haralds]

If you have an acceptable "driver," I would wait. It is often not just the performance, but also improved minimum configs at the same price.
I would not configure a MacBook Pro with anything but a Pro or Max chip.

 

[itsLouieV]

was currently in the same situation (but with a different workflow). Upgrading from an M1 Max. I purchased a M5 MacBook Pro yesterday just to get an idea of how it held up compared to my m1 max and was pleasantly surprised. Ultimately I will be returning it and waiting for the M5 max to come out. The GPU capabilities of the M5 convinced me that I should probably wait for the m5 max over the M4. If you are currently using something that you can get by on for a few more months I'd suggest to wait it out, but if you aren't, or need something now I'd go m4 max.