Just bought a new MBP, slightly disappointed about one thing

[whitestar27]

Picked up the 14" base M5 MBP with 1Tb disk and 16Gb RAM a couple of weeks ago and it's a beast. Glad I listened to my local electronics store's staff who explained why it would be better for what I need to do (heavy photo and video work) than the 15" MBA I was looking at. I'm very happy with it except for one minor detail - I didn't realise the base model M5 MBP only has Wifi 6E.

I've got a fast Wifi 7 network at home with a tri band Ubiquiti AP and a 2.5GB ethernet network and it's a little disappointing that I can't use it to it's fullest extent when the base MBA has Wifi 7. I'm still getting about 1.5 GB throughput on the MBP over wifi which I am reasonably happy with but it would have been nice to have the full experience. No other complaints about the machine though, my last laptop was a 12" Macbook, the one with 1 port, and the new one is about 13x faster lol

In any event I couldn't have afforded the extra for the next model MBP up from base so it's academic but still a little irritating. I might have to get a TB docking station and connect directly to my 2.5GB switch

 

[Alameda]

Amazon has Thunderbolt to 2.5 Gbe adapters for about $20 USD.

I have a Thunderbolt hub myself. Another difference is that your model is 40 Gb/s Thunderbolt, but that is still very fast.

My TB hub creates a one cable desktop for monitor, keyboard, mouse, webcam, Ethernet, card reader and power. I love it. I don’t attach storage thru the hub because it kelp ejecting the disks but everything else is great. So I attach my SSDs only when needed. It’s nice but they cost quite a lot more and perhaps you count have spent that money to get the M5 Pro version.

 

[conmee]

Picked up the 14" base M5 MBP with 1Tb disk and 16Gb RAM a couple of weeks ago and it's a beast. Glad I listened to my local electronics store's staff who explained why it would be better for what I need to do (heavy photo and video work) than the 15" MBA I was looking at. I'm very happy with it except for one minor detail - I didn't realise the base model M5 MBP only has Wifi 6E.

I've got a fast Wifi 7 network at home with a tri band Ubiquiti AP and a 2.5GB ethernet network and it's a little disappointing that I can't use it to it's fullest extent when the base MBA has Wifi 7. I'm still getting about 1.5 GB throughput on the MBP over wifi which I am reasonably happy with but it would have been nice to have the full experience. No other complaints about the machine though, my last laptop was a 12" Macbook, the one with 1 port, and the new one is about 13x faster lol

In any event I couldn't have afforded the extra for the next model MBP up from base so it's academic but still a little irritating. I might have to get a TB docking station and connect directly to my 2.5GB switch

Well, the silver lining is that Apple's N1 chip doesn't achieve maximum (theoretical) throughput for Wi-Fi 7. So you might not be missing as much as you thought. I only have a WiFi 6E access point but my 2019 15" Intel MBP with WiFi 5 gets faster throughput than my new M5 Pro with Wi-Fi 7 even with both sitting right next to my access point. 2019 MBP gets about 1,300Mbps while the M5 Pro gets about 800Mbps. Anyhow, some other folks have also experienced similar performance.

But I feel you, it kinda sucks that the M5 MBA has WiFi 7 and BT 6 while the base M5 MBP has WiFi 6E and BT 5.3.

 

[whitestar27]

Well, the silver lining is that Apple's N1 chip doesn't achieve maximum (theoretical) throughput for Wi-Fi 7. So you might not be missing as much as you thought. I only have a WiFi 6E access point but my 2019 15" Intel MBP with WiFi 5 gets faster throughput than my new M5 Pro with Wi-Fi 7 even with both sitting right next to my access point. 2019 MBP gets about 1,300Mbps while the M5 Pro gets about 800Mbps. Anyhow, some other folks have also experienced similar performance.

But I feel you, it kinda sucks that the M5 MBA has WiFi 7 and BT 6 while the base M5 MBP has WiFi 6E and BT 5.3.

View attachment 2637344

OK so the big benefit of Wifi 7 is the ability to use 320 channel width, plus the MLO (multi link) which i wouldn't expect them to support, but if it doesn't do 320 then it's no better than the 160 I am using now

 

[benholt]

6E real-world on my M3 Max 16" pulls ~1.4 Gbps to a UniFi 6E AP — not the spec ceiling but close to what's actually useful at the client. The real gap with 7 right now is MLO and 320 MHz channels, and most current N1 implementations are leaving meaningful chunks of that on the table anyway, which lines up with what conmee saw. If you're moving big project files over the network regularly, the cheaper win is the CalDigit TB4 → 2.5 GbE adapter (about $80 and just works), or a 5 GbE puck if your switch can feed it. The day-to-day delta between 6E and 7 right now is a lot smaller than the spec sheets suggest.

 

[chabig]

I've got a fast Wifi 7 network at home with a tri band Ubiquiti AP and a 2.5GB ethernet network and it's a little disappointing that I can't use it to it's fullest extent when the base MBA has Wifi 7.

Unless you’re transferring a lot of data among devices on your local network, I don’t think you’ll notice any difference. Internet traffic is still going to be dependent upon connections outside your control, and servers at the other end. I doubt there is anything you’ll connect to that going to send data at 2.5 Gbps.

 

[EllZ89]

Picked up the 14" base M5 MBP with 1Tb disk and 16Gb RAM a couple of weeks ago and it's a beast. Glad I listened to my local electronics store's staff who explained why it would be better for what I need to do (heavy photo and video work) than the 15" MBA I was looking at. I'm very happy with it except for one minor detail - I didn't realise the base model M5 MBP only has Wifi 6E.

I've got a fast Wifi 7 network at home with a tri band Ubiquiti AP and a 2.5GB ethernet network and it's a little disappointing that I can't use it to it's fullest extent when the base MBA has Wifi 7. I'm still getting about 1.5 GB throughput on the MBP over wifi which I am reasonably happy with but it would have been nice to have the full experience. No other complaints about the machine though, my last laptop was a 12" Macbook, the one with 1 port, and the new one is about 13x faster lol

In any event I couldn't have afforded the extra for the next model MBP up from base so it's academic but still a little irritating. I might have to get a TB docking station and connect directly to my 2.5GB switch

id feel the same way you do if i had a router capable of delivering speeds greater than what my client can, but out of interest, what are you using that 1.5gbps is potentially subpar?

 

[whitestar27]

Unless you’re transferring a lot of data among devices on your local network, I don’t think you’ll notice any difference. Internet traffic is still going to be dependent upon connections outside your control, and servers at the other end. I doubt there is anything you’ll connect to that going to send data at 2.5 Gbps.

Yeah I have a NAS and a Mac on the network with a SSD that's shared on the network

 

[whitestar27]

id feel the same way you do if i had a router capable of delivering speeds greater than what my client can, but out of interest, what are you using that 1.5gbps is potentially subpar?

As I just posted in reply to someone else I have a NAS and a machine with an SSD on the network. My router has only got a 1Gb ethernet port but that's not what I want the speed for, it's local machines talking to each other

 

[McScooby]

Unless you’re transferring a lot of data among devices on your local network, I don’t think you’ll notice any difference. Internet traffic is still going to be dependent upon connections outside your control, and servers at the other end. I doubt there is anything you’ll connect to that going to send data at 2.5 Gbps.

I regularly pull 290MB/s on the Studio, horses for courses.

 

[curnalpanic]

Summary:

Air: bad display
Pro M5: bad Wifi
Pro M5 Pro/Max: too expensive

Such shame.

 

[conmee]

Summary:

Air: bad display
Pro M5: bad Wifi
Pro M5 Pro/Max: too expensive

Such shame.

Think you made a typo. The BASE M5 has the "bad" WiFi which is really just the older WiFi6E spec. The M5 Pro has WiFi7 and Thunderbolt 5 (BASE M5 also only has Thunderbolt 4).

I'd give up theoretical WiFi speed for the better display on the BASE M5 if that was the model/price range I was looking at. I think in @whitestar27 case, they may see improved WiFi speed, but given Apple's N1 chip doesn't support the full WiFi7 standard, it could be hit or miss as to any real-world improvement. Having said that, some folks here using the latest WiFi7 access points are seeing increased speeds. So it is a shame that the BASE M5 doesn't have Apple's N1 just for the chance at better WiFi speeds.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Picked up the 14" base M5 MBP with 1Tb disk and 16Gb RAM a couple of weeks ago and it's a beast. Glad I listened to my local electronics store's staff who explained why it would be better for what I need to do (heavy photo and video work) than the 15" MBA I was looking at.

I'm wondering why though. With the base M5, the fan does even less than it did in prior generations of the base Mx 13 and 14-inch MacBook Pros to combat thermal throttling. It seems like you'll either need an M5 Pro or be fine (performance-wise) with an M5 MacBook Air. The notion of a base M5 14-inch making a difference in terms of raw performance to the point where it fits the bill and a MacBook Air would not sort of goes counter to everything that has been written about these models.

 

[conmee]

I'm wondering why though. With the base M5, the fan does even less than it did in prior generations of the base Mx 13 and 14-inch MacBook Pros to combat thermal throttling. It seems like you'll either need an M5 Pro or be fine (performance-wise) with an M5 MacBook Air. The notion of a base M5 14-inch making a difference in terms of raw performance to the point where it fits the bill and a MacBook Air would not sort of goes counter to everything that has been written about these models.

While benchmark results are pretty much the same between 15" M5 MBA and 14" M5 MBP due to using the same SoC (13" M5 MBA has 2 fewer GPU cores btw), M5 MBA multi-core and GPU performance will drop around 15%-20% over longer sustained workloads (>5-10 minutes). And battery life is better with the 14" M5 MBP mainly due to a larger battery, despite the 14" M5 MBP having ProMotion. Check out this video starting at 15:55 for throttling discussion.

IMO it's a close/tough decision. I would get the 14" M5 MBP only if I really wanted ProMotion (love it) and I ran long sustained workloads or played long gaming sessions. Otherwise, save the money and go with 15" M5 MBA.

 

[steve217]

Here’s some numbers to add to the discussion.

For a handbrake encode on a 29GB file (MakeMKV extract of Galaxy Quest), it took:

MacBook Air M5 - 1:13:07
MacBook Pro M4 base - 50:27
Mac Studio M4 Max 16c - 36:23

For browsing and other normal tasks, the M5 Air definitely feels snappier, but for something involving sustained grunt, the MBP definitely is the better choice.

 

[whitestar27]

I'm wondering why though. With the base M5, the fan does even less than it did in prior generations of the base Mx 13 and 14-inch MacBook Pros to combat thermal throttling. It seems like you'll either need an M5 Pro or be fine (performance-wise) with an M5 MacBook Air. The notion of a base M5 14-inch making a difference in terms of raw performance to the point where it fits the bill and a MacBook Air would not sort of goes counter to everything that has been written about these models.

I should have been more clear. It's nothing to do with which one is faster but if I have a heavy rendering task for instance, the Air will throttle long before the Pro as it's fanless. At least that is what I've read

 

[whitestar27]

While benchmark results are pretty much the same between 15" M5 MBA and 14" M5 MBP due to using the same SoC (13" M5 MBA has 2 fewer GPU cores btw), M5 MBA multi-core and GPU performance will drop around 15%-20% over longer sustained workloads (>5-10 minutes). And battery life is better with the 14" M5 MBP mainly due to a larger battery, despite the 14" M5 MBP having ProMotion. Check out this video starting at 15:55 for throttling discussion.

IMO it's a close/tough decision. I would get the 14" M5 MBP only if I really wanted ProMotion (love it) and I ran long sustained workloads or played long gaming sessions. Otherwise, save the money and go with 15" M5 MBA.

Isn't the screen a lot better / brighter on the MBP? I seem to remember something about 500 vs 1600 nits max

 

[steve217]

Screen on the MBP is better/brighter. HDR works.

However, the screen on the MBA M5 is no slouch. No promotion and only 60hz, but still brighter with better color than the M1. Closer to the MBP screen than the M1 screen.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I should have been more clear. It's nothing to do with which one is faster but if I have a heavy rendering task for instance, the Air will throttle long before the Pro as it's fanless. At least that is what I've read

That used to be the case and maybe with the M4 versions, that was the case. Everything I've read on the base M5 14-inch is that the fan really doesn't do much to combat throttling and that Apple is at the point where they ought to either consider a second fan for these 14-inch models or they ought to give up on them. Sh*t or get off the pot, if you will.

 

[curnalpanic]

Think you made a typo.

No, I meant MacBook Pro, not M5 Pro. Very confusing when both are named "Pro".

 

[conmee]

... consider a second fan for these 14-inch models ...

Definitely.