M5 vs M1 Max vs M2 Ultra - Lightroom Test - Shocking Results

[fpenta]

Hello guys,

Today I received my new MacBook Pro 14” with the M5 chip, 24 GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD.


I immediately ran a test with Lightroom by exporting 752 edited Nikon Z8 (45 MP) RAW photos and compared the results with my other two Macs…a MacBook Pro 16” (M1 Max, 32 GB/1 TB) and a Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 64 GB/1 TB).


Here are the results:

• 14” M5 – 13 minutes 40 seconds
• 16” M1 Max – 20 minutes 15 seconds
• Mac Studio M2 Ultra – 4 minutes 34 seconds

I was honestly blown away by the speed of the M5..
I couldn’t hear any fan noise during the export, but I did notice them spinning up during the import into Lightroom.

 

[headlessmike]

Hello guys,

Today I received my new MacBook Pro 14” with the M5 chip, 24 GB RAM, and 1 TB SSD.


I immediately ran a test with Lightroom by exporting 752 edited Nikon Z8 (45 MP) RAW photos and compared the results with my other two Macs…a MacBook Pro 16” (M1 Max, 32 GB/1 TB) and a Mac Studio (M2 Ultra, 64 GB/1 TB).


Here are the results:

• 14” M5 – 13 minutes 40 seconds
• 16” M1 Max – 20 minutes 15 seconds
• Mac Studio M2 Ultra – 4 minutes 34 seconds

I was honestly blown away by the speed of the M5..
I couldn’t hear any fan noise during the export, but I did notice them spinning up during the import into Lightroom.

Is there is a 1 missing from the M2 result?

 

[fpenta]

Is there is a 1 missing from the M2 result?

M2 Ultra, not M2

 

[m1maverick]

M2 Ultra, not M2

I think he means should the time be 14 minutes 34 seconds instead of 4 minutes 34 seconds.

 

[fpenta]

I think he means should the time be 14 minutes 34 seconds instead of 4 minutes 34 seconds.

No, it was 4 minutes and 34 sec.
The M5 is fast, but can not be faster than the M2 Ultra😄

 

[m1maverick]

No, it was 4 minutes and 34 sec.
The M5 is fast, but can not be faster than the M2 Ultra😄

Would it be possible for you to try and trace down where the improvement is? I'm wondering if the M5 is faster because of the M5 or the systems faster SSD as I believe these two things are the largest contributors to performance increases.

 

[Boppi]

Would it be possible for you to try and trace down where the improvement is? I'm wondering if the M5 is faster because of the M5 or the systems faster SSD as I believe these two things are the largest contributors to performance increases.

One might infer the huge jump for the M2 Ultra would be it's enormous 800GB/s rated memory bandwidth compared to the M5's 153GB/s.

 

[fpenta]

One might infer the huge jump for the M2 Ultra would be it's enormous 800GB/s rated memory bandwidth compared to the M5's 153GB/s.

But the M1 Max has 400 gb/s memory bandwidth and still is way behind

 

[rb2112]

But the M1 Max has 400 gb/s memory bandwidth and still is way behind

CPU frequency went up M1 (3.2 GHz) to M2 (3.49 GHz) to M3 (4.05 GHz) to M4 (4.4 GHz) to M5 (4.6 Ghz). Instruction set improvements may have been made along the way, but I never read anything about that.