Resolved MacBook M5 Pro or M5 max

[KatieKat78]

Hi there,

Currently have a 14" macbook pro m1 pro 16gb ram and looking forward to upgrading to a 16" MacBook pro M5 pro/max.

I don't know the difference between the pro and the max. But basically this new laptop needs to last me until the end of time. Mostly just browse the web but I am getting into video editing and drawing. Maybe even animating my drawings. Using the apple creative studio.

So, is the M5 max a faster version of the M5 pro?
Or, is it just different where the M5 max is just more optimized for video editing?
Does it make sense to get the max for future proofing my investment?

Money isn't really a problem. At the moment i figure $4k for a new computer. I'd prefer to spend less tho. Just not sure what the difference is between the pro and the max.

Thanks for any advice offered, I really appreciate your time!

 

[Tdude96]

Are you experiencing any major slowdowns or pain points with your M1 Pro? If ynot, it's unlikely that you would need the M5 Max unless you intend to do heavy-duty video or a significant amount of local generative AI where the additional memory and extra graphics cores will make a significant difference.

MacRumors has a good rundown of the differences between the M4 Pro and M4 Max here: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/m4-vs-m4-pro-vs-m4-max/

The differences between M5 Pro and M5 Max are likely to be similar.

I suspect you could configure a 16" MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip that will fit your needs for between $2700 - $3200, assuming Apple doesn't have any major price hikes planned for the M5 models. I have my doubts about configuring any machine to last "until the end of time." However, if you're not experiencing any major issues with your M1 Pro, this will be a significant upgrade and should last a very long time.

 

[KatieKat78]

Are you experiencing any major slowdowns or pain points with your M1 Pro? If ynot, it's unlikely that you would need the M5 Max unless you intend to do heavy-duty video or a significant amount of local generative AI where the additional memory and extra graphics cores will make a significant difference.

MacRumors has a good rundown of the differences between the M4 Pro and M4 Max here: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/m4-vs-m4-pro-vs-m4-max/

The differences between M5 Pro and M5 Max are likely to be similar.

I suspect you could configure a 16" MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro chip that will fit your needs for between $2700 - $3200, assuming Apple doesn't have any major price hikes planned for the M5 models. I have my doubts about configuring any machine to last "until the end of time." However, if you're not experiencing any major issues with your M1 Pro, this will be a significant upgrade and should last a very long time.

Ya I'm experiencing slow downs with m1 pro. Firefox has been giving me problems. Also have to use safari because firefox crashes hard if I try to use touch ID to login to websites that use that to login like amazon. Both browsers start to run super slow and I have to constantly quit or force quit firefox. so annoying. But final cut pro will run perfectly fine.

Weird right? And yes I've deleted firefox and reinstalled it. same problems. End vent lol

The M4 Pro with 48gb RAM is 3099 hopefully the M5 pro is the same price.

Thanks for your advice! I'll check out the link.

 

[throAU]

But basically this new laptop needs to last me until the end of time.

Trying to buy for that is a mistake.

Buy for 3-5 years (no more) and replace.

The tasks you describe are doable on an ipad.

 

[KatieKat78]

Trying to buy for that is a mistake.

Buy for 3-5 years (no more) and replace.

I might not be able to. Right now I have money because I got a significant amount $$$ from social security disability backpay. I'm on limited income. My assets will need to be hidden in the upcoming days so I can keep medicaid. So, I literally have to buy something that is going to last me for a very long time. Might not be able to buy another one.

Going to go with the Pro tho. There really doesn't seem to be any difference with the max other than more cores and designed for video editing and computer science stuff.

 

[throAU]

I might not be able to. Right now I have money because I got a significant amount $$$ from social security disability backpay. I'm on limited income. My assets will need to be hidden in the upcoming days so I can keep medicaid. So, I literally have to buy something that is going to last me for a very long time. Might not be able to buy another one.

Going to go with the Pro tho. There really doesn't seem to be any difference with the max other than more cores and designed for video editing computer science stuff.

Even more reason to not try and buy stupidly over spec with the misguided assumption that it will get you better longevity.

 

[KatieKat78]

Even more reason to not try and buy stupidly over spec with the misguided assumption that it will get you better longevity.

Ya for sure. Didn't know the difference between the pro and the max but now I do. Going with the pro again. The M1 pro has been awesome. But I want a 16" laptop and something new so I can put apple care on it. My health has been declining including my eye site so I need a bigger screen. Also want hobbies cos I can't work and super bored.

Thanks for your advice y'all. It was very helpful in forming an educated decision!

 

[dmdba]

Hey Katie, just to give my two cents. If your M1 has problems with Firefox etc., this is most likely not a hardware issue. A fresh MacOS install will solve this. If you have health problems I would never invest that money in a new laptop, to be honest. For what you are describing, the M1 Pro is absolutely fine and you probably would not even notice a difference. And a 14 -> 16 monitor upgrade is not a big difference. You would have a much bigger effect with an external monitor, and this is just a few hundred bucks. But if its only about you wanting something new, we probably cant stop you.

 

[bradman83]

If you decide to replace your laptop you're likely going to see a bigger longevity boost by upgrading the RAM to the most you can reasonably afford (alongside enough internal storage you think you can comfortably live with).

The Pro and Max are usually identical in single core performance, the Max chips just have a few extra CPU and GPU cores and can support more displays and memory bandwidth. Max chips, by virtue of being bigger with more cores, also use more energy and can sometimes throttle in the smaller chassis of the 14" models. A decked out Pro chip with 36 or 48 GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD will easily last you 6-8-10 years, depending on if you're bothered by an eventual ending of macOS support.

 

[pprior]

I’m still running a 2019 16” intel mbp so the 3-5 year comment cracks me up. No way a m1 should be lagging using Firefox.

I’m upgrading tomorrow primarily because the current os doesn’t support intel and it’s EOL and I want to upgrade to 6k tb5.

 

[RedditIsAWeenie]

I might not be able to. Right now I have money because I got a significant amount $$$ from social security disability backpay. I'm on limited income. My assets will need to be hidden in the upcoming days so I can keep medicaid. So, I literally have to buy something that is going to last me for a very long time. Might not be able to buy another one.

Going to go with the Pro tho. There really doesn't seem to be any difference with the max other than more cores and designed for video editing and computer science stuff.

While I am sure Apple will take your money happily, it is virtually guaranteed that a 2026 MacBook Pro with a M5, M5 pro or M5 Max will be retired by Apple for software support on the same day 7-10 years from now. So, if you value getting security fixes, paying more for a processor now will buy you nothing on that front. The fancy processors mostly come with better GPUs which you might want for competitive video gaming or professional video editing.

In your situation I would 100% buy the minimum processor for my needs and save the money for Cheetos and Beer when I’m older, or a trip while I still can. If the money somehow goes away (e.g. spend it or lose it equipment funds for a NSF postdoctoral fellowship) I would be quite tempted to buy the expensive machine, sell/return it and use some of the money to get the cheaper machine — to the extent this is allowable by law — and keep the difference.

 

[RedditIsAWeenie]

I’m still running a 2019 16” intel mbp so the 3-5 year comment cracks me up. No way a m1 should be lagging using Firefox.

I’m upgrading tomorrow primarily because the current os doesn’t support intel and it’s EOL and I want to upgrade to 6k tb5.

Lagging using a web browser could just be poor WiFi signal or a low bandwidth / “busted” internet connection. A new computer won’t do a thing to fix that. One could run a internet speed test like ookla speed test to check.

That said, opera and Firefox are not tuned to save memory aggressively the way safari is, so could also be an issue with virtual mememy paging (insufficient RAM) especially if you have a spinning platter hard disk still on your system. Most Macs are not terribly upgradable for memory so in that regard a new machine might help if you get enough memory. I always get at least 16GB and for my next machine I may get substantially more. Running AI locally would benefit from 1TB or more, though obviously this would be insanely expensive and the machines are not available with that much, anyway. Mostly I’m waiting for AI to stop ********ting so much so that it becomes actually useful, but it may be a while.

 

[pprior]

I might not be able to. Right now I have money because I got a significant amount $$$ from social security disability backpay. I'm on limited income. My assets will need to be hidden in the upcoming days so I can keep medicaid. So, I literally have to buy something that is going to last me for a very long time. Might not be able to buy another one.

Going to go with the Pro tho. There really doesn't seem to be any difference with the max other than more cores and designed for video editing and computer science stuff.

Wow. Outright admission of fraud of the taxpayer to buy expensive electronic toys.

 

[jtkiley]

Wow. Outright admission of fraud of the taxpayer to buy expensive electronic toys.

It's not fraud. SSI and Medicaid limit recipients to $2000 in countable assets, and, for whatever reason, that limit hasn't been raised since 1989. They have spend-down rules that tell people to do exactly this.

OP: The best way to deal with this is to open an ABLE account, which doesn't count against benefits up to a balance of 100k. Do note that they often hold funds for a few days when deposited, so be sure you don't need to immediately withdraw.

 

[Alameda]

Ya for sure. Didn't know the difference between the pro and the max but now I do. Going with the pro again. The M1 pro has been awesome. But I want a 16" laptop and something new so I can put apple care on it. My health has been declining including my eye site so I need a bigger screen. Also want hobbies cos I can't work and super bored.

Thanks for your advice y'all. It was very helpful in forming an educated decision!

To be honest, the standard M5 will be just as fast. It has the same processor speed.
The M5 will have 40gbps Thunderbolt 4 instead of 80gbps TB 5, which matters if you want very fast external storage in the future; when TB5 drives are affordable.

But… just because somebody makes a faster computer, it doesn’t mean you need it. It doesn’t even mean you can tell it’s faster!

The difference between M5, M5 Pro and M5 Max are the number of processing cores, which are useful for multi-threaded processing. This is typically processor intensive tasks like rendering a final video project. But the video editing itself will be fast with all three processors; it’s mostly the final render/compression step. And you can just go have a coffee when you get to that step.

As a photographer, I am very interested to see what will be faster when I get my new machine, and how much faster it will be.

 

[alkar]

not only video processing. AFAIK M5 doesn't have a proper GPU and if you want a proper GPU for proper gaming, the Max is the best option.

I mean, Cyberpunk was ported on macos with ultra RT settings for a reason no ? I don't think a regular Mx with no GPU will work with these settings even in the lowest resolution.