The 16-inch M5 Max MacBook Pro: A Workstation On Your Lap

Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max doesn’t feel like a normal yearly update. On paper, it looks like another step forward. A new chip, slightly better performance, and the usual incremental improvements. In reality, it’s something else entirely. This is the first MacBook that doesn’t just compete with other laptops. It competes with high-end desktops.

And in some cases, it’s starting to win.

Performance Has Moved Into a Different Category

The early synthetic benchmarks already tell most of the story.

Geekbench 5 Benchmarks:

Single-core
4,268 – 4,353

Multi-core
29,233 – 29,644

Single-core performance is now ahead of virtually every mainstream desktop processor. For context, an Intel i9-14900k has a single core of 3,100 to 3,300. Even for non-optimised single-core applications, the M5 Max storms ahead.

Multi-core performance continues to impress.

Pushing towards 30,000 puts the M5 Max in territory once reserved for desktop workstations. If you would like equal Windows CPU performance, you’ll be looking at a server-grade CPU such as the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X, at a low cost of £4,500!

GPU Performance Is No Longer “Good for a Laptop”

For a long time, MacBook GPUs were described as impressive “for a laptop”. That distinction is starting to disappear. The M5 Max is delivering Metal scores in the 230,000 range, which is not only 20% faster than the M4 Max it replaced but also nearly on par with a desktop-tier RTX 5070 Ti.

If you’d like to read a great deep dive into the GPU performance, check out the link below to a post from Tom’s Hardware.

In practical terms, that means:

• 4K and even 8K video editing without slowdown
• real-time effects and colour grading
• large Photoshop and Lightroom projects
• complex video rendering workloads

This isn’t about pushing limits occasionally. It’s about being able to work without thinking about them at all. The performance ceiling has moved far enough that, for many users, it effectively disappears.

The Jump From Earlier Apple Silicon Is Still Significant

Let’s compare it to the M1 Max. We know many users are still reluctant to move, and we don’t blame you.

How does the M5 Max compare to the M1 Max?

Single-core:
An increase of 65% to 76%

Multi-core:
An increase of 124% to 161%

Metal/ GPU compute:
An increase of 90% to 200%

That’s not the kind of jump you normally see after several generations. If you’re operating a creative business from your device, just consider that the processing time for your media could be twice as fast. That’s a return on investment in your time, not waiting, accrued over years.

That means users still holding on to M1 Pro or Max machines are now looking at a genuinely meaningful upgrade, not just a marginal one.

The First Real Sign of Thermal Limits

For the first time, though, we’re also seeing Apple Silicon reach a point where physical constraints start to matter. The 14-inch MacBook Pro used to have identical performance to the 16-inch MacBook Pro, but that is no longer the case. In peak CPU or GPU workloads at 100% utalisation, we’re finally seeing some thermal throttling in the 14-inch M5 Max. Don’t be too alarmed, short bursts of peak performance are identical.

The smaller chassis simply can’t dissipate heat as effectively, which means performance starts to taper off over time. Longer renders, extended exports and heavy continuous workloads highlight a 5 to 15% performance gap depending on intensity and duration.

Is It Time To Upgrade?

The M5 Max isn’t just designed for current workloads. It’s designed for what’s coming next. As software continues to evolve, we’re seeing increasing demand from AI and other intensive workflows. Apple is clearly staying ahead of that curve, but is it enough to convince you to ditch your old MacBook or switch from PC?

Ready to upgrade?