- Our tests show that Apple’s M5 chip achieves impressive results
- The MacBook Pro M5 rose to the top of our Cinebench R24 rankings
- It also posted good SSD and gaming numbers compared to previous models.
Apple’s new MacBook Pro M5 feels like a small update: there’s no new design and few new features, with the M5 chip being one of the only ways to differentiate it from its M4 predecessor. Yet after putting the new model through its paces in our lab testing and review of the Apple M5 MacBook Pro, one thing became clear: It’s absolutely world-class in one important way.
In TechRadar’s internal testing, the MacBook Pro M5 achieved a score of 199 in single-core testing when running the Cinebench R24 benchmark. This is the highest single-core Cinebench R24 score we’ve ever seen, making the laptop a powerhouse when it comes to CPU-bound workloads. For comparison, we also tested last year’s Mac mini M4 with Cinebench R24, and it achieved a slower score of 161.
And it’s not just the M5 chip that impresses: its storage drive performance is also higher than that of the previous model. With the M4 chip, we recorded Blackmagic Disk Speed Test results of 3,318.6 MB/s for write speed and 2,899.5 MB/s for read speed. In the M5 model, these numbers jumped up to 6,517.7 MB/s and 6,619.7 MB/s, respectively. This is an extraordinary increase – about double the performance – and in line with Apple’s claims when it launched the M5 chip.
There has also been a significant improvement in the game. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider Running at 1080p, for example, the M4 chip averages 36fps. The M5 chip, meanwhile, achieved a much more acceptable 57 fps. The gaming performance of modern MacBooks means they can claim to be true gaming machines, and these numbers – while not the best gaming benchmarks you’ve ever seen – are a notable improvement.
The battery, however, is perhaps one area where the M5 doesn’t quite live up to Apple’s numbers. Early testing suggests that the MacBook Pro M5’s battery life is well short of Apple’s claimed 24 hours (around 18 hours), but we need to do further benchmarking to be sure of the result. Actual performance often falls short of advertised battery life, and this is also something we experienced with the M4 MacBook Pro.
A good omen for the future
When Apple released the M5 MacBook Pro, it made an interesting decision: it saved the M5 Pro and M5 Max models for a later date. Rumors suggest they will arrive in early 2026, but for now at least, they are nowhere to be found.
But regardless of when these chips land, our testing of the M5 MacBook Pro bodes well for them. While the entry-level M5 series chip achieved the highest single-core Cinebench result we’ve seen so far, its high-end siblings should be able to take those gains to new heights.
Apple’s marketing at the M5 launch emphasized artificial intelligence (AI) performance, but that may understate other gains from the M5 chip. Our own testing suggests this is a good option whether or not you’re interested in AI workloads.
While you’ll undoubtedly get great performance from the M5 MacBook Pro, if you really need high-end output for your workflows, you might be better off waiting until the M5 Pro and M5 Max models launch. When this happens, you might have even stronger options.
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