- The M1 Max still offers higher GPU power and memory bandwidth than the M5
- M5 focuses on AI performance efficiency and power savings over raw throughput
- Upgrade choice depends on workload battery priorities and creative needs
Owners of Mac Studio and MacBook Pro systems running Apple’s M1 Max processor might be asking the question that all power users end up asking: Is their machine still up to the task, or is it time to upgrade to a new device?
Apple’s move from the high-performance M1 Max – which launched in October 2021 alongside the M1 Pro chip – to the efficiency-focused M5 which rolled out last week, shows how much things have changed in just a few years.
On paper, the M5 offers a modern design and better power efficiency, but its hardware serves a very different purpose, and not every Mac owner will be interested in it.
Inside Apple Silicon: Part 3 of a 5-part series on M-class processors
This article is the third in a five-part series that digs deeper into Apple’s M-class processors, from the first M1 to the recently announced M5 and our proposed M5 Ultra. Each piece will explore how Apple silicon has evolved in terms of architecture, performance, and design philosophy, and what these changes could mean for the company’s future hardware.
The comparison
The M1 Max, arriving a year after the original M1, was designed for sustained, high-throughput workloads. It has 10 CPU cores and a 32-core GPU, coupled with 400 GB/s of memory bandwidth.
The M5 chip, which debuted in the 14-inch MacBook Pro, the new iPad Pro and an upgraded Apple Vision Pro, has up to ten cores split between four performance cores and six efficiency cores. (There are actually two M5 versions: the 256GB and 512GB iPad Pro models use a nine-core processor with three performance cores.)
Its GPU count drops to 10 cores, with a memory bandwidth of 153 GB/s, less than half that of the M1 Max.
This reduction reflects Apple’s broader trend toward reducing thermal temperatures and improving output per watt rather than peak throughput.
The M5’s estimated system power of 25W makes it an attractive choice for compact, fanless designs – ideal for MacBooks and iPads – but it comes with trade-offs.
Graphics-heavy tasks, such as 3D rendering or machine learning, will still favor the M1 Max, which retains a raw shader advantage that current efficiency improvements can’t fully compensate for.
In CPU benchmarks, the M5 closes the gap with better single-threaded performance, which benefits everyday workloads and light creative tasks.
Its estimated multi-core score of around 17,865 is higher than the M1 Max’s 13,188, showing Apple’s continued optimization of its performance per core ratio.
For those who work primarily in web applications or coding, the M5 feels more responsive over short periods of time.
Memory bandwidth offers the clearest difference between the two chips. The M1 Max’s 400 GB/s pipeline was designed to handle multiple high-resolution video streams and large texture data. The M5’s 153 GB/s cap limits its capacity for these scenarios.
Tasks that benefit from unified memory throughput, such as Final Cut Pro exports or multi-layered Photoshop projects, will likely run even faster on the older chip when paired with similar storage configurations.
The M5’s energy efficiency and integration are its main strengths. With an improved neural engine reaching around 133 trillion operations per second, it significantly outperforms the M1 Max’s 11 TOPS unit.
This benefits on-device AI tasks, including live transcription and photo enhancement, areas where the older chip’s architecture is expected to show its age.
M5Max?
The choice of Mac users therefore depends less on age than on choice. The M5 delivers a cooler, quieter, and more balanced experience, especially in thin and light systems, but the M1 Max continues to deliver unmatched GPU headroom for creative professionals.
For users looking for speed in sustained workloads, the older chip still retains its advantage. For those looking for longer battery life, quiet, and AI acceleration, the M5 is the clear winner.
That said, a true like-for-like comparison (apples to apples, if you will) could come with the eventual M5 Max, which could appear in a year or two.
Based on estimates from Google Gemini (which also predicted the specs of an M5 Ultra), the chip could feature a 32-core GPU, 550 GB/s of memory bandwidth, an estimated multi-core score of around 28,555, and a Metal score close to 200,696, combining the raw performance of the M1 Max with the improved efficiency of the latest generation of Apple silicon.
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