If I asked you right now, what is your

opinion of Apple silicon MacBooks? It

would probably be pretty good, right?

Like you have the MacBook Air on one end

that is amazing value and doesn't really

compromise too much on performance and

features. Uh, and then you've got the

super powerful MacBook Pro with the

pro-Apple silicon chips on the other

end. But there's one other option right

in the middle that Apple kind of forgot

about for a few years. One that they've

been quietly refining in the background,

and that is the MacBook Pro. It's kind

of like a hybrid embracing some of the

best features of both and it just got an

internal upgrade with M5 Apple Silicon.

So, I was really interested to see not

only if it improves the overall

experience, uh, but how it now compares

to those other two options and if this

is maybe the best laptop that you can

buy right now, period. So, the M5

MacBook Pro starts at $1599,

which is almost exactly in the middle

between the Air and the more Pro version

of the MacBook Pro. I know that naming

kind of sucks. Now, bear in mind there

are some sales on currently, so these

prices may differ. Uh, I'll put some

links in the description to the best

deals I could find. Now, traditionally,

when it comes to selecting one of these

MacBooks, there's a big decision to

make, right? How many compromises are

you prepared to make to pay less money?

For example, if you choose the Air, it's

$600 cheaper than the MacBook Pro, but

has worse speakers, port selection,

screen, uh, performance, and half the

storage space, for example. Now, since

the only major change from the M4

MacBook Pro to the M5 MacBook Pro is the

new M5 Apple silicon chip, uh, I think

performance is probably a good place to

start. Now, when I was comparing the new

M5 chip to the previous M4, on paper,

they look almost identical, right? Same

number of CPU cores and GPU cores, all

the improvements are relatively minor

with the exception of the faster memory

bandwidth, which is essentially how fast

the M5 chip is able to access the memory

or the RAM. But I was pretty impressed

once I started comparing it against all

the other Apple silicon MacBooks. Now,

I'm not talking about everyday

performance or how fast apps open or

multitasking stuff like that. Uh, all of

that performs so well on Apple silicon

and has for years and I just couldn't

really tell a difference when I had them

side by side. So, I started with the M5

CPU's multi-core performance and found

that it actually outperforms all other

existing MacBooks, including the much

more expensive at the time M3 Pro, with

the exception of the M4 Pro, which was

about 20% more powerful. Single core

performance was impressive with the M5

easily beating out the rest. And I

genuinely noticed this performance

improvement in the things I do on my

MacBook dayto-day. Uh, for example, I

use Photoshop frequently, which benefits

from faster single core performance. And

the M5 outperforms the M4 Pro and was on

average 26% better for my workflow

compared to the M4. Now, in terms of

other real life things, like, you know,

compiling code, for example, which is

more of a multi-core task, I found the

M5 was comparable to the M2 Pro and also

the M3 Pro. Even versus the M4 Pro, it

only took about 2 minutes longer. For

anything GPU related, again, the M5 does

really well. It's essentially the same

performance as the M3 Pro's GPU. Now,

Apple claims that the M5 MacBook Pro's

GPU delivers 1.6 six times the

performance of the M4. And what I saw in

real life usage was anywhere from about

20% to 40%, which is actually an amazing

increase honestly uh particularly in

anything that takes advantage of ray

tracing. Now, it's important to note

here that I don't expect the M5 to be

some super powerful processor that's

amazing and blows everything else away.

It just has to be powerful enough to

make it a viable option compared to say

an M3 Pro or maybe even an M4 Pro

MacBook Pro because maybe its

performance is, you know, close enough

to the Pro chip now that you can just

save some money and get the base M5

instead. Now, obviously, when the M5 Pro

chip comes out sometime in 2026, uh it

will outperform the standard M5, but at

the time of this video, it's just not

available yet. Now, speaking of new

releases, you may have seen this

keyboard in some of the footage in this

video. This is the Lowree Flow 2, the

newly released and upgraded version of

Loe's super popular Flow keyboard. I

thought this would be a good video to

feature it in because the minimal design

kind of blends in a lot with the MacBook

products. And big thanks to Loafrey for

sponsoring this section of the video and

supporting my work on this channel. Now,

the Flow 2's body is made from anodized

aluminum, similar to the MacBook Pro.

There's a built-in flip out keyboard

kickstand, and you can choose from 2.4

GHz Bluetooth or wired USBC connectivity

options. There's a nifty little touch

bar on the right for quickly adjusting

volume and brightness. The back of the

keyboard is a clean and minimal design,

and it's got PBT plus PC doubleshot key

caps and low new lowprofile mechanical

cloud series switches. You can choose

between Surfer, Pulse, or Void for

different typing experiences. Here's a

little example.

So, if you're trying to match your

MacBook style and get an incredible

typing experience, check out the Low

Free Flow 2 using the link in the

description down below. So, going back

to performance differences for a bit,

one thing I noticed when using the M5

MacBook Pro is that the fan noise is

more noticeable compared to the Air and

the more expensive Pro version. Now, the

Air obviously does not have a fan,

right? It relies on passive cooling, so

it never makes any noise. And even

though the M4 Pro chip is more power

hungry, it's actually quieter. The M5

MacBook Pro's fan starts up within about

60 seconds of beginning an intensive

task like uh compiling code or rendering

something versus the M4 Pro where the

fan noise takes longer to become

noticeable and is then quieter overall.

Now, the difference comes down to the

internal design. The M5 MacBook Pro only

has one fan and a correspondingly

smaller heat sink compared to the more

expensive versions that have two fans.

These fans not only cool the Apple

silicon chip more efficiently, but

because there are two of them, uh, they

can run at a lower RPM, which produces

less noise than a single fan running at

a much higher RPM. Now, due to the fact

that the MacBook Pro has a fan versus

the fanless MacBook Air, uh even though

they may have the exact same chip

inside, the MacBook Pro will slightly

outperform the Air by anywhere from

about 5 to 10% simply because it can

just keep itself cooler during those

longer demanding tasks. But again, the

only time any of this is relevant is

when I was doing those more intense

sustained tasks like gaming or exporting

3D renders, which probably isn't

something most people regularly do on

these more, I suppose, entry-level

MacBooks. When I was just browsing the

internet or multitasking, all of these

MacBooks were dead silent, and that was

the most important factor for me

personally. Quick note on battery life.

I didn't find any major differences

between the M5 MacBook Pro and the M4

MacBook Pro. Uh they're both about the

same, noticeably more than the MacBook

Air. Uh I'd get about 2 or 3 hours more

on the Pro on average and slightly more

than the more expensive Pro version,

about an hour or so more. Now, one

significant improvement I noticed was

the SSD speed. It's about twice as fast

on the M5 MacBook Pro compared to the

M4. Real life performance is not quite

as significant as it may seem though. Uh

improvements in file transfers to

external drives, for example, will only

see improvement if the drive itself has

a similar speed to the internal MacBook

SSD. Moving on to build quality and

features. Now, you'll likely be familiar

with them as this chassis has been

around for 4 years at this point, and

really not much has changed from the

previous M4 MacBook Pro. It's made from

solid aluminum and feels really sturdy

and premium to the touch. The keyboard

is actually one of the nicer laptop

keyboards I've used and feels really

tactile with a surprising amount of key

travel making it feel like a larger

desktop sized keyboard. Now, the large

trackpad size makes pinching to zoom in

and out really easy, too. And unlike

some other laptop brands, it's actually

very easy to clean because it's not made

of plastic. Now, I think it's perfectly

fine to critique Apple on some of their

decisions and of course products, but

the build quality of the current MacBook

lineup is something I just cannot fault.

Now, I've tried many other different

laptops from other brands, and they all

just feel really cheap and flimsy in

comparison. These MacBooks just hold up

so well throughout the years uh that

they still feel almost brand new even

after years of use. I have to say

though, I'm not the biggest fan of the

space black color option. Uh, it seems

to pick up smudges and finger grease

easier than the silver color, but this

is really just personal preference. Now,

the M5 MacBook Pro screen is the same

14-in miniledd display as the previous

M4 version and also the more expensive

ProChip version. Now, I find this to be

one of the highlights of using these

MacBook Pros. gets really bright and the

colors are vibrant, both noticeably more

so than the MacBook Air. And there is

actually an option to upgrade to the

nanoexture display, which is something

you don't get on the MacBook Air. I go

into way more detail about nanoexture

here if you are interested. Port

selection between the M4 and M5 MacBook

Pro is also identical, but compared to

the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro has an

additional Thunderbolt 4 port on the

right side, HDMI, and an SD card slot.

Now, how important these extra ports are

depends how frequently you use them,

right? Uh for me personally, I use HDMI

and the SD card all the time, and I

don't really enjoy having to carry

around a USBC dongle everywhere I go.

The trade-off on the MacBook Air,

though, is like the name suggests, it's

thinner and noticeably lighter for

portability. Now, at first glance, port

selection seems identical to the more

expensive MacBook Pro. But the M5

MacBook Pro's Thunderbolt ports are only

Thunderbolt 4 versus Thunderbolt 5 on

the more expensive Pro. But in my real

life use, I'm not sure if I've benefited

from this or if I even will in the

future. Uh, sure, Thunderbolt 5 has

improved bandwidth and speed over

Thunderbolt 4, but the only way I can

take advantage of Thunderbolt 5

currently is by, like I mentioned

before, having a super fast Thunderbolt

5 SSD. And even if I did have one, uh, I

simply don't need speeds any faster than

what Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4

provides. External display support is

also identical between the M5 and M4

Pro, up to two external displays with up

to 6K resolution at 60 Hz. Truly, the

only major difference between the M5

MacBook Pro and the more expensive

MacBook Pro is the Apple silicon inside

and, of course, the beefier cooling

system. And as I discussed before, most

people either don't need the additional

performance of the Pro chip, or even if

they did, uh maybe the M5 is now close

enough to that. So, we've now got the M5

MacBook Pro with some significant CPU

and GPU upgrades over the previous

version. So, what effect does it have on

the current MacBook lineup? Honestly,

probably not much. I think the status

quo between the Air uh this base model

Pro and the Pro MacBook Pro is pretty

much still the same. Like the

performance improvements aren't really

relevant to those looking to buy a

MacBook Air. Uh not to mention that

although the Pro is better in almost

every way versus the Air, you know,

speakers, screen, ports, SSD, etc., uh

it's still over 50% more expensive. And

for those people where performance is

actually relevant, the M5 Pro when it

comes out is going to be a good deal

more powerful than the M5. Similar to

what we saw with the M4 versus the M4

Pro. I think where the M5 MacBook Pro

really makes a difference is on the

secondhand market. You know, its

performance is very comparable to an M3

Pro or in some situations even the M4

Pro MacBook. So instead of having to buy

one of those secondhand, maybe you can

just buy a brand new M5 Pro for the same

price and get all the nice warranty,

Apple care, and peace of mind that comes

with a brand new device. So I think if

you're looking for an all-around amazing

laptop and you're prepared to spend more

than the MacBook Air for those extra

features and of course, you know, you

don't need the extra performance of a

Pro chip. Uh, I seriously think this is

one of the best laptops you can buy

right now, even compared to all the

Windows options out there. Yes, they're

cheaper and some in some situations they

might be better, but that's a completely

separate video. Uh, if you want to see

some more MacBook comparisons to help

maybe make your decision, I have a video

right here that you may want to watch as

well.