Somewhere between the unboxing and the first hours of use, a quiet shift has arrived in how Apple equips its laptops: the new MacBook Pro M5 comes in a familiar shell, yet the box for British and European buyers no longer holds the plug that makes it work. It is a small omission that asks each owner to weigh what they already own against what the environment and the law now seem to ask of them. Beneath the modest exterior sits a faster chip built with the coming demands of artificial intelligence in mind, and the reviewer, one of the first to test it, finds that the machine's strengths are rea
Apple MacBook Pro M5 Review: Familiar Design, Faster Chip, and a Missing Power Adapter
Mark
So the headline is a laptop with the same body and a new chip. Why does the review spend so long on the charger?
Mimi
Because it's the one thing a buyer will notice on day one. The design is unchanged, the battery claims hold, but the box is different. For UK and EU customers there's a MagSafe cable and no plug.
Mark
Is that a big deal if people already own chargers?
Mimi
Probably not for many. The reviewer says you may have more at home than you need. The catch is power: a smartphone charger is likely too weak to charge it quickly, and it needs a USB-C socket.
Luke
Worth noting the reason is Apple's own. The review says Apple did this to get ahead of upcoming EU legislation. It doesn't say what the legislation requires or when it lands.
Mark
And the UK isn't even in the EU.
Mimi
Right, but Apple is treating the pan-European market the same. The reviewer points that out directly.
Mark
What about the performance claims? Three and a half times faster sounds huge.
Luke
That's Apple's figure, compared with last year's M4 MacBook Pro. The review doesn't give benchmark numbers of its own for it. The only things the reviewer says he verified are battery claims, which he found spot on.
Mimi
And the M5 here is the base chip. The reviewer expects Pro and Max versions later, so power users with 3D rendering or heavy compiling might want to wait.
Luke
That's an expectation, not an announcement. Nothing in the piece confirms those chips or a date.
Mark
Anything else that shapes the buying decision?
Mimi
The £150 nanotexture display option. The reviewer rates it as important as extra storage, though that is his opinion.
Der Puls
- A laptop arrives in a box without its plug, and British and EU buyers suddenly have to find a charger before they can power up.
- Apple keeps the design unchanged, so the excitement rests almost entirely on what is hidden inside the new M5 chip.
- The M5 promises a dramatic leap in speed and AI performance, yet the most powerful Pro and Max variants have not yet appeared.
- Battery life holds steady at up to 24 hours of video, with the reviewer's own tests confirming Apple's claims.
- Buyers are advised to choose a USB-C adapter with enough power, and the same change may soon spread to other Apple models.
Somewhere between the unboxing and the first hours of use, a quiet shift has arrived in how Apple equips its laptops: the new MacBook Pro M5 comes in a familiar shell, yet the box for British and European buyers no longer holds the plug that makes it work. It is a small omission that asks each owner to weigh what they already own against what the environment and the law now seem to ask of them. Beneath the modest exterior sits a faster chip built with the coming demands of artificial intelligence in mind, and the reviewer, one of the first to test it, finds that the machine's strengths are real even as its unfinished corners hint at what is still to come.
Open the box on the new MacBook Pro M5 in Britain or anywhere in the EU and you will find the laptop and a MagSafe charging cable, but no plug. That absence is the surprise our tech critic, one of the first to test the machine, singles out in an otherwise familiar product.
The exterior is a carry-over. Apple has kept the design of the model it replaces, and the reviewer finds it elegant, businesslike and attractive. What sets the Pro apart from the Air is its connectivity: three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SD card reader, an HDMI port, and upward-firing speakers that deliver richer sound, with a Dolby Atmos film sounding tremendous. The screen is a Liquid Retina XDR display reaching 1,600 nits for HDR content and supporting ProMotion up to 120Hz, far beyond the Air's 500 nits. A nanotexture finish, costing an extra £150, cuts glare, and the reviewer thinks it deserves as much thought as storage.
The real change lies under the surface. Only the standard M5 has launched, with its more powerful Pro and Max siblings presumably still in development. Apple claims the chip is up to three and a half times faster than the M4 it succeeds, and says its neural accelerators are built for AI workloads such as Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT. For most users this is plenty; for those rendering 3D scenes, compiling large codebases or running demanding games, the higher-end chips will matter more.
Battery life is unchanged at up to 24 hours of video streaming, and the reviewer's own tests bore out Apple's figures despite the added processing power.
Then comes the missing adapter. It is a first for Apple and applies only to UK and EU sales, a move Apple describes as getting ahead of forthcoming EU rules on power adapters. The reviewer, sympathetic to reducing electronic waste, notes that few people now blink at a phone sold without a charger, yet it still feels strange to unpack a laptop and find you need something more. His practical advice is to pick an adapter with enough power, since a smartphone charger may be too weak, and one with a USB-C socket. For now the change is confined to the M5 MacBook Pro, but other models are expected to follow.
Open the box on the new MacBook Pro M5 in Britain or anywhere in the EU and you will find the laptop, and a MagSafe charging cable, but no plug to put on the end of it. That is the detail The Independent's tech critic, one of the first to test the machine, singles out as the surprise in an otherwise familiar product.
Everything else about the exterior is a carry-over. Apple has left the design identical to the model it replaces, and the reviewer sees no problem in that, calling it elegant, businesslike and attractive. The connectivity is the main thing separating the Pro from the Air: three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C sockets, two on one side and one on the other, so the laptop can be charged from either side. There is also the magnetic MagSafe cable, which detaches if someone trips on it, an SD card reader and an HDMI port for a TV or external display. Upward-firing speakers either side of the keyboard, with Spatial Audio, give stronger sound than the Air, and the review says a Dolby Atmos film sounds tremendous.
The screen is what Apple calls Liquid Retina XDR: an LCD with mini-LED backlighting that boosts or dims zones to raise contrast. ProMotion adds adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz. Peak brightness reaches 1,600 nits with HDR content and 1,000 nits for other material. The MacBook Air, by comparison, tops out at 500 nits and has no ProMotion. The Air also lacks the option of a nanotexture finish, which costs an extra £150 and reduces reflections and glare. The reviewer argues it matters as much as extra storage when you buy, though adds that you should not skimp on storage either, since you could be using the machine for years.
The real change is the chip. Last year's MacBook Pro arrived in October 2024 with the M4, and Apple launched M4 Pro and M4 Max versions alongside it. This time only the standard M5 has been released, and the reviewer expects more powerful M5 variants are already in development. That means the M5 is much faster than the M4 in the MacBook Air, but it is not the top of the range Apple will eventually offer. The extra CPU and GPU cores in the Pro and Max chips matter more for people running 3D rendering, intensive code compiling or the most graphically demanding games.
Apple describes the M5 as having the world's fastest CPU core, and says neural accelerators in the graphics processor are designed to speed up AI workloads, whether Apple Intelligence or ChatGPT. The reviewer notes those demands are likely to grow considerably in the coming years. Apple claims the chip is up to three and a half times faster than last year's MacBook Pro with M4.
Battery life stays where it was on the previous 14-inch Pro: up to 24 hours of video streaming or 16 hours of wireless web browsing, by Apple's figures. Despite the extra processing power, the M5's efficiency holds those numbers, and in the reviewer's own tests the claims seemed spot on.
Then there is the missing adapter. It is a first for Apple, and applies only to sales in the UK and EU. Apple says it is getting ahead of coming EU legislation on including power adapters. The UK is no longer in the EU, but Apple is treating the pan-European market as one. Buyers now decide whether they need to purchase a charging plug, and many may already own more than they need.
The reviewer is sympathetic to cutting electronic waste, and notes nobody blinks at buying a smartphone without a charger now. Still, he calls it curious to unpack a laptop and realise you need something else to charge it, and notes Apple is in the vanguard here. His advice: make sure your adapter is powerful enough, since a smartphone charger is likely too weak to charge quickly, and that it has a USB-C socket. With that, you are set, because the MagSafe cable is still in the box. For now the change applies only to the M5 MacBook Pro, but other models are expected to follow.
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