In a season when each new generation of laptop chips promises to reshape the working day, a photographer's reviewer has spent time with Apple's new 14-inch MacBook Pro built around the M5 processor, and reports back with measured admiration. The machine itself looks much as it has since 2021, but beneath its unchanged aluminum body the processor and storage have quietly changed how fast creative work can move. The reviewer's conclusion is that the base chip, long overshadowed by the more powerful Pro, Max and Ultra tiers, deserves serious attention from those who make images and video for a li
Apple's M5 MacBook Pro Earns Its Place as Photographers' Top Laptop Pick
Design unchanged since 2021, but the chip inside is the star
Mark
So why does a review of a base-chip laptop matter?
Mimi
Because the attention usually goes to the Pro, Max and Ultra chips. This review says the plain M5 is strong enough for photographers and most video editors.
Mark
What did it actually beat?
Mimi
In Lightroom Classic imports it was second among everything PetaPixel has tested, just behind the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra.
Luke
Worth noting that's one reviewer's benchmark set, and the text I have cuts off partway through Lightroom. Photoshop, Premiere and Resolve results aren't in front of us.
Mark
The design hasn't changed since 2021. Is that a knock?
Mimi
The reviewer says no. It doesn't feel dated, and the display, keyboard and speakers are praised as they are.
Luke
The one real complaint is no Thunderbolt 5, even though the SSD is about twice as fast as before.
Mark
And battery life?
Mimi
Apple claims up to 24 hours of light use. The reviewer expects 10 to 12 hours in practice.
Luke
Right, so the 24-hour figure is Apple's, not measured here. Same for the claim that this predicts future M5 Macs. That's the reviewer's expectation, not something confirmed.
Il Polso
- The MacBook Pro's design and ports have stood still since 2021, leaving the new M5 chip to carry the entire argument for an upgrade.
- Storage now reads and writes at roughly double the speed of the MacBook Air with M4, yet the ports remain Thunderbolt 4 while Thunderbolt 5 gear waits on the sidelines.
- In Lightroom imports, the laptop trails only the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra, a striking result for a machine that is not a desktop workstation.
- Battery endurance is expected to land around 10 to 12 hours of real work, with heavy Lightroom sessions likely to drain it sooner.
- The reviewer sees the M5 as a signpost for the next wave of Macs, though the review's final benchmark figures lie beyond the excerpt.
In a season when each new generation of laptop chips promises to reshape the working day, a photographer's reviewer has spent time with Apple's new 14-inch MacBook Pro built around the M5 processor, and reports back with measured admiration. The machine itself looks much as it has since 2021, but beneath its unchanged aluminum body the processor and storage have quietly changed how fast creative work can move. The reviewer's conclusion is that the base chip, long overshadowed by the more powerful Pro, Max and Ultra tiers, deserves serious attention from those who make images and video for a living. Whether it proves to be a preview of the coming M5 Air, mini and iMac is a question the reviewer answers with cautious confidence.
PetaPixel's reviewer spent recent days with a loaner 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by Apple's new M5 chip, working through Photoshop, browsing, writing and benchmark runs. The verdict is that it is an exceptional machine for photographers and most video editors, and the review argues that Apple's base chips deserve as much attention as the Pro, Max and Ultra tiers. The M5 currently appears only in this laptop, the iPad Pro and the Vision Pro, but the reviewer expects it to reach the MacBook Air, Mac mini and iMac, and suggests this laptop previews them. A fanless Air is likely, though the reviewer doubts it would matter in everyday use.
The test unit, with 10 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores, 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage, costs $2,349, or $2,199 without the nano-texture display. The design is unchanged since 2021 and still looks current, and the display, keyboard and trackpad are praised as they stand. The one lingering complaint is the absence of Thunderbolt 5. Internal storage, however, is strikingly fast, reaching roughly 6,500 MB/s, more than twice the speed of the M4 Air. Battery life falls short of Apple's claims of up to 24 hours for light tasks, but the reviewer found a full day of mixed work left plenty in reserve.
The real change lies in the processor. The M5's CPU is described as among the best the publication has tested, placing second in Lightroom imports behind only the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra and well ahead of the MacBook Air with M4. The review's detailed creative benchmarks continue beyond the excerpt.
PetaPixel's reviewer has spent recent days with a loaner 14-inch MacBook Pro with Apple's new M5 chip, editing photos in Photoshop, browsing, writing in Pages and running benchmarks. The verdict is that it is an exceptional laptop for photographers and most video editors, and the review makes the case that Apple's base chips deserve as much attention as its Pro, Max and Ultra tiers.
The M5 currently appears in only three products: this MacBook Pro, the upgraded iPad Pro and the improved Vision Pro headset. The reviewer expects it to spread to other Macs in time, and argues that because of how Apple Silicon works, this laptop is a good indicator of what a future M5 MacBook Air, Mac mini or iMac will do. A Air with the M5 will probably lack a fan, but the reviewer says that would not affect most real-world use.
The test unit has a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, the only M5 configuration offered in the MacBook Pro. It carries 32GB of unified memory (16GB and 24GB are also available), 1TB of storage and the optional nano-texture display. That comes to $2,349. Dropping the nano-texture display brings the same performance down to $2,199. Storage runs from 512GB, in the $1,599 entry model, up to 4TB.
Nothing about the design has changed since Apple redesigned the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in October 2021, and the reviewer says it still does not look or feel dated. It comes in Space Black and Silver; the review unit is Silver. The ports are also unchanged: three Thunderbolt 4 ports, MagSafe 3, a headphone jack, HDMI 2.1 and an SDXC card slot. The reviewer's one mild complaint is the absence of Thunderbolt 5, which the base M4 also lacked. Given the machine's power, creative professionals would likely welcome Thunderbolt 5 external storage. Storage inside the machine is quicker, though: the 1TB drive reached 6,431 MB/s write and 6,520 MB/s read in Blackmagic's Disk Speed Test. A MacBook Air with M4 and 2TB of storage manages about 3,074 and 2,800 MB/s, less than half as much. The laptop can drive two external displays while keeping the built-in screen at full native resolution, or one 8K/60Hz or 4K/240Hz display over HDMI, which also supports variable refresh rate. Wireless is Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
Apple rates battery life at up to 24 hours for light tasks like video playback and 16 hours for web browsing, the longest ever on a Mac. The reviewer does not expect to reach those figures, but got through a full day of online work, Photoshop and writing with plenty left, and thinks 10 to 12 hours is realistic. A heavy day of Lightroom importing and editing would likely change that. A 70W charger ships standard; an optional 96W charger takes the laptop from empty to 50 percent in 30 minutes.
The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is unchanged: ProMotion, 1 billion colors, 1,000 nits full-screen HDR brightness and 1,600 nits peak on parts of the screen. It dims to a single nit, which the reviewer values for working in the dark on flights. The $150 nano-texture option etches the glass at a microscopic level to scatter light and cut glare. In a side-by-side video against a standard-display MacBook Air with M4, both at full brightness, the reviewer calls the difference stark, and considers the upgrade worth it for editing on the go. The six-speaker system, with four force-canceling woofers and two tweeters, is described as rich with strong bass for its size. The keyboard and Force Touch trackpad are unchanged and praised, though the reviewer turns Force Touch off.
The real change is the chip. The M5 has what the review calls the world's fastest CPU core design, plus a GPU with improved shaders and ray tracing. Its GPU cannot match the M3 Ultra or M4 Max, which have many more cores, but many photo editing tasks depend on raw CPU speed, where the M5 ranks among the best the publication has tested. In Lightroom Classic imports, which use 110 61-megapixel Sony a7R IV files and 150 100-megapixel Phase One XF files, the laptop is the second-best machine tested, just behind the Mac Studio with M3 Ultra and far ahead of the MacBook Air with M4. Photoshop, Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve were tested with PugetBench for Creators. The excerpt ends partway through the Lightroom results, so the remaining numbers are not covered here.
Citazioni salienti
The new Apple M5 is the star of the show.— PetaPixel reviewer
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