Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5 Pro / M5 Max) launched with Thunderbolt 5, 1TB Base Storage, and Up to 128GB RAM

Apple announced the MacBook Pro 14-inch with M5 Pro and M5 Max just yesterday, and this is one of the best compact machines you can get your hands on at the moment. This is the pro-tier MacBook refresh Apple skipped last year when they only released the base M5 MacBook Pro. The M5 Pro and M5 Max variants are finally here, and the chip architecture is genuinely new this time around. Anyway, let's get into this article, where I will discuss everything about the latest MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5 Pro / M5 Max), including its price in Nepal, specifications, and availability.

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5 Pro / M5 Max) Overview

Design and Build

The design hasn't changed at all. It features the Same aluminum body, the  same port layout— well, almost. Coming in space black and silver, it's about 0.61 inches thick and weighs around 3.4 pounds for the M5 Pro configuration, slightly more for M5 Max due to the additional cooling required. Unlike the MacBook Air, the Pro has an active fan-based cooling system.  The keyboard is a backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, and there's a Force Touch trackpad. No external redesign this generation and if you have a case or sleeve from the M4 model, it'll still fit.

One new display option worth noting: nano-texture glass is now available as a configuration choice. It cuts down on reflections in bright environments without losing sharpness.  It handles glare without a traditional matte coating, keeping colors accurate while reducing reflections. 

The 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR display is unchanged in specs from M4. You still get 3024 x 1964 resolution, ProMotion up to 120Hz, 1600 nits peak HDR brightness, 1000 nits for SDR content, and 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio from the mini-LED backlighting. P3 wide color and support for 1 billion colors are all still there. Similarly, the M5 Pro can drive up to three external displays simultaneously, and M5 Max goes up to four.

Performance

Both chips provided here are built on Apple's new Fusion Architecture, which is basically two dies combined into one SoC, and both use a new up-to-18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores. Apple says this delivers about 30% faster multi-threaded performance over M4 Pro and M4 Max.

The GPU gets the same Neural Accelerator-per-core treatment that came to the base M5. For AI tasks specifically, Apple is claiming up to 4x faster LLM prompt processing compared to M4 Pro and M4 Max, and up to 8x compared to M1 Pro and M1 Max. 

On the graphics side, M5 Pro and M5 Max bring up to 50% faster GPU performance compared to M4 Pro and M4 Max. For 3D work in Redshift, Apple puts that at 1.4x faster than M4 Pro. In DaVinci Resolve, the M5 Max is up to 3x faster than M4 Max for video effects rendering, and up to 3.5x faster for AI video work in Topaz Video. Ray tracing in games like Cyberpunk 2077 is up to 1.6x faster than M4 Pro.

The memory situation also gets better. M5 Pro supports up to 64GB of unified memory with 307GB/s bandwidth, which is roughly 1.5x what the M4 Pro offered. M5 Max goes further, supporting up to 128GB with 614GB/s of bandwidth.

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Storage

M5 Pro models start at 1TB, and M5 Max models start at 2TB, both double what the previous generation shipped with at base. The SSD itself is also faster, delivering up to 2x the read/write speeds of the M4 generation, with peak speeds reaching up to 14.5GB/s.  Similarly, max storage goes up to 4TB on M5 Pro and up to 8TB on some M5 Max configurations.

Camera and Audio

The 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View carries over from the M4 generation, with the M5's Neural Engine handling the processing. The camera keeps you in frame during calls automatically and can show a top-down view of your desk at the same time using the wide-angle lens. Similarly, the audio here is a six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers and support for Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos. Three studio-quality mics with beamforming handle the input side for calls and recordings. No hardware changes here over the M4 model, but it's still one of the better speaker setups you'll find in a laptop at any price.

Connectivity

The big port upgrade this generation is Thunderbolt 5. The MacBook Pro M5 gets three Thunderbolt 5 ports running at up to 120Gb/s, compared to Thunderbolt 4's 40Gb/s on the M4 model. That's a 3x speed increase for external drives, docks, and displays that support Thunderbolt 5.

The rest of the port layout stays the same: HDMI 2.1 (up to 8K), an SDXC card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack with high-impedance support, and MagSafe 3 for dedicated charging. Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 come via Apple's N1 chip, the same as the MacBook Air M5 and iPad Air.

Battery

Up to 24 hours of battery life on the M5 Pro configuration, which is two hours better than the M4 Pro's rated 22 hours. The M5 Max 14-inch gets up to 20 hours. Fast charging via MagSafe or Thunderbolt gets you to 50% in about 30 minutes with a 96W or higher adapter.

Software

Finally, coming to the software, the MacBook Pro ships with macOS Tahoe, like the entire MacBook lineup. The headlining features are Liquid Glass design language across the UI, Live Translation in Messages and FaceTime, an updated Spotlight that lets you take actions directly from search, and more capable Shortcuts that can tap into Apple Intelligence models. Folder and app icon color customization is also new this cycle.

For developers, Apple is opening up the Foundation Models framework so apps can directly access on-device intelligence. iPhone Mirroring is there too, which let’s you interact with your iPhone from the Mac screen with Live Activities support.

MacBook Pro 14-inch Specifications

• Dimensions: 312.6 x 221.2 x 15.5mm
• Weight: ~1.55kg / 3.4 lbs (M5 Pro); slightly more for M5 Max
• Display: 14.2-inch Liquid Retina XDR, 3024x1964, ProMotion 120Hz, 1600 nits peak HDR, 1000 nits SDR, 1,000,000:1 contrast, nano-texture option available
• CPU: Apple M5 Pro (up to 18-core, 6 super cores + 12 performance cores) / Apple M5 Max (18-core)
• GPU: M5 Pro: up to 20-core with Neural Accelerator per core / M5 Max: up to 40-core with Neural Accelerator per core
• Memory: M5 Pro: 24GB base, up to 64GB, 307GB/s bandwidth / M5 Max: 36GB base, up to 128GB, 614GB/s bandwidth
• Storage: M5 Pro: 1TB base (up to 4TB) / M5 Max: 2TB base (up to 8TB), up to 14.5GB/s read/write
• Ports: 3x Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C, up to 120Gb/s), HDMI 2.1 (up to 8K), SDXC card slot, MagSafe 3, 3.5mm headphone jack
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6 (Apple N1 chip)
• Battery: Up to 24 hours (M5 Pro) / up to 20 hours (M5 Max), fast charging to 50% in ~30 min (96W+ adapter)
• Webcam: 12MP Center Stage with Desk View
• Audio: Six-speaker system with force-cancelling woofers, Spatial Audio, Dolby Atmos; three-mic array with beamforming
• Keyboard: Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, Force Touch trackpad
• Security: Touch ID

Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch Price in Nepal and Availability

Pre-orders opened March 4, and units started shipping March 11. When it does arrive through authorized resellers, expect prices to start at no less than the figures below.