In a previous article “M1 vs M2 vs M3 vs M4 vs M5“; I compared the tech specs of entry level Apple Silicon chips from each generation, sprinkling in some basic benchmarks while also sharing some details learned from other sources.
.

.
There may not be an M5 MacBook Pro in front of me, but we can pull existing benchmarks to create a relative compare-n’-contrast, to hopefully provide some insight.
.

Key Takeaways

Some key takeaways of the M5 chip tech specs versus other “Pro” Apple Silicon:

• M5 has the same memory bandwidth as the M3 Pro: 153.6 GB/s
  .
• While the M3 Pro is the first time we saw more than 32 GB RAM offered on a Pro chip, it wasn’t until M4 Pro where we could double up the maximum to 64 GB.
  .
• The M5 chip has 1.5x more L2 efficiency core cluster cache versus any of the Pro chips.
  • M1 Pro, M2 Pro, M3 Pro, and M4 Pro all have 4 MB L2 for their efficiency core clusters.
    .
• The potential total transistor count in the M5 chip should be close to the M1 Pro.
  .
• M5 efficiency core maximum clock speed is nearly as high as the M1 Pro performance core maximum clock speed.
  .
• Geekbench 6 comparisons: pulled from “Mac Laptop Benchmarks” on GeekBench website, on 10/28/2025.
  .

Why Geekbench?

While artificial benchmarks may not completely reflect real world experiences, they can still provide some perspective by subjecting the Mac to a proverbial water pressure test. It is also a ubiquitous benchmarking app that many individuals use, and in due time some more benchmark comparisons can be made with different benchmarking software.
.

Tech Specs, vs Pro chips

.

• Multi core performance: the M5 is better than a 12-Core 18-GPU M3 Pro, but lesser than any M4 Pro chip.
  .
• Single Core performance is undoubtedly the best of any Apple Silicon, right now.
  .
• OpenCL: 10-Core GPU M2 Pro < M5 < 12-Core GPU M3 Pro
  .
• Metal: Base M5 MacBook Pro is about the same as a 16 GPU-Core M2 Pro.
  M2 Pro.

Single Core – M5 chip vs All Pro chip MBPs

Multi Core – M5 chip vs All Pro chip MBPs

Metal – M5 chip vs All Pro chip MBPs

OpenCL – M5 chip vs All Pro chip MBPs

.
Versus Max chips

When we compare the M5 chip to the Max series of Apple Silicon, things start to look slightly different. Single Core performance is already second to none, so it will not be rehashed.
.

.

• Multicore: 38-GPU M2 Max < M5 < 30-GPU M3 Max
  .
• Metal & OpenCL: We have some room to grow still, but the gap is starting to narrow. Any Max chip made so far, even a 2021 14-Inch 24-GPU M1 Max will outperform an M5.

.

Metal – M5 vs all other Max chip MBPs

OpenCL – M5 vs all other Max chip MBPs

.
Versus Ultra Chips

As it turns out, the 14-Inch M5 MacBook Pro gives the CPU performance in an M1 ultra chip a run for its money. It’s getting close to catching up with the M2 Ultra Mac Pro for real (CPU-wise).
.

OpenCL – M5 vs All the Ultra chips

Metal – M5 vs All the Ultra chips