The Verge just dropped their review of Apple's newest 14-inch MacBook Pro M5, and it's exactly what you'd expect from an annual chip refresh - a solid laptop made incrementally better. Antonio G. Di Benedetto calls it the "Madden NFL release" of laptops, offering slightly faster performance and notably improved storage speeds without changing anything else about the design.
The first major review of Apple's M5 MacBook Pro just landed, and The Verge's Antonio Di Benedetto doesn't mince words about what you're getting. This is an incremental update that does exactly what it says on the tin - makes last year's excellent laptop a little bit faster.
The M5 delivers performance gains ranging from 8% to 16% in CPU benchmarks like Geekbench and Cinebench, while creative applications see more substantial improvements. Adobe Premiere Pro, Photoshop, and DaVinci Resolve scored 17% to 33% higher in PugetBench tests, suggesting the new Neural Accelerators on the GPU cores are doing their job for AI-heavy workflows.
But the real surprise comes from storage performance upgrades. The 1TB SSD in the M5 model more than doubles the sequential read/write speeds of its M4 predecessor, jumping from around 3,250 MB/s to over 7,000 MB/s. That puts it on par with the speedier drives Apple reserves for M4 Pro and Max models - a meaningful upgrade for anyone working with large files.
Apple continues positioning these entry-level MacBook Pros as gaming machines, but Di Benedetto's testing reveals the limitations. Cyberpunk 2077 runs at a locked 30fps at 1080p-ish resolution with the default "For this Mac" preset. Push it to 4K and you're looking at 15fps - playable for indie games but nowhere near dedicated gaming laptops. An $1,800 Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with RTX 5060 delivers more than double the frame rates.
The M5's new Neural Accelerators represent the biggest architectural change, specifically designed to accelerate AI tasks hitting the GPU. Apple claims a 3.5x performance improvement over M4 for AI workflows, which you'll notice in specialized applications like Topaz Video's AI upscaling or Premiere Pro's Enhance Speech feature.
For most users upgrading from Intel Macs or early M-series chips, the performance jump will be immediately noticeable. But if you bought an M4 MacBook Pro last year, Di Benedetto's advice is simple: "keep living your life with your very good laptop. There's no cause for FOMO with the M5."
The pricing structure remains unchanged at $1,599 for the base model with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. Di Benedetto's review unit with 1TB storage and anti-glare display hit $1,949 - dangerously close to M4 Pro territory at $1,999, which offers 24GB RAM and Thunderbolt 5 ports.
Battery life continues to impress, easily lasting nine hours of mixed productivity work including Lightroom photo editing. The machine stays cool and quiet even under heavy loads, maintaining the thermal efficiency that made the M4 model so appealing.
The design remains identical to the M4 model in every measurable way - same dimensions, same weight, same port configuration including that crucial third Thunderbolt port. Even the space black finish carries over, though Di Benedetto notes it still shows smudges.
Industry rumors suggest a larger MacBook Pro redesign is coming in 2026, possibly featuring OLED displays and new form factors. But for now, the M5 maintains Apple's position as the "sweet-spot mid-tier option" in the Mac lineup.
The Verge's 9/10 score reflects what this machine actually is - not a revolutionary upgrade, but a refinement of an already excellent formula. For creative professionals, students, or anyone stepping up from a MacBook Air, the entry-level MacBook Pro continues to offer the best balance of performance, features, and value in Apple's ecosystem.
The M5 MacBook Pro represents Apple's approach to annual updates - meaningful but measured improvements that justify the new model number without requiring a complete redesign. For most users, the faster storage alone makes it worth considering over discounted M4 models, while the AI performance gains future-proof it for emerging workflows. It's not exciting, but it doesn't need to be when you're already building on excellence.
