Apple MacBook Pro 14-inch (M5)

N Notebookcheck Article

That’s really my final verdict on the M5 MacBook Pro. It’s a brilliant workstation laptop if you need a lot of power and battery life, and the fact that it’s wrapped in a compact, robust package that’s really great to use is just a bonus.

Although they didn’t host an event, Apple’s new M5 powered MacBook Pro promises to have the FASTEST performance CPU cores in the world… and they don’t seem to be lying. It’s VERY VERY fast

T TechRadar Article · Oct 2025

I've been using the MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 for almost a week, putting aside the equally impressive M4 model in favor of a system that promises 20% better multithreaded performance.

Now, if you don't want refurbish or can't find any refurbished deals on the M4 Pro, the new M5 MacBook Pro is honestly such a great laptop for what it is that I'd recommend it to just about everyone who wants that raw power with incredible battery life.

All in all, with this whole month I've had using the MacBook Pro powered by the M5 chip, using it for well, everything I do, I'd say it's powerful enough for work, for editing, and probably even more.

So, is the MacBook Pro M5 battery life good? Yes, totally. 18-plus hours on a 14-in laptop is very impressive, and Apple once again proves it can navigate power efficiency better than almost every other laptop maker out there. On this machine, you can do a full day of work without reaching for a charger

The M5 Pro is still the MacBook I'd recommend to most people doing pro work and the 6 months of proof is that I never once reached for the studio when things got heavy. The battery has aged better than my last two laptops. Nothing has slowed down that a software update didn't cause and the only place I've genuinely wanted more machine is memory.

But, if you're a content creator, a travel filmmaker, or student who edits in Premiere, Resolve, CapCut, Final Cut, or Zoom, the M5 is the perfect sweet spot between power and price. It's small, quiet, battery efficient, and surprisingly capable for its size. It starts from around 1,800 euros, and this is easily the best budget MacBook for creators in 2025, and probably sometime in 2026 as well.

Leave the base chip in the MacBook Pro line, because now there 's a $600 MacBook and Air below it. And I wouldn't be surprised if someone at Apple looked at this lineup and decided that an entry-level Pro wasn't needed. That would be a mistake. This is the best deal from Apple for your money

That's ultimately what brought me back to the 14-in MacBook Pro. I really like the form factor. It's compact enough to carry around comfortably, but I still get that beautiful ProMotion display, a decent selection of ports, active cooling, and enough performance to keep up with my editing work while I'm away

You're still going to get the same great hardware that the MacBook Pro M4 Pro has from the display and speakers to the extra ports and bigger battery, but performance-wise, the moment you start to do anything resource heavy on it, the fan really kicks up and you can easily spend twice the amount of time waiting on things to render or even feel some choppiness depending on your workflow. I don't mean to harp on it too much. It's still an incredibly powerful machine. If you're someone who is doing lighter workloads and you just want the better screen and speakers over the air and you're occasionally delving into more demanding workflows, it will serve you well.