tech
March 10, 2026
Apple’s new M5 Max feels like a huge upgrade if you bought your laptop three years ago
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TL;DR
- The new M5 chip offers significant SSD read/write speed boosts, up to "up to 2x" faster than M4 models.
- The 16-inch M5 Max MacBook Pro achieved sustained read speeds of 13.6GB/s and write speeds of 17.8GB/s.
- The M5 Max chip introduces a 'super core' alongside redesigned performance cores, affecting CPU benchmarks.
- While single-core CPU gains are modest (8-9%), multi-core performance shows around 10-14% improvement.
- GPU improvements in the M5 Max show a 26% gain in OpenCL and 18% in Metal rendering.
- Upgrading from an M2 Max laptop shows substantial performance gains with the M5 Max, while the difference from M3 or M4 Max is less pronounced.
- Faster SSD speeds are considered a primary reason to upgrade, especially for users with older M2 Max laptops.
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