Apple has announced a 14-inch MacBook Pro refresh that’s powered by the new M5 chip. It’s available for preorder now, starting at $1,599, and will ship on October 22 (see it at Amazon). Basically, if you’re in the market for a new MacBook Pro, this is the one you should probably get. It’s new, it’s faster than previous models – I mean, come on. Let’s check in on where you can preorder this new workhorse machine and what makes it stand out compared to previous models.
Where to Preorder the New 14” M5 MacBook Pro
Apple says the new M5 chip offers a big boost in particular to AI performance. It has a “next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core” that lets it deliver up to 3.5x the AI performance and up to 1.6 faster graphics than last year’s M4 chip.
Like all of Apple’s M-series chips, this one plays well with MacOS. Because of that hardware-software synergy, Apple is promising up to 24 hours of battery life on a single charge, which is pretty impressive if real-world testing bears that out. The new MacBook Pro also offers faster SSD performance than last year’s model, making Pro-level tasks like importing RAW image files or exporting large videos considerably quicker.
The new MBP isn’t cheap, however, as it starts at $1,599. But if you don’t need a Pro-level laptop, then you should get the MacBook Air, the most recent model of which sports an M4 chip and released in March of this year. The baseline model of the most recent Air is currently on sale at Amazon for $899.
But if you need more power than an Air offers, this MacBook Pro with M5 chip is probably the way to go. It’s available in two colors: silver and midnight. Amazon has three levels of specs available. The cheapest one comes with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. For $200 more, you can crank the SSD up to 1TB, and for $400 more, you can get 24GB RAM and a 1TB SSD.
If you purchase from Apple, you can spec it out further, including up to 32GB unified memory and a 4TB SSD. Doing so, however, costs several thousand dollars.
Apple also announced and put up for preorder a new M5-powered iPad Pro, which is available in 11- and 13-inch models, also releasing October 22.
Chris Reed is a commerce editor and deals expert for IGN. He also runs IGN’s board game and LEGO coverage. You can follow him on Bluesky.
First Appeared on
Source link
