Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) vs Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) | AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2009) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | March 2026 | June 2009 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 14.2″ | 15.4″ |
| Resolution | 3024 × 1964 (better) | 1440 × 900 |
| Panel | Mini-LED | TN LCD |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 1,000 nits | – |
| HDR peak brightness | 1,600 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina XDR display | Glossy LED-backlit widescreen display with millions of colours. TN panel technology is identified by the exact-model Notebookcheck review; maker refresh rate and brightness are unpublished. |
| Pixel density | 254 ppi | – |
| Colour range | Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours | – |
| Screen finish | Standard, or nano-texture as an option | – |
| Display features | 1,000,000:1 contrast; 1,000 nits sustained full-screen XDR brightness; ProMotion up to 120 Hz, with fixed 47.95, 48, 50, 59.94 and 60 Hz rates; True Tone | – |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | Apple M5 Pro or Apple M5 Max | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008), Intel Core 2 Duo 2.66 GHz (MacBook Pro Mid 2009), Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008) or Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz (MacBook Pro Mid 2009) |
| CPU cores | 15 or 18 | 2 |
| Graphics | 16-core GPU, 20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU | NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (256 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M or NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M |
| Memory | 24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better) | 4 GB or 8 GB |
| Storage | 1 TB to 8 TB (better) | 128 GB to 500 GB |
| CPU | 15-core CPU with 5 super cores and 10 performance cores (entry M5 Pro), or 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores | Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.53 or 2.66 GHz with 3 MB shared L2 cache, or 2.8 and optional 3.06 GHz with 6 MB; 1066 MHz frontside bus. The optional 3.06 GHz processor belongs to the upper discrete-graphics group. No unverified Intel SKU assumptions. |
| GPU | 16-core or 20-core (M5 Pro), 32-core or 40-core (M5 Max) GPU with Neural Accelerators and hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode, with two video encode and two ProRes engines on M5 Max | The 2.53 GHz model has GeForce 9400M integrated graphics only. The 2.66 GHz model also has GeForce 9600M GT with 256 MB GDDR3; 2.8 and 3.06 GHz have 512 MB. GeForce 9400M uses 256 MB shared system memory. |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory | 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots, supplied with 4 GB and configurable to 8 GB. |
| Memory bandwidth | 307 GB/s (M5 Pro), 460 GB/s (M5 Max with 32-core GPU) or 614 GB/s (M5 Max with 40-core GPU) | – |
| Storage type | SSD, configurable up to 4 TB (M5 Pro) or 8 TB (M5 Max); Apple quotes up to 14.5 GB/s read and write (tested with a 16-inch M5 Max with 8 TB) | Base hard drives are 250 GB at 2.53 GHz, 320 GB at 2.66 GHz and 500 GB at 2.8 GHz, all 5400 rpm. Configurable 320 GB and 500 GB hard drives offer 5400 or 7200 rpm; 128 GB and 256 GB are SSD options. Higher processor groups omit an unconfirmed 250 GB choice. 8× SuperDrive with double-layer DVD writing. |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 22 hours | Up to 7 hours |
| Battery capacity | 72.4 Wh | 73 Wh (better) |
| Weight | 1.6 kg (better) | 2.49 kg |
| Thickness | 15.5 mm (better) | 24.1 mm |
| Width × depth | 312.6 × 221.2 mm | 364 × 249 mm |
| Battery life detail | M5 Pro up to 22 hours video streaming and 14 hours wireless web; M5 Max up to 20 hours video streaming and 13 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery | Built-in lithium-polymer battery. Apple reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. |
| Charger | Sold separately in the UK (70 W or 96 W Apple USB-C adapters offered); needs at least 70 W over USB PD | 60 W MagSafe Power Adapter for 2.53 GHz; 85 W for 2.66, 2.8 and 3.06 GHz configurations. |
| Fast charging | With a 96 W or higher USB PD power source | – |
| Materials | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall | Aluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad |
| Colours | Space Black, Silver | Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 2 × USB-A, SD card slot, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 7 | AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g |
| Bluetooth | 6 | 2.1 + EDR |
| Webcam | 12MP Center Stage | Built-in iSight camera |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | 3 × Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 5 and USB 4 (up to 120 Gb/s); HDMI (up to 8K) with multichannel audio output; SDXC card slot; MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support | Two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini DisplayPort, SD card slot, combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output. No ExpressCard slot. |
| External displays | M5 Pro up to three at 6K 60 Hz or 4K 144 Hz, or one at 8K 60 Hz, 5K 120 Hz or 4K 240 Hz plus one at 5K 120 Hz or 4K 200 Hz; M5 Max up to four at 6K 60 Hz or 4K 144 Hz, or two at 8K 60 Hz, 5K 120 Hz or 4K 240 Hz; all alongside the built-in display | Supports the built-in display and an external display up to 2560 × 1600 pixels simultaneously. Mini DisplayPort adapters for DVI, dual-link DVI or VGA are sold separately. |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys | Backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys. |
| Trackpad | Force Touch trackpad | Glass Multi-Touch trackpad supporting two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate and three/four-finger gestures. |
| Speakers | High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos | Built-in stereo speakers |
| Microphones | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes | Omnidirectional microphone beneath the left speaker grille. |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | – |
| In the box | 14-inch MacBook Pro, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only); power adapter sold separately | MacBook Pro, MagSafe Power Adapter with AC wall plug and power cord, display cleaning cloth, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X Leopard and iLife ’09; Apple Remote and display adapters sold separately. |
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