Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M5) vs Apple MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M5) | AppleMacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | October 2025 | October 2012 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 14.2″ | 13.3″ |
| Resolution | 3024 × 1964 (better) | 2560 × 1600 |
| Panel | Mini-LED | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 1,000 nits | – |
| HDR peak brightness | 1,600 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina XDR display | Retina LED-backlit IPS display with millions of colours; native 2560 × 1600 and scaled modes of 1680 × 1050, 1440 × 900 and 1024 × 640. Refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple. |
| Pixel density | 254 ppi | 227 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 | Intel Core i5-3210M or Intel Core i7-3520M |
| CPU cores | 10 | 2 |
| CPU threads | – | 4 |
| Graphics | 10-core GPU | Intel HD Graphics 4000 |
| Memory | 16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better) | 8 GB |
| Storage | 1 TB to 4 TB (better) | 128 GB to 768 GB |
| CPU | 10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores | Dual-core Intel Core i5-3210M at 2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz and 3 MB shared L3 cache, or Core i7-3520M at 2.9 GHz with up to 3.6 GHz and 4 MB cache. Exact processor identities documented by Ars Technica. |
| GPU | Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode | Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated graphics |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory | 8 GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L onboard memory; no higher memory option |
| Memory bandwidth | 153 GB/s | – |
| Storage type | SSD, configurable up to 4 TB | Flash storage; 128 GB base configurable to 256 GB, 512 GB or 768 GB, and 256 GB base configurable to 512 GB or 768 GB. Both bases offer the Core i7 upgrade. |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 24 hours | Up to 7 hours |
| Battery capacity | 72.4 Wh | 74 Wh (better) |
| Weight | 1.55 kg (better) | 1.62 kg |
| Thickness | 15.5 mm (better) | 19 mm |
| Width × depth | 312.6 × 221.2 mm | 314 × 219 mm |
| Battery life detail | Up to 16 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery | Built-in 74 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 7 hours wireless web or 30 days standby under Apple's test conditions. 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 60 W over USB PD | 60 W MagSafe 2 Power Adapter with cable management |
| Fast charging | With a 96 W or higher USB PD power source | – |
| Materials | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall | Aluminium enclosure |
| Colours | Space Black, Silver | Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 3 × Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 2 × USB-A, 2 × Thunderbolt, MagSafe 2, headphone jack, SD card slot, HDMI |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6E | 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g |
| Bluetooth | 5.3 | 4.0 |
| Webcam | 12MP Center Stage | 720p FaceTime HD |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | 3 × Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s); HDMI with multichannel audio output; SDXC card slot; MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support | Two USB 3 ports up to 5 Gb/s, two Thunderbolt ports up to 10 Gb/s with native Mini DisplayPort output, HDMI, SDXC, MagSafe 2 and headphone/optical digital audio output. Supports Apple iPhone headset with microphone. Ethernet and FireWire require separate Thunderbolt adapters. |
| External displays | Up to two over any mix of Thunderbolt and HDMI at 6K 60 Hz or 4K 144 Hz, or one at up to 8K 60 Hz, 5K 120 Hz or 4K 240 Hz, alongside the built-in display | Built-in screen plus up to two external displays at 2560 × 1600, with millions of colours; DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI adapters sold separately |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys | Full-size backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys, four arrow keys and ambient light sensor |
| Trackpad | Force Touch trackpad | Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe, four-finger swipe, tap, double-tap and drag |
| Speakers | Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos | Stereo speakers |
| Microphones | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes | Dual microphones |
| 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 with Retina display, MagSafe 2 Power Adapter, AC wall plug and power cord; OS X Mountain Lion and iLife apps |
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