Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M5) vs Apple PowerBook G3 Series (Wallstreet, 1998)

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MacBook Pro 14″ (M5) compared with PowerBook G3 Series (Wallstreet, 1998)

	AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M5)	ApplePowerBook G3 Series (Wallstreet, 1998)
Overview
Released
Released	October 2025	May 1998
Display
Screen size
Screen size	14.2″	12.1″
Resolution
Resolution	3024 × 1964 (better)	800 × 600 or 1024 × 768
Panel
Panel	Mini-LED	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	120 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	1,000 nits	–
HDR peak brightness
HDR peak brightness	1,600 nits	–
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Liquid Retina XDR display	12.1-inch STN passive-matrix 800 × 600 screen or 13.3- and 14.1-inch TFT active-matrix 1024 × 768 screens; all are CCFL-backlit. The 14.1-inch case is 53 mm thick, compared with 51 mm for the smaller versions.
Pixel density
Pixel density	254 ppi	–
Colour range
Colour range	Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours	–
Screen finish
Screen finish	Standard, or nano-texture as an option	–
Display features
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
Processor	Apple M5	PowerPC G3 233 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series 1998), PowerPC G3 250 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series 1998) or PowerPC G3 292 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series 1998)
CPU cores
CPU cores	10	1
Graphics
Graphics	10-core GPU	–
Memory
Memory	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)	32 MB or 64 MB
Storage
Storage	1 TB to 4 TB (better)	2 GB to 8 GB
CPU
CPU	10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores	PowerPC 750 (G3) at 233, 250 or 292 MHz. The 233 MHz launch version has no backside L2 cache; the 250 and 292 MHz versions each have 1 MB L2 cache. System bus is 66.7 MHz on 233 MHz models and 83.3 MHz on faster models.
GPU
GPU	Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode	ATI 3D RAGE LT graphics with 2 MB or 4 MB SGRAM video memory, depending on configuration; built-in 2D and 3D acceleration.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory	32 MB or 64 MB factory SDRAM in the listed regional configurations, using two SO-DIMM slots; Apple gives 192 MB as the original expansion limit.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	153 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD, configurable up to 4 TB	Removable internal 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB EIDE hard drive, depending on configuration. The two expansion bays accept battery, floppy, CD-ROM or DVD-ROM modules; removable media are separate from internal storage.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 24 hours	Up to 3.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	72.4 Wh (better)	49 Wh
Weight
Weight	1.55 kg (better)	3.45 kg
Thickness
Thickness	15.5 mm (better)	51 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	312.6 × 221.2 mm	323 × 265 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 16 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery	Removable 49 Wh lithium-ion battery. Apple's service data sheet claims up to 3.5 hours on one battery or seven hours with two batteries. Maker reference weight of 3.45 kg includes one battery and a CD-ROM module.
Charger
Charger	Sold separately in the UK (70 W or 96 W Apple USB-C adapters offered); needs at least 60 W over USB PD	–
Fast charging
Fast charging	With a 96 W or higher USB PD power source	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall	–
Colours
Colours	Space Black, Silver	–
Connections
Ports
Ports	3 × Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	5.3	–
Webcam
Webcam	12MP Center Stage	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
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	Built-in 10BASE-T Ethernet, VGA external video, HDI-30 SCSI, ADB, GeoPort serial, audio input and headphone output, infrared and two Type II CardBus slots (or one Type III). The 13.3- and 14.1-inch versions also have S-video output; some configurations included a K56flex modem.
External displays
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	VGA output on every configuration, up to 1280 × 960 pixels according to Apple's developer note; S-video output on 13.3- and 14.1-inch versions.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	Full-size keyboard with an embedded numeric keypad and inverted-T arrow keys.
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Solid-state trackpad with tap, double-tap and drag support.
Speakers
Speakers	Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	–
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes	–
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
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	Mac OS 8.1 and a 45 W adapter. Apple Canada said the 12.1- and 13.3-inch versions began shipping on 7 May 1998; the 14.1-inch version was planned for early June. The listed CPU, screen, RAM and disk pairings are four regional launch configurations recorded at Apple's May 1998 Japan announcement.