Apple MacBook Pro 14″ (M5) vs Apple PowerBook G4 (Original 2001)

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MacBook Pro 14″ (M5) compared with PowerBook G4 (Original 2001)

	AppleMacBook Pro 14″ (M5)	ApplePowerBook G4 (Original 2001)
Overview
Released
Released	October 2025	January 2001
Display
Screen size
Screen size	14.2″	15.2″
Resolution
Resolution	3024 × 1964 (better)	1152 × 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	15.2-inch TFT widescreen active-matrix display. Exact panel technology, brightness and built-in refresh unpublished.
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 G4 400 MHz (PowerBook Original 2001) or PowerPC G4 500 MHz (PowerBook Original 2001)
CPU cores
CPU cores	10	1
Graphics
Graphics	10-core GPU	ATI Rage Mobility 128 (8 MB SDRAM)
Memory
Memory	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)	128 MB, 256 MB or 1 GB
Storage
Storage	1 TB to 4 TB (better)	10 GB to 30 GB
CPU
CPU	10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores	400 or 500 MHz PowerPC G4 with Velocity Engine; 1 MB backside L2 cache on 200 or 250 MHz dedicated 64-bit cache bus, 100 MHz system bus, 64 KB L1 (32 KB data/32 KB instruction). Exact supplier/SKU omitted.
GPU
GPU	Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode	ATI Rage Mobility 128 with 8 MB SDRAM and AGP 2 ×.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory	128 MB stock at 400 MHz or 256 MB at 500 MHz; two PC100 SO-DIMM slots support up to 1 GB.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	153 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD, configurable up to 4 TB	400 MHz stock 10 GB, 500 MHz stock 20 GB Ultra ATA/66. Maker-listed 30 GB build-to-order option retained for both with published RAM maxima; no intermediate capacities invented. Slot-loading DVD-ROM reads DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-RAM and CD-ROM.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 24 hours	Up to 5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	72.4 Wh (better)	50 Wh
Weight
Weight	1.55 kg (better)	2.4 kg
Thickness
Thickness	15.5 mm (better)	26 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	312.6 × 221.2 mm	341 × 241 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 16 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery	50 Wh lithium-ion; up to five hours maker claim. Published 2.4 kg includes battery and varies by configuration/manufacturing process. Metric dimensions 34.1 × 24.1 × 2.6 cm are from the exact Apple technical sheet preserved by SavageTaylor, not calculated from inches.
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	Titanium enclosure
Colours
Colours	Space Black, Silver	–
Connections
Ports
Ports	3 × Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6E	Optional AirPort 802.11b
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	Two 12 Mbps USB ports, one 400 Mbps FireWire port, 10/100BASE-T Ethernet, 56K V.90 modem, 4 Mbps IrDA, one Type I/II PC Card/CardBus slot with ZoomVideo support, VGA, S-video and stereo output; no microphone input jack.
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 24-bit video output and S-video, with S-video-to-composite adapter. 8 MB video memory supports millions of colours on external monitors up to 21 inches (preserved exact maker sheet).
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	77 US or 78 ISO keys; 12 function keys, four arrows and embedded numeric keypad.
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Tap, double-tap and drag support
Speakers
Speakers	Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	Two built-in stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes	Internal omnidirectional microphone
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	Power adapter, DVD software, iMovie 2 and iTunes. Maker promised January availability; LowEndMac reported actual retail collection on 31 January 2001. First sale day unestablished, so month retained.