Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008) vs Apple MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008) | AppleMacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | February 2008 | March 2026 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 15.4″ | 16.2″ |
| Resolution | 1440 × 900 | 3456 × 2234 (better) |
| Panel | – | Mini-LED |
| Refresh rate | – | 120 Hz |
| Brightness | – | 1,000 nits |
| HDR peak brightness | – | 1,600 nits |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | LED-backlit widescreen TFT display, matte with optional glossy finish with millions of colours. Exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished in the maker sources read. | Liquid Retina XDR display |
| 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 | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz (MacBook Pro Early 2008), Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz (MacBook Pro Early 2008) or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 GHz (MacBook Pro Early 2008) | Apple M5 Pro or Apple M5 Max |
| CPU cores | 2 | 18 |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB GDDR3) or NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) | 20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU |
| Memory | 2 GB or 4 GB | 24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better) |
| Storage | 200 GB to 300 GB | 1 TB to 8 TB (better) |
| CPU | Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz with 3 MB shared L2 cache, or 2.5 GHz with 6 MB; 2.6 GHz with 6 MB is configurable from the 2.5 GHz base, as confirmed by Macworld. All use an 800 MHz frontside bus. Maker-described clock records avoid unverified Intel SKU assumptions. | 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores |
| GPU | NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (256 MB GDDR3); NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT (512 MB GDDR3). GPU memory varies with processor configuration. | 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 |
| AI engine | – | 16-core Neural Engine |
| Memory type | 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots; 2 GB standard, configurable to 4 GB. | Unified memory |
| 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 | 200 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA drive at 2.4 GHz or 250 GB 5400-rpm at 2.5 GHz. Maker build-to-order options are 200 GB at 7200 rpm, 250 GB at 5400 rpm or 300 GB at 4200 rpm; 200 GB rows on higher CPUs represent the optional faster drive. 8× SuperDrive with double-layer DVD writing. | 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 M5 Max and 8 TB) |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | – | Up to 24 hours |
| Battery capacity | – | 99.6 Wh |
| Weight | – | 2.14 kg |
| Thickness | 26 mm | 16.8 mm (better) |
| Width × depth | 357 × 243 mm | 355.7 × 248.1 mm |
| Battery life detail | Removable lithium-polymer battery; capacity and battery-life hours omitted because the surviving maker sources read do not publish them. Macworld lists 5.4 lb; metric weight omitted. Dimensions 357 × 243 × 26 mm are published by Notebookcheck’s exact-model review. | M5 Pro up to 24 hours video streaming and 17 hours wireless web; M5 Max up to 22 hours video streaming and 16 hours wireless web; 100-watt-hour (actual rating 99.6 Wh) lithium-polymer battery |
| Charger | 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter | Sold separately in the UK; needs at least 140 W over USB PD |
| Fast charging | – | With a 140 W or higher USB PD power source |
| Materials | Aluminium enclosure | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall |
| Colours | Silver | Space Black, Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe | 3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack |
| Wi-Fi | AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g | Wi-Fi 7 |
| Bluetooth | 2.1 + EDR | 6 |
| Webcam | Built-in iSight camera | 12MP Center Stage |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | 2 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, dual-link DVI, ExpressCard/34, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output, and Kensington lock slot. VGA adapter included; composite/S-video adapter optional. | 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 |
| External displays | One external display up to 2560 × 1600 alongside the built-in screen through dual-link DVI; included VGA adapter, optional composite/S-video adapter. | 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 |
| Keyboard | Full-size backlit keyboard with ambient light sensors, 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys |
| Trackpad | Multi-Touch trackpad with separate button; scrolling, pinch, rotate and three-finger swipe. | Force Touch trackpad |
| Speakers | Built-in stereo speakers | High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos |
| Microphones | Built-in omnidirectional microphone under the left speaker grille | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes |
| Biometrics | – | Touch ID |
| In the box | MacBook Pro, removable battery, 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter with AC wall plug and power cord, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and iLife ’08. Apple Remote sold separately. The former SP4 specification URL is no longer available; surviving maker launch notice and exact user guide provide core specifications. | 16-inch MacBook Pro, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only); power adapter sold separately |
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