Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2006) vs Apple MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2006) | AppleMacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | October 2006 | March 2026 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 15.4″ | 16.2″ |
| Resolution | 1440 × 900 | 3456 × 2234 (better) |
| Panel | – | Mini-LED |
| Refresh rate | – | 120 Hz |
| Brightness | 300 nits | 1,000 nits (better) |
| HDR peak brightness | – | 1,600 nits |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Widescreen TFT display; 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 Exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished in the maker sources read.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 2.16 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2006) or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2006) | Apple M5 Pro or Apple M5 Max |
| CPU cores | 2 | 18 |
| Graphics | ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (128 MB GDDR3) or ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (256 MB GDDR3) | 20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU |
| Memory | 1 GB, 2 GB or 3 GB | 24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better) |
| Storage | 120 GB to 200 GB | 1 TB to 8 TB (better) |
| CPU | Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.16 GHz or 2.33 GHz, with 4 MB shared L2 cache and 667 MHz frontside bus. | 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores |
| GPU | ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (128 MB GDDR3); ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 (256 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, up to 3 GB. Lower base starts with 1 GB and higher with 2 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 | Launch notice confirms a 120 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA drive for both bases. The retained specification table instead lists 160 GB for the higher base; both maker-confirmed capacities are represented. Optional 160 GB 5400-rpm or 200 GB 4200-rpm drives. Slot-loading 6× 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 5 hours | Up to 24 hours |
| Battery capacity | 60 Wh | 99.6 Wh (better) |
| Weight | – | 2.14 kg |
| Thickness | – | 16.8 mm |
| Width × depth | – | 355.7 × 248.1 mm |
| Battery life detail | Removable 60 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 5 hours in Apple’s test. Apple publishes a reference weight of 5.6 lb and enclosure measuring 14.1 × 9.6 × 1.0 inches; weight varies by configuration. Unpublished metric fields omitted. | 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 802.11g; 802.11n requires the optional software enabler | Wi-Fi 7 |
| Bluetooth | 2.0 + 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; embedded numeric keypad | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys |
| Trackpad | Scrolling trackpad with a separate button; two-finger scrolling, tap, double-tap and drag. | 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. Apple Remote and DVI-to-VGA adapter included. Mac OS X 10.4.8 Tiger and iLife ’06; Apple confirms 15-inch shipping on 24 October 2006. | 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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