Apple MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) vs Apple MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max)

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MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008) compared with MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max)

	AppleMacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2008)	AppleMacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max)
Overview
Released
Released	October 2008	March 2026
Display
Screen size
Screen size	15.4″	16.2″
Resolution
Resolution	1440 × 900	3456 × 2234 (better)
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	Glossy LED-backlit widescreen LCD with millions of colours. Exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished in the maker sources read.	Liquid Retina XDR display
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	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008), Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008) or Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008)	Apple M5 Pro or Apple M5 Max
CPU cores
CPU cores	2	18
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (256 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M or NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M	20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU
Memory
Memory	2 GB or 4 GB	24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	128 GB to 320 GB	1 TB to 8 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	Dual-core Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz with 3 MB shared L2 cache or 2.53 GHz with 6 MB; 2.8 GHz with 6 MB is configurable only from the upper base, as confirmed by Ars Technica and SlashGear. 1066 MHz frontside bus; clock records avoid unverified Intel SKU assumptions.	18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores
GPU
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (256 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M; NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M. GPU memory varies with processor configuration. The integrated GeForce 9400M and discrete GeForce 9600M GT are selectable alternatives; changing GPU requires logout, as confirmed by Ars Technica and SlashGear.	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
AI engine	–	16-core Neural Engine
Memory type
Memory type	1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots, up to 4 GB. Lower base starts with 2 GB; higher has 4 GB.	Unified memory
Memory bandwidth
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
Storage type	Lower base has a 250 GB and higher a 320 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA drive. Maker configurable options include 250 GB or 320 GB 7200-rpm drives, or a 128 GB SSD. All 128 GB rows are SSD configurations; higher-base 250 GB rows represent the faster configurable hard 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)
Battery life (maker's claim)	–	Up to 24 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	–	99.6 Wh
Weight
Weight	2.49 kg	2.14 kg (better)
Thickness
Thickness	–	16.8 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	–	355.7 × 248.1 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Removable lithium-polymer battery; capacity and battery-life hours omitted because the surviving maker sources read do not publish them. Apple lists 5.5 lb; the main 2.49 kg reference weight is explicitly published by Ars Technica. Ars lists enclosure dimensions 14.35 × 9.82 × 0.95 inches; metric dimensions 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
Charger	85 W MagSafe Power Adapter	Sold separately in the UK; needs at least 140 W over USB PD
Fast charging
Fast charging	–	With a 140 W or higher USB PD power source
Materials
Materials	Aluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall
Colours
Colours	Silver	Space Black, Silver
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe	3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g	Wi-Fi 7
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	6
Webcam
Webcam	Built-in iSight camera	12MP Center Stage
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	2 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini DisplayPort, ExpressCard/34, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output, and Kensington lock slot. Display adapters sold separately.	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
External displays	Mini DisplayPort supports an external display up to 30 inches; separate DVI, VGA or dual-link DVI adapters required. A numeric external resolution is omitted because it is not stated in the surviving maker sources read.	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
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
Trackpad	Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with integrated button; scrolling, pinch, rotate and three-finger/four-finger swipes.	Force Touch trackpad
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in stereo speakers	High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
Microphones
Microphones	Built-in microphone above the Escape key	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes
Biometrics
Biometrics	–	Touch ID
In the box
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 and display adapters sold separately. The former SP499 specification URL is no longer available; maker launch notice and exact user guide supply core facts.	16-inch MacBook Pro, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only); power adapter sold separately