Apple MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) vs Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)

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MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) compared with MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)

	AppleMacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max)	AppleMacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2009)
Overview
Released
Released	March 2026	June 2009
Display
Screen size
Screen size	16.2″	17″
Resolution
Resolution	3456 × 2234 (better)	1920 × 1200
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	17-inch LED-backlit widescreen display at 1920 × 1200, glossy or optional antiglare. Exact panel technology, brightness and refresh rate are unpublished in the maker sources read.
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 Pro or Apple M5 Max	Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz (MacBook Pro Late 2008) or Intel Core 2 Duo 3.06 GHz (MacBook Pro Mid 2009)
CPU cores
CPU cores	18	2
Graphics
Graphics	20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT (512 MB GDDR3) + GeForce 9400M
Memory
Memory	24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better)	4 GB or 8 GB
Storage
Storage	1 TB to 8 TB (better)	128 GB to 500 GB
CPU
CPU	18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores	Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.8 GHz or optional 3.06 GHz, with 6 MB shared L2 cache and a 1066 MHz frontside bus. Maker-clock records avoid unverified Intel SKU assumptions.
GPU
GPU	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	NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT with 512 MB GDDR3 plus GeForce 9400M with 256 MB shared system memory. Switching between integrated and discrete graphics requires logout, as described by Macworld.
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory	4 GB or 8 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots.
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	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)	500 GB 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard drive; optional 500 GB 7200-rpm hard drive or 128 GB or 256 GB SSD with either processor. 8× SuperDrive with double-layer DVD writing.
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 24 hours	Up to 8 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	99.6 Wh (better)	95 Wh
Weight
Weight	2.14 kg (better)	2.99 kg
Thickness
Thickness	16.8 mm (better)	25 mm
Width × depth
Width × depth	355.7 × 248.1 mm	393 × 267 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	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	Built-in lithium-polymer battery. Apple reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process.
Charger
Charger	Sold separately in the UK; needs at least 140 W over USB PD	85 W MagSafe Power Adapter
Fast charging
Fast charging	With a 140 W or higher USB PD power source	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall	Aluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad
Colours
Colours	Space Black, Silver	Silver
Connections
Ports
Ports	3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 7	AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	6	2.1 + EDR
Webcam
Webcam	12MP Center Stage	Built-in iSight camera
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	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	Three USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini DisplayPort, ExpressCard/34, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and optical digital audio output/headphone output. No SD card slot.
External displays
External displays	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	Supports an external display up to 2560 × 1600 pixels alongside the built-in display. Mini DisplayPort to DVI, dual-link DVI or VGA adapters are sold separately.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	Backlit keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function keys and four arrow keys.
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Glass Multi-Touch trackpad supporting two-finger scrolling, pinch, rotate and three/four-finger gestures.
Speakers
Speakers	High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	Built-in stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes	Omnidirectional microphone beneath the left speaker grille.
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
In the box	16-inch MacBook Pro, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m), polishing cloth (nano-texture display only); power adapter sold separately	MacBook Pro, 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter with AC wall plug and power cord, display cleaning cloth, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X Leopard and iLife ’09; Apple Remote and display adapters sold separately.