Apple MacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) vs Apple MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Pro 16″ (M5 Pro or M5 Max) | AppleMacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | March 2026 | April 2010 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 16.2″ | 17″ |
| Resolution | 3456 × 2234 (better) | 1920 × 1200 |
| Panel | Mini-LED | TN LCD |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 1,000 nits | – |
| HDR peak brightness | 1,600 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina XDR display | Glossy LED-backlit display; an antiglare option is available. TN technology is named by the exact-model Notebookcheck review. Glossy and antiglare options retain 1920 × 1200 resolution. |
| 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 | Apple M5 Pro or Apple M5 Max | Intel Core i5 2.53 GHz (MacBook Pro Mid 2010) or Intel Core i7 2.66 GHz (MacBook Pro Mid 2010) |
| CPU cores | 18 | 2 |
| Graphics | 20-core GPU, 32-core GPU or 40-core GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M (512 MB GDDR3) + Intel HD Graphics |
| Memory | 24 GB, 36 GB, 48 GB, 64 GB or 128 GB (better) | 4 GB or 8 GB |
| Storage | 1 TB to 8 TB (better) | 128 GB to 512 GB |
| CPU | 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores | Dual-core Intel Core i5 at 2.53 GHz with 3 MB shared L3 cache, or optional Core i7 at 2.66 GHz with 4 MB. Maker-clock records avoid unverified Intel SKU assumptions; unpublished peak clock fields are omitted. |
| 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 | Automatic switching between Intel HD Graphics (256 MB shared system memory) and GeForce GT 330M. All 17-inch configurations have 512 MB GDDR3. |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory | 4 GB or 8 GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM in two SO-DIMM slots. |
| 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 | 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 Serial ATA hard drive at 5400 or optional 7200 rpm; optional 128 GB, 256 GB or 512 GB SSD. All storage choices are available with either processor. 8× SuperDrive with double-layer DVD writing. |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 24 hours | Up to 9 hours |
| Battery capacity | 99.6 Wh (better) | 95 Wh |
| Weight | 2.14 kg (better) | 2.99 kg |
| Thickness | 16.8 mm (better) | 25 mm |
| Width × depth | 355.7 × 248.1 mm | 393 × 267 mm |
| 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 claims 8–9 hours of wireless productivity. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. |
| Charger | Sold separately in the UK; needs at least 140 W over USB PD | 85 W MagSafe Power Adapter |
| Fast charging | With a 140 W or higher USB PD power source | – |
| Materials | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 45% recycled content overall | Aluminium unibody enclosure and glass trackpad |
| Colours | Space Black, Silver | Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 3 × Thunderbolt 5, HDMI, SD card slot, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 3 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 7 | AirPort Extreme 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g |
| Bluetooth | 6 | 2.1 + EDR |
| Webcam | 12MP Center Stage | Built-in iSight camera |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| 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 | 3 USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini DisplayPort, ExpressCard/34 slot, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and optical digital audio output/headphone output. |
| 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 screen. DVI, VGA, dual-link DVI and third-party HDMI adapters are sold separately; HDMI carries audio. |
| 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 | Force Touch trackpad | Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with inertial scrolling, pinch, rotate and three/four-finger gestures. |
| Speakers | High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers; wide stereo; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos | Built-in stereo speakers with subwoofers |
| Microphones | Studio-quality three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes | Omnidirectional microphone under the left speaker grille; supports an iPhone headset microphone. |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | – |
| 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, software DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X Snow Leopard and iLife; Apple Remote and display adapters sold separately. |
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