BREAKING: High end M5 chips release imminent

R

RockRock8

Power User
Joined
Dec 6, 2025
Posts
177
According to the brand new Mac purchasing page for MacBook Pro (only) completely custom options involving M4 Pro and M4 Max are back ordered
 
I’m still using my M1 MBP. I’m waiting for the revamp (supposedly end of this year or early next) with touch screen, cellular, etc. It’s actually remarkable that M1 still feels fast for most of the stuff I do.
 
Cmaier said:
It’s actually remarkable that M1 still feels fast for most of the stuff I do.
Click to expand...
I ran my G4 Cube for about 9 years, until the power supply TUed on me. Granted, I was able to replace the CPU (from 450 to 1GHz, and a graphics card upgrade), but it was just a truck. Never really felt slow to me. The M1 I am using now is fine except it is 8/256, and I feel like it needs at least 1TB to be good, so I will go M5 or 6 in some while.
 
Yoused said:
I ran my G4 Cube for about 9 years, until the power supply TUed on me. Granted, I was able to replace the CPU (from 450 to 1GHz, and a graphics card upgrade), but it was just a truck. Never really felt slow to me. The M1 I am using now is fine except it is 8/256, and I feel like it needs at least 1TB to be good, so I will go M5 or 6 in some while.
Click to expand...
yeah, I maxed the memory on mine when I bought it, figuring I’d get more use out of it that way. Not sure whether, in the long run, that saves me money or not, but it’s the way I roll.
 
Cmaier said:
I’m still using my M1 MBP. I’m waiting for the revamp (supposedly end of this year or early next) with touch screen, cellular, etc. It’s actually remarkable that M1 still feels fast for most of the stuff I do.
Click to expand...
I'm still running my M1 MacBook Air. And I totally agree — the M1 still feels remarkably fast. This laptop is, without a doubt, the best Apple product I've ever owned.
 
japanime said:
I'm still running my M1 MacBook Air. And I totally agree — the M1 still feels remarkably fast. This laptop is, without a doubt, the best Apple product I've ever owned.
Click to expand...

My daughter and wife each have M1 MBA’s. I figure I’ll finally upgrade my daughter when she goes to college in a year and a half. My wife is unlikely to need an upgrade any time soon.
 
I was tempted to wait for this before upgrading to my new Mac Studio M4 but am pretty happy with it overall. Seems that no amount of RAM or CPU power can keep up with my video editing demands but it does well all considering.
 
Seems like the delay here suggests that M5+ may go onto N2, which could possibly make M5 Ultra practical for MBP16. If you can put in a Max, you could possibly put in an Ultra and gate off one side of it when on battery. A Studio Ultra would be able to clock higher than a MBP Ultra, but it just might make sense to eliminate the Max line altogether and just make a beefier Pro.
 
diamond.g said:
Does the 16" Macbook Pro even have the cooling capacity for the Ultra chip?
Click to expand...

Yoused said:
Seems like the delay here suggests that M5+ may go onto N2, which could possibly make M5 Ultra practical for MBP16. If you can put in a Max, you could possibly put in an Ultra and gate off one side of it when on battery. A Studio Ultra would be able to clock higher than a MBP Ultra, but it just might make sense to eliminate the Max line altogether and just make a beefier Pro.
Click to expand...
Yeah even with N2 (a stretch but possible I suppose), I would think the only way this works where the Pro line disappears and both the Max and Ultra chips go into laptops is to rejigger the levels such that the "Max" sits in between the old Pro and Max chips making both the Max and the 2xMax Ultra (if that's still the design) effectively smaller - of course leaving room for something ... bigger 😜. Other options (and don't require N2) are that the Max and Ultra are both the same size as before and the Ultra doesn't go into the laptops so that more binned variants of the Max cover the old Pro range too but Apple is still just making one chipset (i.e. the Pro is a bin not a chop of the Max). Or the Pro chip was just not mentioned in the leak for some reason but is still around.

Then again Apple in the M4 generation allows the base model chip more thermal headroom when it had it and PC makers put ridiculous chips inside smaller chassis so maybe indeed Apple will put the Ultra in a 16” laptop and just let thermals keep it down relative to the Studio version. Seems far fetched but I suppose not impossible.
 
Last edited:
I’ll eat my hat and copper heat sink if M5 Ultra comes to the MacBook Pro.

I think the next ultra will be important though. It will tell us whether Mac Pro is dead, gets a new life or will continue in life support. If can’t stay on M2 Ultra another generation. So it either goes entirely, gets an interesting upgrade or pure chip bump press briefing.

will be a while before I’m in the market for new stuff though. Happy with my M4 Max studio. Want an upgraded Studio Display though. When I bought the Mac Studio I also got a temporary 4K monitor until Studio Display 2
 
Back
Top