Apple Announces New Macbook Pro M5, Macbook Neo & Studio Displays

Apple typically announces new products in March every year with characteristic fanfare, and this month was no exception.

MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max

Apple’s flagship high-performance laptop line received a speed boost with new CPUs, M5 Pro and M5 Max, with an AI-focused Fusion Architecture. The chips can sport up to eighteen core CPUs with six super cores, which, according to Apple, can deliver a 30 percent increase in overall speed and performance.

MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro offer increased productivity for VFX and creative industries compared to their previous M4-based line, with nearly 4x faster AI image generation and 1.4x faster 3D rendering in Maxon Redshift.

For the higher end of the line, MacBook Pros with M5 Max CPUs offer significant speed increases over their M4 Max-based predecessors: Nearly 4x faster AI image generation, and up to 3x faster rendering performance in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Studio.

Both M5 Pro and M5 Max models also sport up to double the read/write performance of previous models, with speeds up to 14.5 GB/s. Baseline storage on both versions has been bumped up to 1TB and 2TB, respectively.

Overall, between the speed boosts and other improvements under the hood, both models seem likely to enhance productivity and ease of use for creative industry uses.

MacBook Neo

Among the more surprising announcements from Apple is the release of an affordable laptop that’s actually affordable, not just “Apple affordable.” Its new MacBook Neo is $599, or $499 for students.

Before you get too excited about decking out your office for roughly the same amount of money as a Nintendo Switch 2, the MacBook Neo comes with a few caveats. First, the laptops are powered by Apple’s A1 iPhone chips, meaning you can expect roughly the same performance as an iPhone 16 Pro. The Neo outperforms M1 MacBook Air models in benchmark testing, but bear in mind that its competition is against either a smartphone or a five-year-old laptop.

MacBook Neos are also capped at 8GB of RAM and cannot be upgraded.

In short: You can expect to be able to keep tabs on emails and use basic office productivity apps, but don’t expect to do any serious processor-intensive work. It’s a good value, but it’s also inexpensive for a reason.

Studio Display and Studio Display XDR

For users needing high-resolution and performance displays, Apple has also updated its Studio Display line.

The new Studio Display XDR, which replaces the Pro Display XDR, retails at an $1800 lower price point ($3299 vs. $5000) and features a range of improvements. Its mini-LED backlighting represents a 4x increase in dimming zones offer an increase in displayable contrast, and a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. The bad news is that its screen is smaller than the Pro Display XDR, with a 27-inch 5K panel vs. a 32-inch 6k panel.

The standard Studio Display’s upgrade is more evolutionary than revolutionary: Its camera has been upgraded to the Center Stage camera (still 12 megapixel resolution), two Thunderbolt 5 ports (up from one, but at the cost of a USB-C port), and enhanced audio powered by force-cancelling woofers. At $1599, it represents strong performance at a reasonable price point, but existing Studio Display users shouldn’t be in a rush to upgrade.

Overall, the primary message is that Apple is continuing to revamp and improve its processor-based offerings and delivering an increased focus on AI-intensive tasks. While some of its top-tier products come at a high price point, the company isn’t neglecting its more price-sensitive clients.