15 specifications

Apple M5 Max (18-core) vs Apple M5 Pro (18-core)

On the specifications we can verify, the Apple M5 Max (18-core) and the Apple M5 Pro (18-core) are closely matched. Which one is faster on your desk depends on cooling and sustained behaviour rather than on anything printed here.

12 specifications · 0 with a higher side

Full specifications

Apple M5 Max (18-core)

Apple · Apple M5 · Laptop

Full specifications

Apple M5 Pro (18-core)

Apple · Apple M5 · Laptop

Cores and clocks

Cores

Threads

Not verified

Base clock

Not verified

Boost clock

Not verified

Core layout

6 super, 12 performance

Cache and power

L3 cache

Not verified

TDP

Not verified

Platform

Memory bandwidth

460 or 614 GB/s

307 GB/s

Socket

Not verified

Process

Not verified

Integrated graphics

Apple GPU, 32-core or 40-core

Apple GPU, 20-core

Launched

Not verified

A check marks the higher figure only on rows where higher is unambiguously better. Rows without one are not ties; they are specifications where “better” has no meaning.

Reading the table

What the difference means.

The same generation

Both are Apple M5 parts, so their figures can be read against each other directly: the same kind of core, the same memory support, the same platform. The differences in the table are the whole difference.

Core layout

Apple lists the cores by kind. The M5 Max (18-core) has 6 super, 12 performance; the M5 Pro (18-core) has 6 super, 12 performance. Cores of different kinds do different amounts of work, so the totals, 18 against 18, are not a like-for-like count, and the split is the more useful figure. Apple publishes no clock for either chip, so the split is as far as the specification sheet goes.

Memory bandwidth

Apple prints 460 or 614 GB/s for the M5 Max (18-core) and 307 GB/s for the M5 Pro (18-core). On Apple silicon the graphics share that memory, so bandwidth sets a ceiling for the GPU as much as for the CPU. It is a peak figure; what a machine delivers is lower, and a memory test measures it.

What no table says

How much of its speed a processor keeps after the first minute depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in. If you own one of these, measure it: the test is free and runs in this browser.

Free CPU stress test

Questions

Is the M5 Max (18-core) better than the M5 Pro (18-core)?: On the specifications they are closely matched. No specification says how much speed either one keeps under a long load; that depends on the cooling and the power limit of the machine it is in, and it is what a sustained test measures.
Does the M5 Max (18-core) or the M5 Pro (18-core) have integrated graphics?: Both do: Apple GPU, 32-core or 40-core on the M5 Max (18-core) and Apple GPU, 20-core on the M5 Pro (18-core).
Which has more memory bandwidth, the M5 Max (18-core) or the M5 Pro (18-core)?: The M5 Max (18-core), at up to 614 GB/s against 307 GB/s as Apple prints them. A memory test shows what each machine delivers.

More comparisons

Every figure on this table is a design target. None of it is a measurement.

Nothing above describes how a processor behaves twenty minutes into a sustained workload, which is where two chips with nearly identical specifications routinely diverge. A boost clock is a ceiling the vendor permits, not a rate the chip sustains, and whether it holds depends on the cooling, the case, the power profile and the room. None of those appear on a specification sheet.

We deliberately do not reduce these figures to a single score. A composite invented from specifications would look authoritative and measure nothing, and choosing the weights would be choosing the winner.

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