Apple's MacBook Pro 14 cannot handle the M5 Max
Apple once again offers its most powerful chip, the new M5 Max with 18 CPU cores and 40 GPU cores, for the compact MacBook Pro 14, which we just reviewed. However, our tests showed some issues and we have already reported on the insufficient power adaptor.
During our stress test, the M5 Max (CPU and GPU cores combined, no RAM) consumes up to 96 Watts for 1-2 seconds. After that the chip immediately drops to 46 Watts, but even this value cannot be maintained and eventually levels off at 42 Watts. The larger MacBook Pro 16 has an advantage here, because the M5 Pro can consume 70W during the stress test, so 66 % more. This is also very easy to see in the following chart (red: MacBook Pro 14 M5 Max; yellow: MacBook Pro 16 M5 Pro).
If you only stress the CPU or the GPU, this behavior continues. The CPU cores can consume up to 75W for a brief moment, but the drop to around 50W. GPU load on the other hand results in up to 72W, which quickly levels off at 55W and finally at 44W, and we are already talking about the High Power mode. Under sustained workloads, the GPU performance is not stable, either, but it drops by around 10 %. The MacBook Pro 16 should once again perform better and show the true potential of the new M5 Max GPU with 40 cores, and we can check that soon with a test unit.
The current M5 generation is still based on the familiar 3 nm manufacturing process (now third generation) and we expect the upcoming M6 chips will switch to the 2 nm process at TMSC, which should improve the efficiency. However, these chips are getting so powerful that Apple should redesign their MacBooks and integrate more powerful cooling solutions. Please see our in-depth review of the MacBook Pro 14 with M5 Max for more information.
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