Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores vs Apple M1 Max

vs
Apple
M1 Max
Specifications of CPUs

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of the characteristics and performance of the Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores and Apple M1 Max processors. This comparison will help you determine which one best suits your needs.

Basic

Label Name
Apple
Apple
Launch Date
March 2026
October 2021
Platform
Laptop
Laptop
CPU Name
Apple M5 Pro
Apple M1 Max
Model Name
?
The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.
Apple M5 Pro 15-Core
Apple M1 Max
Foundry
TSMC N3P
TSMC
Generation
M5 Pro
Apple M1 series

CPU Specifications

Interconnect Technology
Apple Fusion Architecture
-
Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency
4.38 GHz
-
Efficient-cores
-
2
Super-core Max Frequency
4.61 GHz
-
Performance-cores
10
8
Super-cores
5
-
Total Cores
?
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
15
10
Total Threads
?
Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.
15
10
CPU Architecture
Apple custom ARM architecture
Apple Firestorm + Apple Icestorm
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
?
Maximum E-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.
-
2.064 GHz
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
?
Maximum P-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.
-
3.228 GHz
L1 Cache
-
P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core
L2 Cache
-
P-core cluster: 24 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB
L3 Cache
-
48 MB system level cache
Technology
?
Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.
Third-generation 3 nm
5 nm
Instruction Set
?
The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.
-
ARMv8-A
Extended Instruction Set
-
ARMv8-A, NEON
Instruction Set Extensions
-
NEON
Transistor Count
-
57 billion

Memory Specifications

Memory Type
?
Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.
LPDDR5X unified memory
Unified LPDDR5-6400
LPDDR5 Speed
-
LPDDR5-6400
Max Memory Size
?
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
48 GB
64 GB
Max Memory Bandwidth
?
Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).
307 GB/s
400 GB/s
Maximum Memory Speed
9600 MT/s
6400 MT/s
Memory Bus Width
-
512-bit

GPU Specifications

External Display Standard
Thunderbolt / DisplayPort 2.1 over USB-C; HDMI
Thunderbolt 4, HDMI
GPU Name
Apple M5 Pro 16-core GPU
Apple M1 Max GPU
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
Supported
-
Max External Display Resolution
Up to three external displays: three displays up to 6K at 60Hz or 4K at 144Hz; or one display up to 8K at 60Hz, 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz plus a second display up to 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 200Hz
Up to three 6K 60Hz displays plus one 4K 60Hz display
Video Concurrency
-
Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video
Video Decode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
Video Encode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW; hardware-accelerated; frame rate not disclosed
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
Video Processing Unit
-
Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration
GPU Max Dynamic Frequency
-
1296 MHz
Graphics Base Frequency
?
Graphics Base frequency refers to the rated/guaranteed graphics render clock frequency in MHz.
-
389 MHz
Graphics Core Count
16
32
Max Resolution
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at 240Hz
-
Number of Displays Supported
-
Up to 4 external displays
GPU APIs
Metal
Metal, OpenCL
Graphics Performance
-
Up to 10.4 TFLOPS FP32
Media Engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW
Video Decode Engines
1
1
Video Encode Engines
1
2
ProRes Encode/Decode Engines
1
2
OpenCL Support
?
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.
-
Yes

AI Specifications

NPU Name
16-core Neural Engine
Apple Neural Engine
NPU Performance
-
11 TOPS INT8
AI Engine
Apple Neural Engine with Neural Accelerators in GPU cores
16-core Apple Neural Engine
Neural Engine Core Count
16
16

Connectivity

Bluetooth Support
Supported
Yes
Bluetooth Version
6
Bluetooth 5.0
Wi-Fi Standard
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Wireless System
Apple N1 wireless networking chip
-

Interfaces and Ports

Thunderbolt Support
Thunderbolt 5
Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s
USB Version
USB 4 up to 120Gb/s
USB4
USB4 Support
Supported
Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

Miscellaneous

Hardware-Verified Secure Boot
-
Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust
Image Signal Processor
-
Apple image signal processor
Runtime Anti-Exploitation
Memory Integrity Enforcement
Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions

Advantages

Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
  • More Total Cores: 15 (15 vs 10)
  • Higher Technology: Third-generation 3 nm (Third-generation 3 nm vs 5 nm)
  • Newer Launch Date: March 2026 (March 2026 vs October 2021)

Geekbench 6

Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+75% 4200
Apple M1 Max
2396
Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+108% 25456
Apple M1 Max
12255

Performance

Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
Apple M1 Max
495.8
335.2
MB/Sec
File Compression
+48%
2320
1480
+57%
20.5
14.5
Routes/Sec
Navigation
+41%
140
78.6
+78%
88.7
53
Pages/Sec
HTML5 Browser
+67%
705.5
326.3
+116%
88.5
53.3
MPixels/Sec
PDF Renderer
+66%
678.5
306.6
+121%
50.7
29.4
Images/Sec
Photo Library
+72%
439.8
201.5
+118%
23.9
14.7
KLines/Sec
Clang
+63%
216.7
92.3
+135%
326.4
189.1
Pages/Sec
Text Processing
+73%
428
249.5
+72%
113.6
68.8
MB/Sec
Asset Compression
+65%
1100
494.5
+122%
185
56.3
Images/Sec
Object Detection
+229%
675.2
291.3
+132%
18.5
8.94
Images/Sec
Background Blur
+107%
96.5
38.5
+151%
138.2
85.9
MPixels/Sec
Horizon Detection
+61%
975.3
486.1
+101%
384.2
212.3
MPixels/Sec
Object Remover
+81%
1810
880.3
+106%
143.7
78.2
MPixels/Sec
HDR
+84%
1010
476.2
+112%
44.8
28.6
Images/Sec
Photo Filter
+57%
225.6
117.5
+92%
3490
1860
KPixels/Sec
Ray Tracer
+88%
40500
14900
+172%
126.4
77.4
KPixels/Sec
Structure from Motion
+63%
944.4
520.7
+81%
Single Core
Multi Core

Passmark CPU

Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+54% 5926
Apple M1 Max
3837
Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+123% 49157
Apple M1 Max
22081

Performance

Integer Math
Multi Core
110.2 GOps/Sec
46.5 GOps/Sec
Floating Point Math
Multi Core
155.9 GOps/Sec
64.8 GOps/Sec
Find Prime Numbers
Multi Core
464 M Primes/Sec
279 M Primes/Sec
Random String Sorting
Multi Core
71.4 M Strings/Sec
32.9 M Strings/Sec
Data Encryption
Multi Core
34.1 GB/Sec
12.3 GB/Sec
Data Compression
Multi Core
587.6 MB/Sec
275.8 MB/Sec
Physics
Multi Core
5440 Frames/Sec
2822 Frames/Sec
Extended Instructions
Multi Core
27.8 B Matrices/Sec
12.1 B Matrices/Sec
Single Thread
Multi Core
5.9 GOps/Sec
3.8 GOps/Sec
Show more

Cinebench R23

Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+66% 2543
Apple M1 Max
1534
Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+84% 22817
Apple M1 Max
12402

Cinebench 2024

Single Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+86% 208
Apple M1 Max
112
Multi Core
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
+149% 1982
Apple M1 Max
796

SiliconCat Rating

5
Ranks 5 among Laptop CPU on our website
24
Ranks 24 among all CPU on our website
92
Ranks 92 among Laptop CPU on our website
328
Ranks 328 among all CPU on our website
Apple M5 Pro 15 Cores
Apple M1 Max

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