M5 Max MacBook Pro Review: Preeminent Power in the Same Old Shell
gizmodo.com
gizmodo.com
The notch has aged poorly. Seeing the MacBook Neo launch without a notch has been interesting.
A notch with facial recognition would have been maybe worth that use of space, but it’s just an average webcam and nothing special ever arrived.
I also think that the MacBook Pro models are a little heavy and maybe even a little thick for what they are. There’s probably innovation to be had in some kind of update to the thermal management system.
I see systems like the ASUS Zephyrus G14/G16 doing some amazing work on fitting crazy high power draw hardware into a compact and light form factor, and while I know Apple would never optimize that far in the direction of additional noise, it’s still something I think about.
The MacBook Pro having no innovation in thermal management in 5 years has been fine because they make some of the most efficient chips on the market, but it also means that Apple has been under-optimizing for the golden silicon they have on their hands.
Even the Air, whose whole selling point was supposed to be “thin and light”, now weighs over 3lbs. Far cry from the <1.5lb 11” Air — anyone remember that one? Amazing portable computer.
I really like how that podcast talked about the MacBook Neo as well. Some very non-technical users really do hit the 8GB memory wall and notice sluggishness just doing modern web browsing. A lot of early YouTubers have been doing reviews as quickly as possible (almost certainly being directly supplied by Apple with review units) singing the praises of the machine, but it's not that hard to find a 16GB-equipped Macbook Air for not much more money and that's a much better buy.
Over time, I have come to appreciate the apps that actually take advantage of it (like dictation indicator). It would be better if the menu bar was aware of it and handled hiding icons correctly, thought. I guess it might evolve into a Dynamic Island someday.
I don’t necessarily want the laptops to go back to the overly thin form factors they used to have.
It would be cool if some manufacturers would come up with a self cleaning screen, though. Like ultra sonic micro vibrations while you lift the lid open or something (this might be part of the realm of magic right now, I know).
The way your menu bar icons can just disappear with no way to rectify it is horrendous.
The lineup is a little bit odd because of this, and I bring up the Zephyrus as something of a demonstration of the idea. When you by a MacBook Pro 14" M5, you buy an integrated graphics-class system and essentially you're getting a laptop that's the exact same size as a laptop you can get packed with a 100 watt RTX 5070Ti. Your CPU doesn't even really need a cooling fan and yet the computer it's inside of is the same size as a gaming machine with a dedicated GPU.
Obviously I don't mean to say that Apple should make a laptop that sacrifices fan noise to that degree, but the same idea is happening in their lineup:
You buy a M5 MacBook Pro, you're getting a laptop thick and heavy enough to thermally support a much higher tier system that isn't even on the same planet in terms of performance (an M5 Pro or Max system).
Here's how I would change the lineup:
MacBook Neo is your entry level, stays the same.
MacBook Air 13" and 15" handle your everyday computing very well, they stay the same.
MacBook Pro 14" and 16" with the M5 chip gets a thinner and lighter chassis, closer in size/weight to the MacBook Air. These systems are there to give you the extra I/O and better quality screen/other additional "pro" features that you get with the Pro lineup but for someone who is only doing medium-intensity tasks.
MacBook Pro 14" and 16" with Pro/Max chips remain roughly the same.
Bonus points: Apple could also more enthusiastically enter the PC gaming market (>900 million customers) if they put out something like the MacBook Neo but instead of targeting Chromebooks they would target low to mid range gaming laptops like Lenovo LOQ. Do a lot of the same cost-cutting as the MacBook Neo: no haptic trackpad (gamers don't need it), worse speakers, lower resolution screen (good for games), take the Steam Deck route of using an SD card for expandable storage and keep profit margins by continuing to solder the internal storage in and limit the size to ensure pros only buy the more expensive MacBook Pro lineup. Launch that along with a Steam Deck competitor handheld.
What Apple is doing instead is not putting fans on the air and using a small chassis. For the pros there are fans but unless you put the laptop under heavy load they stay off.
If anything I would go the reverse option and choose an even larger chassis for the Max models, but the manufacturing complexity of this may not be worth it given that a small proportion of the models sold will use the max chips.
I am arguing that the base M5 chip-equipped MacBook Pros are heavy and thick laptops and have a lot of thermal headroom, while the M5 Pro and Max chips are being used in the same chassis.
I think the MacBook Pro lineup should essentially be split so that the M5 model is in a thinner chassis while the M5 Pro and Max can continue to make those weight and thickness sacrifices.
The M5 MacBook Pro is basically the same as a MacBook Air but with a fan to get that extra 10% performance boost, and better screen and I/O. It should essentially turn into a MacBook Air Plus or something like that.
I think that the M5 base chip could easily operate in a much thinner/lighter chassis without the throttling of the fanless Air design while maintaining quiet performance.
Also, the edge of the MacBook Pro is sharp and uncomfortable compared to other laptops when you are resting palms/arms on the laptop directly.
For CPU-only workloads, it's back to the ideal 'don't pack a charger'.
I love my M2 Max on long haul flights when I can plug it in. Crossing the Atlantic I can just load up a game from steam and play for 5 hours and then I’m back home in the US.