Don’t be tempted. It’s Black Friday, you’re in the market for a new MacBook, and you’re likely wondering if you should buy the new M5 MacBook Pro. It’s usually good advice to buy whatever the latest release of a tech product is, especially if you’re looking for the best Black Friday MacBook deal. In theory, that ensures you get the best performance and features, and will hopefully mean you won’t have to replace it for many years.
But in this case, you probably shouldn’t.
That might come as a surprise coming from me, especially since my evaluation of the M5 MacBook Pro was quite positive. There’s a lot to like about it. The M5’s performance is a solid step up over the M4, especially in the GPU department. The stuff that hasn’t changed is still really high-quality, including the Mini-LED display, excellent speakers, and iconic design. It’s been over four years since many of these features have changed, but the MacBook Pro remains competitive in almost every aspect. It’s even $200 off for Black Friday, despite launching only a month ago.
The problem is the position of this particular MacBook Pro in the lineup. The base 14-inch MacBook Pro is the only Mac in the lineup where you can currently get the M5. That’s a shame, as I view it as the most niche MacBook in the lineup. The MacBook Air is the laptop most people should buy, while the M4 Pro or M4 Max MacBook Pros are what serious creative professionals need to accelerate their workflows.
The base 14-inch MacBook Pro has a spruced-up display and more ports, but performance and battery life are more or less equal to the MacBook Air. Apple knows people will buy the MacBook Air this holiday season, especially at its sale price of $749. So, bringing the M5 exclusively to the 14-inch MacBook Pro feels like an easy way to boost sales on an otherwise overlooked laptop in the lineup. I’m speculating on Apple’s strategy here, but that’s my best read.
Photograph: Luke Larsen
According to the latest reports, it’ll be at least a couple more months before the M5 comes to other MacBooks, but that timing is not guaranteed. Here’s the truth: most people should still just buy the M4 MacBook Air. It might be the best laptop ever sold for that price. Or, if you want the larger 15-inch model, you can get it for $949. That extra $200 gets you more screen real estate (without sacrificing sharpness) and better speakers.
You certainly shouldn’t buy the M5 MacBook Pro if you’re looking for more performance. The M4 Pro MacBook Pro is still a significant step up in performance over the M5 (and is $250 off its retail price right now). Meanwhile, you’ll pay an extra $200 to upgrade from the 15-inch MacBook Air to the M5 MacBook Pro—even though performance isn’t too drastically different. And yes, that’s when you configure them with the same amount of storage.
It’s not that there are no benefits of the Pro versus the Air. But they are quality-of-life changes, not performance-driven ones. A brighter, HDR-capable screen and more ports are the two primary differences, and it’s really only people whose work depends on those differences that should buy the M5 MacBook Pro. I know plenty of people who balk at the idea of owning a laptop without an SD card slot, for example. Fair enough. But with the improved external display support on the M4 MacBook Air, which can now support up to two 4K monitors, the number of people who should buy the M5 MacBook Pro has only gotten smaller over the past year.
So, don’t be fooled by the “Pro” branding. The MacBook Air is the MacBook most people should buy for Black Friday this year.
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