The holiday shopping rush is heating up, and Apple's newest MacBook Pro is already catching the attention of deal hunters. The recently launched M5 MacBook Pro has dropped to $1,538 on Amazon, representing a $61 discount from its $1,599 launch price. That price is striking, the device only launched on October 22, so this is one of the fastest price drops for a new Apple product in recent memory.
Why the hurry on price? Bloomberg's Mark Gurman predicts the company could see historic $140 billion sales in Q4, and early discounts on flagship products like the M5 MacBook Pro help drive the volume needed to hit those unprecedented targets. Apple is clearly banking on holiday shoppers embracing their latest hardware to deliver record-breaking results.
What makes the M5 chip worth the upgrade?
At the heart of this new MacBook Pro sits Apple's M5 processor, a sizable leap in computing muscle. Built using third-generation 3-nanometer technology, the M5 features a next-generation 10-core GPU architecture with Neural Accelerators in each core. Translation, faster creative workflows, smoother gaming, sharper AI for tasks like image generation and large language model operations.
Performance gains show up across the board. The chip delivers up to 45 percent higher graphics performance compared to the M4. And in AI workloads, it goes even further, Apple claims speed improvements of 3.5 times faster than the M4 for large language model tasks. If you run local AI apps or work with machine learning models, that is a generational jump.
The CPU uses a 10-core design with four high-performance cores and six high-efficiency cores, delivering up to 15 percent faster multithreaded performance over M4. It also brings an improved 16-core Neural Engine and a nearly 30 percent increase in unified memory bandwidth to 153GB/s, a foundation for everything from video editing to complex computational work.
Real-world performance that actually matters
Benchmarks tell one story, daily use tells another. Storage speed is the first thing you feel when the machine boots or you kick off a big copy. We're talking about read speeds reaching 6,725.6 MBps and write speeds hitting 6,440 MBps, representing 131 percent and 97 percent improvements over the M4 respectively. Pair that with the graphics bump and 4K video editing or big RAW libraries start to feel lighter.
Gaming sees a bump too, which fits Apple's renewed push into the space. 3DMark Solar Bay Extreme testing showed the M5 achieving 101 fps compared to the M4's 70 fps. That is roughly a 44 percent jump in frame rates, and with the improved ray tracing, it makes this a genuinely capable gaming machine for Mac users who've been waiting for better performance.
Everyday creative tasks benefit as well. Photo export operations completing in 56 seconds on the M5 versus 66 seconds on the M4 will not turn heads on their own, but process hundreds of photos and you will notice the time saved. The AI gains are the eye opener, the M5 quantized score for Geekbench AI GPU was 23628, roughly twice as fast as the M4's score of 11616, which unlocks real-time AI-powered image edits and content creation.
Black Friday timing couldn't be better
This early discount makes the M5 MacBook Pro an appealing holiday pickup, especially as Apple's supply chain enables more aggressive pricing across the laptop lineup. The competitive landscape creates compelling options at multiple price points, with the 13-inch M4 Air available for $799 (down from $999) and the 15-inch M4 Air at $999 (reduced from $1,199).
Wondering whether to wait? Industry watchers expect deeper cuts, experts are forecasting savings of up to 40% on select M5 models during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, although those steeper deals often apply to specific configurations or require trade-ins. So the choice is simple, lock in today's guaranteed price or gamble on limited inventory later.
What enables these early deals is pretty straightforward. Production has ramped up and component shortages are largely resolved, which gives Apple and retailers room to price competitively without fearing empty shelves. Better availability usually leads to bolder price moves during the crucial holiday shopping period.
Bottom line: Is this the MacBook deal to grab?
If you are eyeing an upgrade, the M5 MacBook Pro at the current discount is strong value, given its performance and the fact that this is still a very new product. The base configuration offers 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for $1,599, and the present sale drops that to $1,538.
Battery life remains a standout. Apple claims up to 24 hours of video streaming, and real-world testing has been even more impressive, showing over 27 hours of usage in certain scenarios. If you need all day without a charger, this level of endurance changes your routine.
That said, as one review put it, there may not be a compelling reason to upgrade unless you're replacing an existing system. Which users should jump? Those coming from older MacBooks, think M1 or Intel models, Windows laptop users moving to macOS, or creative professionals who can genuinely benefit from the AI and graphics gains.
The M5 MacBook Pro feels like Apple hitting a sweet spot, meaningful improvements across CPU, GPU, and AI workloads, paired with the same exceptional build quality and battery life we've come to expect. If you fit one of those upgrade-ready groups and have been waiting for your moment, this early $61 discount on a brand-new MacBook Pro is a straightforward way to get Apple's latest technology without paying full launch price.
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