M5 MacBook Pro Launch Date & Specs

The next-generation Apple MacBook Pro is here. Powered by the M5 Chip, Apple launched the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, without all the glory of hosting an event entirely dedicated to its launch, and opting for a simple announcement via a X(formerly Twitter) post by the company's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. Below, we cover the specs, the expected launch date, and the expected price in Nepal.

Launch Date in Nepal

The M5 MacBook Pro launched for pre-order on October 15 in the US, while being available to the general public from October 22, 2025. If we look at last year's timing the M4 MacBook Pro is expected to be launched in around January,2026. The blog will be updated as soon as the official launch date is announced through the official channels.

The Lineup(Unexpected)

Apple generally announces all the MacBook Pro chips at once, but this time, they decided to skip the launch of M5 Pro and M5 Max, delaying their release for next year. The new M5 MacBook Pros come in three variants: the base model starting with 16GB Memory & 512 GB SSD Storage, and the other two with 16GB and 24GB memory, with both having 1TB of SSD storage. Meanwhile, all three variants will have the same processing power: a 10-Core CPU with a 10-Core GPU, which is the same as last year's, but Apple has promised to have made key changes under the hood.

Performace Overview

Credit: Apple

Apple’s new M5 chip powers the 2025 MacBook Pro 14-inch, and while Cupertino calls it a “next-generation leap,” the reality is a bit more balanced. The M5 delivers up to 15–20% faster CPU performance and roughly 40% stronger GPU output than the M4 — a respectable jump, but not exactly earth-shattering.

The chip is built on Apple’s 3nm third-gen architecture, packing a 10-core CPU (4 performance + 6 efficiency) and a 10-core GPU with dedicated neural accelerators on every core. That helps with AI-assisted editing, rendering, and background tasks — though most users won’t suddenly finish their Premiere exports twice as fast.

Compared to the M3 and M4, Apple has finally unlocked higher memory bandwidth (153 GB/s) and better thermal management, meaning fewer throttling drops during long creative sessions. Benchmarks also show SSD speeds up by 2.5×, which does make load times and caching smoother — particularly for large 4K video projects.

Still, Apple being Apple, the M5 feels less like a revolution and more like another yearly tune-up wearing a new sticker. It’s faster, cooler, and smarter, but not necessarily game-changing for anyone already using the M4 Pro or Max. For that, you’ll still need Apple’s marketing department to convince your wallet.

Display & Design

Credit: Apple

The new 14-inch M5 MacBook Pros will have a Liquid Retina XDR display with a resolution of 3024 x 1964 pixels, with 1600 nits peak HDR brightness and 120Hz refresh rate with ProMotion technology whixh is the same as last year.  Apple also added a nano-texture glass option, finally giving professionals who edit in bright studios (or just have too many windows behind them) a reason to skip the fingerprint-magnet glossy screen.

And if you’re the type who runs dual monitors — no problem. The M5 MacBook Pro can now drive two external high-resolution displays without breaking a sweat, thanks to its efficient GPU pipeline. Sure, Apple hasn’t boosted the resolution or refresh rate this year, but with this kind of panel performance, maybe this is the next big leap for AI in the Mac.

Storage, Battery & More

Apple seems to have taken the “don’t fix what isn’t broken” approach again — and honestly, it works. The new MacBook Pro 14-inch M5 keeps the same legendary endurance Apple silicon is known for, clocking up to 22 hours of video playback on a single charge. In mixed workloads — think Final Cut Pro edits, Lightroom exports, and Chrome tabs galore — you’re still looking at 15–17 hours comfortably. That’s not marketing fluff; M4 users already confirmed those real-world figures, and the M5 is just a bit more efficient. 

On the storage front, the M5 Pro retains Apple’s blazing-fast SSDs, which Apple claims is 2 times faster than the previous generation, with read/write speeds up to 6,300 MB/S. Configurations start at 512GB, stretching all the way up to 4TB.

Not everything in the M5 MacBook Pro screams innovation — some of it just whispers, “same old.” The laptop still packs Wi-Fi 6E instead of Wi-Fi 7, which feels a bit stingy for a 2025 flagship that costs more than most gaming rigs. The 1080p center-staged webcam remains untouched, which is borderline lazy considering Apple’s obsession with FaceTime branding. You get 3x Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI, SDXC card slot, and the ever-appreciated headphone jack.  On the bright side, the spatial six-speaker system still slaps, and MagSafe 3 continues to be one of those rare Apple decisions that everyone actually agrees was good. It’s classic Apple — polish the details, ignore the obvious, and somehow still make you want one.

Price in Nepal (Estimates) 

The base variant of the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro launched in the US on October 22, 2025, at $1,599, while the pre-bookings started on October 15, 2025, for the 16GB and 512GB models. Below, we have created a table for the expected price of the MacBook Pro based on last year's reference. 

• Meanwhile, be sure to check out our other blogs below.