Apple’s newly launched MacBook Pro with the new M5 Max chip has already shown up in an early benchmark result, even though the laptops will not begin arriving to customers until March 11. The numbers suggest another step forward in performance, with stronger CPU and GPU scores compared with the previous M4 Max generation.
Early benchmark listings often appear before new hardware officially reaches users, so the results still need confirmation once the devices ship widely. Even so, the data gives an early look at how Apple’s latest high-end silicon performs inside the next 16-inch MacBook Pro.
According to a listing spotted on Geekbench, the M5 Max chip with an 18-core CPU achieved a single-core score of 4,268 and a multi-core score of 29,233. The test reportedly ran on a machine labeled Mac17,7, which corresponds to the upcoming 16-inch MacBook Pro model.
Early performance results
If these numbers hold up in broader testing, the M5 Max will deliver a noticeable jump over the M4 Max used in current MacBook Pro models. The gains appear in both single-core and multi-core performance.
Key benchmark comparisons include:
- 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max (18-core CPU): 29,233 multi-core
- Mac Studio with M3 Ultra (32-core CPU): 27,726 multi-core average
- Mac Studio with M4 Max (16-core CPU): 26,166 multi-core average
- 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Max (16-core CPU): 25,702 multi-core average
The results indicate that the M5 Max runs about 9 percent faster in single-core performance and around 13 to 15 percent faster in multi-core performance compared with the M4 Max.
GPU and graphics performance
Graphics scores also show a great improvement. The benchmark lists a Metal score as high as 232,718 for the M5 Max with a 40-core GPU.
That result sits slightly below the top configuration of the M3 Ultra in the Mac Studio, which averages around 245,053 in Metal tests. However, it still lands more than 20 percent ahead of the highest M4 Max GPU results, which average around 191,600.
These early results suggest that the M5 Max delivers stronger CPU and GPU performance while keeping Apple’s yearly upgrade pace consistent.
Apple already opened pre-orders for MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and the first units will begin shipping to customers on March 11.
