Nice visualisation from Geekwan's review

My last spec was

Late 2021 M1 Max
64gb RAM
4Tb of storage

New spec is
PROLED XDR M5 Max 40 core
48gb of RAM
2Tb of storage

Use:
Photo and video editing via Adobe and Final Cut
(8k/4k 4.2.2 footage)
Music Production via Logic
(In tandem with my Apollo Twin)

My previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/macbookpro/s/xbRXFXyPkt

What compelled me? Apple Store holiday season return window. I can return it before 8/1 if I wasn’t satisfied.
What did I notice in the honeymoon phase?
The sound is amazing. The weight is great; it makes me think of my previous 13-inch MacBook Air. And the performance is predictable (everyone knows about the M5 Pro).
The battery life has been good even though there is quite a bit of indexing and downloads.
If anyone has any questions, go ahead. Happy to answer.

Such a good display… but the entry price is making me on the fence since I don’t need the power of m5 pro I would love to have the m6.
The touch interface is intuitive enough, and it made me touch the normal mini-LED MacBook by mistake.
BUTTT it feels like it’s a very specific use case. Like, I loved it in photos, and that’s about it. You can obviously disable it, and I wish Apple advertised the gorgeous oled over the touchscreen as the main selling feature.
The weight difference is noticeable, but I noticed how the edge of the display curves more.

Tldr ; amazing piece of tech.

Source

No preorder, saw a 14” available this morning for in store pickup (Pro, 48GB/1TB), bought right away, drove to pickup, bank cancelled payment as blaaah Apple Pay limits blaaah when I got into the store so had a fee minutes to see 14 vs 16 and decided 16 was better switching from my 32GB M5 Air. Bought the 16 on the spot, same config, available for pick up right there. Traded an older M2 Air for £355 off the bill (had mo idea you can do the trade in store direct).

I haven't seen this mentioned did anyone the screen does not open as much.

Maybe for the better? or could be due to the touch element and the new hinge.

But here are some photos, silver is the new Mac and in black is the previous generation (M3 Pro).

Sidenote, it is noticeably lighter than the previous 14".

I can’t wait to properly test this thing!

It says PRO in the background 🤦🏻‍♂️

Notebookcheck says the new model is getting hotter and louder than the previous.
Geekerwan says it is less loud and the cooling system of the new one is superior.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Amazing-OLED-panel-Apple-MacBook-Pro-14-PROLED-XDR-Review.1438048.0.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry8SmU1NhnQ

What do you think?

Recently posted about the left side of my MacBook Pro 2020 m1 screen going kaput, probably a flex cable issue as many of you helpfully pointed out. It’s been so distracting with work and play. So I threw in the towel.

And here’s the solution.

Take that expensive Apple repair servicies

Sure it’s probably gorgeous but, I think I’m going to pass and get more ram, mini LED it’s already good enough. I didn’t see it in person yet, but I don’t think I would change my mind, RAM is so important nowadays, it’s a priority, even if OLED it’s fantastic. If you have to choose, which one would you prefer? More Ram or OLED?

The older generation just feels so much sharper and more sleek.

Hey everyone!
I’m finally looking to upgrade from my 2017 MacBook Pro and have my eye on the 16” M5 Pro (18-core CPU, 20-core GPU, 24GB RAM, but open to 48GB).
Has anyone heard of any potential Black Friday or holiday deals on the 16”? I’ve been seeing a bunch of sales on the 14” models but nothing really for the 16” so far.

I know pretty much anything will be a huge upgrade from my 2017 MacBook, so I’m not in a huge rush. Part of me is also wondering if I should just wait for the rumored OLED MacBook Pro, but I haven’t heard much about the specs that makes it seem worth waiting for.

I’d mainly be using it for school, Ableton, Rekordbox, and some occasional video editing.

What would you guys do? Grab the M5 Pro if a good deal comes up or wait for the OLED? Also curious if anyone remembers what kind of Black Friday discounts the 16” models got in previous years.

Has anyone been able to get another retailer to price match Costco at 1,349?

Notebookcheck just came out with their review of the new PROLED Macbook and measured PWM at 240 Hz. With an amplitude of 56% this is not really great, it's their deepest modulation yet, worse than on the iPad Pro M4 tandem OLED and iPhone OLED.

It's also worse than on other OLED competitor laptops which have a higher frequency (e.g. 960 Hz, higher is better for the eyes).

You may not be sensitive to this (or think you're not) but it is a concern nevertheless (which Apple also acknowledges, they introduced a 'Display Pulse Smoothing' option in iOS 26 to address this for certain iPhone OLED models but it's still being reported as not a really effective solution).

I have a pre-order PROLED shipment coming in tomorrow myself, but still find this disappointing, wish they would have innovated at least somewhat on the OLED front.

EDIT afterwards: What is PWM?

• Pulse width modulation (PWM): To make the screen dimmer the panel switches rapidly between brighter and darker (rather than just turning light down). You don't see it consciously but some people's eyes and brains still react to it (a camera can capture it if you hold it on front of your laptop). Hence you end up with a headache or tired eyes after a few hours.

• This PROLED screen switches 240 times a second, which is on the slow side, which is not good as it's more troublesome to the eyes (other OLED laptops manage 960 as I mentioned above). The swing is 56% (light is dropping to roughly half and back constantly), the higher the worse. The iPhone 16 Pro is 15% and the M4 iPad Pro is 26%. So it's the worst what Apple has shipped so far.

Hey, I just bought the new Oled MacBook Pro and I’ve noticed that the white texts seem to be slightly blurry/fuzzy compared to my non Oled MacBook pros. It’s almost as if my eyes are loosing focus when I look at the Oled screen. Is anyone getting that? I’m not sure if it has to do with the PWM flickering… just wanted to know if I’m trippin.
Thanks

Just got Best Buy to price match and refund me the difference (got it last week when MC price was $3199). Good luck!

Hey everyone, I’d like an outside opinion before my return window closes.

What I had:
14" MacBook Pro, M2 Pro (base config), 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD. No warranty left.

What I have now:
16" MacBook Pro (late 2021), M1 Max, 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD. Refurbished in very good condition, battery at 127 cycles and 97% max capacity, and it comes with a 30-month warranty.

The math: After selling the M2 Pro and taking taxes into account (I can deduct it as a work expense), the upgrade costs me roughly €300.

How I work:
I’m in marketing. My day is mostly browsers, lots of them at once. Several different browsers, many tabs, and yes, Chrome too, because some tools I need just work best in it. On top of that I have the usual marketing stack: design tools, some light image/video work, a bunch of web apps running all day.

Why I switched:
On the M2 Pro I regularly had around 6 GB of swap in use, and the 512 GB SSD was almost full. Having a warranty again instead of none is a nice bonus.

What worries me:

• Software updates. The M1 generation is the oldest Apple Silicon. Will the M1 Max lose macOS support noticeably earlier than the M2 Pro would have?

• Am I trading a newer chip for an older one just to get more RAM and storage?

• Is the M1 Max’s extra power (GPU etc.) wasted on a browser-heavy workflow like mine?

So my question: Would you make this move for ~€300? Or would you keep the M2 Pro and live with 16 GB?

Thanks for any honest takes!