Whereas the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Professional was up to date with an M5 chip in October, we’re nonetheless ready for higher-end MacBook Professional fashions with M5 Professional and M5 Max chips, and there are some indicators which may level in direction of a late January launch this 12 months.
First, Apple’s new Creator Studio bundle of artistic apps launches on Wednesday, January 28. Provided that Creator Studio contains {many professional} Mac apps, equivalent to Ultimate Reduce Professional, Logic Professional, and Pixelmator Professional, Macworld speculated that the week of January 28 can be a becoming time for Apple to launch new MacBook Professional fashions too.
Second, Apple’s subsequent quarterly earnings name is scheduled for Thursday, January 29, and the corporate has launched new merchandise shortly earlier than these calls on quite a few events over time and touched on them within the opening remarks.
Third, there’s precedent, as Apple unveiled MacBook Professional fashions with M2 Professional and M2 Max chips with a press launch in January 2023.
Once more, all of that is hypothesis, so don’t set your expectations too excessive. However, typically the place there’s smoke there’s hearth.
Past the M5 chip, the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Professional obtained just one notable change final 12 months: PCIe 5.0 storage. Apple says this leads to as much as 2× sooner SSD learn and write speeds in comparison with the previous-generation mannequin.
The upper-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Professional fashions with the M5 Professional and M5 Max chips are likewise anticipated to have few different modifications.
Greater modifications to the MacBook Professional are anticipated with the two-generations-away fashions, in both late 2026 or sooner or later in 2027. Rumored upgrades embody an OLED show with touchscreen capabilities, a thinner design, built-in mobile connectivity, and M6 chips manufactured with TSMC’s superior 2nm course of, for even higher year-over-year efficiency positive factors. For that purpose, it is going to most likely be smart to skip the MacBook Professional fashions with M5 Professional and M5 Max chips except you actually need to improve.
