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The new M5 MacBook Pro is pretty light on changes beyond the chip, but one of its only other new features—faster SSD performance—seems to be a bigger upgrade than Apple let on. Faster SSD performance is one of the M5 MacBook Pro’s few upgrades If you own an M4 MacBook Pro, there’s very little in the new M5 model that merits a purchase. However, one of the under-the-radar upgrades in the M5 model is improved SSD performance. From Apple’s press release: With the latest storage technology, the new 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 brings faster SSD performance than the previous generation for tasks like importing RAW image files or exporting large videos. […] Additionally, with up to 2x faster SSD performance than the prior generation, the new 14-inch MacBook Pro lets users load a local LLM faster Apple doesn’t make a huge deal out of the improvement. And that’s fair, considering faster SSD performance is likely only going to impact people working with very large files—like the examples given of large images, videos, and local LLMs. But I was surprised to discover, via a Max Tech video comparison, that the M5 MacBook Pro’s SSD even outperforms the claimed “up to 2x faster” number. M5 MacBook Pro vs M4 MacBook Pro: SSD performance YouTuber Max Tech used a Blackmagic speed test to pit the M5 MacBook Pro against last year’s M4 model. Here’s how it fared: SSD Read Speeds M5 MacBook Pro: 6,323 MB/s M4 MacBook Pro: 2,031 MB/S SSD Write Speeds M5 MacBook Pro: 6,068 MB/s M4 MacBook Pro: 3,293 MB/S In write speeds, the M5 MacBook Pro gets very close to doubling the M4—in line with Apple’s “up to 2x” claim. But in read speeds, the gains are way bigger, with more than 3x the performance of the M4 model. How much difference will that make in everyday computing? It all depends on how demanding your workflows are. But if you’re working with huge files (including local LLMs) every day, you might see bigger then expected gains. You can watch Max Tech’s full side-by-side comparison below or on YouTube. If you upgraded to an M5 MacBook Pro, have you noticed the impact of the faster SSD? Let us know in the comments. Best Mac accessories
