The M5 MacBook Pro runs hotter than the M4 it replaces
The MacBook Pro M5 is a nice upgrade over the M4 model it replaces, offering significant improvements in graphics and SSD speed, but it also comes with an increase in operational chip temperature. Testing the new MacBook Pro against the old one, Max Tech’s Vadim Yuryev discovered the gains offered by the M5, but also showed that the new chip runs hotter and uses more power than the M4.
Yuryev shows that during more intensive tasks, like in Cinebench’s 3D rendering test, the M5 has to throttle its performance to manage its temperature. The fan (both laptops only have one fan) also runs much faster on the M5. Yurvey also uses a thermal camera to see each laptop’s hot spots and notes that the MacBook Pro M5 runs at a slightly higher temperature than the M4.
Is higher operating temperature a problem? Not necessarily. The system manages the chip well so that it can maintain a certain level of performance and operate safely. But what this shows, as Yuryev points out, is that the MacBook Pro M5’s single-fan design is not optimal and that a second fan or different cooling implementation would serve the chip better. Looks like the M5 has the potential to do more with better cooling.
Why didn’t Apple do this? Probably because of the cost. The MacBook Pro M5 is Apple’s entry-level professional machine that starts at $1,599. The Pro and Max variants, meanwhile, start at $1,999 and come with a second fan. M5 variants of these chips will likely arrive next spring.
