I spent £1,800 and daily drove the base model M5 MacBook Pro for over 3 months to find out what Apple isn’t really saying out loud: in real-world use, I genuinely can’t tell the difference coming from my M4… and that’s exactly the problem. I migrated my entire workflow using Migration Assistant (same apps, same files, same everything) just to make it a fair test, and the experience is basically identical. The design is unchanged, the unboxing is the same, and in the UK Apple even removed the charger from the box—so yeah, I had to buy that separately. Thanks, Apple. That said, this isn’t just a “negative review.” The chassis is still near perfect, the space black finish looks super clean, the standard display is gorgeous (I’m still not sold on nano-texture), and the battery life remains stupidly good. In my heavy day—coding, YouTube, intensive editing + export, benchmarks, and Photoshop/Lightroom non-stop—I ended up at ~12% by 7pm, which works out to around 8–10 hours heavy use or 12+ on lighter tasks once it adapts. My advice is simple: buy the M5 if you’re on an M1/M2 Air, Intel Mac, or you’re new to Mac and want the latest all-rounder. But if you’ve got an M1 Pro (or newer Pro models), don’t buy this—wait for M5 Pro/Max, especially if you care about AI, because Apple Intelligence right now is honestly disappointing.