The redesigned cooling system in the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR Display lets it hold nearly the same speed with the lid closed as it does open. In a closed-lid test of the 16-inch M5 Max with the fans on Automatic, sustained chip power on the earlier mini-LED model fell from 54 to 46 watts, while the new laptop slipped only from 62 to 60 watts.
Geekerwan ran the test on both laptops for its video review, with the fans targeting 36 decibels. Apple says a redesigned thermal architecture keeps the same sustained performance as before in a lighter chassis and moves warm air away from the display.
Exhaust Now Leaves Through the Back
MacBook Pros have drawn air in through the sides and pushed it out the back for more than a decade, but the earlier model split that exhaust in two. Some of the air blew toward the display and some went out behind the laptop. On the new model, Geekerwan says all of the exhaust leaves straight out the back.
Opening the screen wide on the earlier model could also block the rear exhaust, and the reviewer says the new hinge keeps that path clear. Apple only says the new hinge gives more stability when you use Touch.
The lighter body did not cost speed. The 14-inch model now weighs 3 lb, half a pound less than before, and the 16-inch weighs 4 lb, 0.7 lb less, yet the tests found sustained performance the same or slightly better, with Cinebench peak scores barely changing.
Closed Lids Show the Biggest Gap
Geekerwan says the airflow redesign matters most with the lid closed, which is how many pros run a MacBook Pro connected to external monitors. Both the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips can drive them, with up to three external displays on the M5 Pro and four on the M5 Max.
With the fans at full speed, the new 16-inch M5 Max holds about 87 watts with the lid open or closed, and the earlier model slips only from 87 to 85 watts. The gap opens in Automatic mode. There the new laptop sustains 62 watts open and 60 closed, while the earlier one manages 54 watts open and 46 closed.
With both lids closed, that is a 14 watt gap in sustained chip power, and the clock speeds differ by more than 10 percent. At full fan speed the two laptops are nearly level, so the difference shows up when you keep the fans quiet.
The Cooling System Runs Quieter
The 14-inch model shows the same pattern. At full fan speed it sustains about 69 watts, the same as the earlier model, but one fan tops 9,000 RPM and the maximum noise falls from 50 decibels to about 48.
iFixit’s teardown found that the two fans still sit under the logic board. Geekerwan could not open its loaned units, so what Apple changed inside the fans is still unknown.
Held to the same 36 decibels, the new fans spin at just over 5,500 RPM against just over 4,700 on the earlier model. In Automatic mode the 14-inch sustains 46 watts, up from 43, while its noise drops from about 38 to 36 decibels.
