Apple M1 vs Apple M5 Pro 18-Core
Aggregate performance score
M5 Pro 18-Core outperforms M1 by a whopping 597% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 175 | 1525 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | no data | Apple Apple M-Series |
| Designer | Apple | Apple |
| Release date | 3 March 2026 (less than a year ago) | 10 November 2020 (5 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
Basic parameters of M5 Pro 18-Core and M1: number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 18 (Octadeca-Core) | 8 (Octa-Core) |
| Threads | 18 | 8 |
| Base clock speed | no data | 2.064 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4.61 GHz | 3.2 GHz |
| L1 cache | no data | 2 MB |
| L2 cache | 32 MB | 16 MB |
| L3 cache | 24 MB | 16 MB |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 5 nm |
| Number of transistors | no data | 16000 Million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
| Windows 11 compatibility | no data | - |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | no data | Apple M1 8-Core GPU |
Synthetic benchmarks
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 33.02 | 4.74 |
| Recency | 3 March 2026 | 10 November 2020 |
| Physical cores | 18 | 8 |
| Threads | 18 | 8 |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 5 nm |
Apple M5 Pro 18-Core has a 597% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 5 years, 125% more physical cores and 125% more threads, and a 67% more advanced lithography process.
The Apple M5 Pro 18-Core is our recommended choice as it beats the Apple M1 in performance tests.
Other comparisons
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