How the MacBook Pro has changed over the past five years

At the end of 2021, Apple completely redesigned the MacBook Pro. It was the first major redesign in years, and just a year after the company bet on a new in-house made processor called the M1. With the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, more powerful variants of the first processor introduced in November 2020, the company has bet on correcting the flaws of previous iterations by offering a new industrial design with enough space for thermal cooling, a better webcam, an old-new keyboard system, more ports, the return of MagSafe charging after its shutdown and a mini-LED screen. These laptops remain hardware powerhouses, even as they approach their fifth anniversary. That said, if we were to buy a new MacBook Pro in 2026, what would it look like? Well, it’s kind of the same as the 2021 model, but with a greater emphasis on AI workloads, more powerful processors, and even a tweak or two on the display.

Even though Apple is expected to refresh the MacBook Pro in late 2026 or even early 2027 with an all-new design, an OLED display, and even touchscreen capabilities, it’s safe to say that the MacBook Pro has already changed a lot in recent years, despite maintaining the same chassis. Along with Thunderbolt 5 support and a new darker color, here are some of the ways the MacBook Pro has changed from 2021 to 2026, as we expect it to change a lot more soon.

With the MacBook Pro M3, Apple finally ditched the Intel look for the base model. With this, the company brought a more cohesive visual identity to its computer line, upgrading the base model with a 14-inch screen featuring mini-LED technology, all the ports of the higher-end models, including the beloved MagSafe connector, and SD card slot. The new MacBook Pro M3 also offered an improved thermal design, finally ditching the Touch Bar and adding a better webcam.

For $1,599, getting a real MacBook Pro has become much more affordable, as users previously had to spend a few hundred dollars more to get the new design with the Pro or Max chips. With the M3, Apple brought the redesign to a more affordable model for those who wanted a proper cooling system, a better screen, and other benefits that only the MacBook Pro offered.

But most importantly, Apple abandoned Intel’s design, which suffered from several flaws and user complaints. For example, this laptop only had Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack. For the Touch Bar, it always seemed like an empty party, as few developers created solutions, making it merely a gimmick for (some) of Apple’s built-in apps.

It’s only natural to assume that a lot has changed with Apple Silicon processors since the introduction of the M1, then the M1 Pro and the M1 Max. Four generations later, we now have the M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max, and Apple is expected to skip the M6 ​​chip and go straight to the M7. Basically, Apple focused on improving multi-core processing, graphics, and AI capabilities. The M5 family features a new Fusion architecture with 3-nanometer process technology that significantly increases core count and efficiency compared to the 5-nanometer M1 series. For example, graphics performance is up to 2.5 times faster on the M5 than on the M1, and base memory bandwidth has more than doubled from 68.3 GB/s on the M1 to 153 GB/s on the M5. On top of that, the M5 features a redesigned GPU with dedicated neural accelerators in each core, delivering up to six times the maximum GPU compute for AI tasks compared to the M1.

With the third generation ray tracing engine and improved shader cores, the M5 family also brings significantly improved graphics performance, making an M5 machine much better for running games and graphics software. Although the M1 chips are still very capable, it was only possible to max these computers with 64 GB of RAM, the base being 8 GB. For the M5, users start with 16 GB of RAM and can upgrade to 128 GB of RAM in the M5 Max version, providing more space for more demanding tasks.

You could say that Apple kept the same mini-LED panel that it introduced in late 2021 in the M1 Pro and M1 Max, but that’s not true. With the M4 Pro and M4 Max options introduced in late 2024, Apple has updated these computers with a brighter Liquid Retina XDR display, offering up to 1,000 nits of brightness for SDR content and up to 1,600 nits for HDR content. In comparison, the main change is that the MacBook Pro M1 Pro offers 500 nits of standard brightness, while the new M5 Pro can be twice as bright with the same battery capacity, making this computer much more useful outdoors.

Another notable change that arrived with the M4 generation is that customers who choose the Pro or Max iterations can opt for a nano-texture display instead of the standard screen. The technology was first introduced with the Pro Display XDR and later expanded to the Studio Display and iPad Pro. Apple says the nano-texture “significantly reduces glare and distractions from reflections.” While not all users need to pay extra for this feature, it can be life-changing if you work against a light source like a large window, always work outside in a coffee shop, or if glare in general bothers you. It’s better to choose Apple’s built-in option rather than adding a third-party screen protector because there is no risk of interference between the screen and keyboard. A third-party screen protector could potentially damage the screen.

When Apple revamped the MacBook Pro with a new design in 2021, it also improved the webcam from a 720p FaceTime HD camera to a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, thanks to a larger image sensor and wider aperture for better low-light performance. A more advanced image signal processor, integrated directly into the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, has also improved real-time video quality.

While this was already a big advantage for most Mac users, over the years Apple has added software features to make video calling even significantly better. For example, the company started allowing the use of an iPhone or third-party webcam in favor of the laptop’s built-in camera, and also added other features such as Portrait, Studio Light, Background, and most recently, Edge Light. Portrait brings a bokeh effect to the background, Studio Light can help brighten your face, and the Background feature can add a different background image for privacy purposes. Finally, the Edge Light effect mimics a ring light at the edges of your screen to make your face appear brighter during a call.

In addition to the software improvements, also available for M1 computers, Apple introduced with the MacBook Pro M4 a new 12 MP Center Stage camera that improves video quality while keeping the user centered in the image when moving. Another great feature is Desk View, which lets you view your table in case you need to demonstrate something.

Apple announced the all-new Siri AI during the WWDC 2026 presentation on macOS Golden Gate. While the personal assistant is only a tiny part of Apple’s AI strategy, what’s really changed over the past five years is how much the company is now focusing on AI in general. When the company introduced the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, there wasn’t a single mention of “AI” in Apple’s press release. Instead, the company mentioned “machine learning.” Based on the M5, M5 Pro, and M5 Max press releases, there are over a dozen mentions of AI and no mention of machine learning.

More than just representing an industry trend and a major shift for Apple, the company began emphasizing how its Macs had become better at AI tasks. For example, an M5 Pro can generate images up to 7.8 times faster than the M1 Pro; LLM prompt processing is 6.9x faster and 3D rendering in Maxon Redshift is up to 5.2x faster.

Indeed, not only did Apple create a new manufacturing process for its latest chips, but it also continued to bet on improved Neural Engine cores, improved unified memory, and much more. That said, while M1 Pro/Max owners can still enjoy a pretty capable computer, the new technologies offered by the latest models may make an upgrade almost expected for those working on demanding AI workloads, as there’s simply no comparison to Apple’s newest chips.