The first batch of gaming benchmarks to test Apple’s latest and greatest M5 Max is here, and what better way to kick things off than to fire up Cyberpunk 2077, which is a title that has been ported to the macOS platform. Even though the technology giant has switched to a superior Fusion Architecture for both the M5 Pro and M5 Max, the maximum GPU core count is limited to 40. While we should still witness a slight framerate boost, what’s disappointing to see is that our laptop RTX 4090 ends up being 63 percent faster.
Newest Cyberpunk 2077 benchmark comparison also compares a laptop RTX 5080, with the M5 Max MacBook Pro closing the gap in average FPS against NVIDIA’s newer GPU
Two machines, the 16-inch M5 Max MacBook Pro with an 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU, plus an RTX 5080-powered Lenovo Legion, were tested by Max Weinbach. For good measure, we’ve included our RTX 4090-powered MSI Vector 16 HX since it remains one of the most powerful machines around, minus the support for NVIDIA’s Multi-Frame Generation.
What’s interesting is that Max tested Cyberpunk 2077 on the M5 Max MacBook Pro without the power cable attached, but he mentions that the results would have been the same. While you can go through the settings below, which are consistent amongst all three machines tested, the M5 Max MacBook Pro is only 4FPS slower than the Lenovo Legion equipped with the RTX 5080, while our laptop RTX 4090 is the fastest of the trio, beating the former by 38.8 percent.
The only difference we could find in Cyberpunk 2077’s settings was that our gaming laptop was running the older 2.21 version, while the RTX 5080-powered machine and M5 Max MacBook Pro were both running version 2.31. We’ll have to re-test it to see if this was the reason why the RTX 4090 was running faster than the RTX 5080.
Cyberpunk 2077 graphics settings
- Texture Quality - High
- Frame Generation - No
- Resolution Scaling - No
- Ray Tracing - Yes
- Ray-Traced Reflections - Yes
- Ray-Traced Sun Shadows - Yes
- Ray-Traced Local Shadows - Yes
- Ray-Traced Lighting - Psycho
- Path Tracing - No
Resolution settings
- RTX 5080 gaming laptop - 2,560 x 1,440
- M5 Max MacBook Pro (18-core CPU, 40-core GPU) - 2,336 x 1,460
- Our RTX 4090 gaming laptop - 2,560 x 1,600
Benchmark results (average FPS)
- RTX 5080 gaming laptop - 26.95FPS
- M5 Max MacBook Pro (18-core CPU, 40-core GPU) - 22.91FPS
- Our RTX 4090 gaming laptop - 37.41FPS (38.8 percent faster than RTX 5080, 63.29 percent faster than M5 Max MacBook Pro)
For those disappointed in the M5 Max MacBook Pro’s results, we’ll remind readers that Cyberpunk 2077 was tested without the power cord attached. In the same scenario, none of the laptop RTX 5080 or laptop RTX 4090 gaming laptops would reach the same framerate, so it’s a commendable effort from the top-end Apple Silicon.
To be fair, Cyberpunk 2077 continues to be one of the most demanding titles out there, and its Phantom Liberty expansion was a treat to play. It’s also important to note that this isn’t the last test to be run on the M5 Max, and there will be several more in which the chipset could excel compared to the competition. If you’re still contemplating an upgrade, online retailers like Amazon are taking pre-orders for both the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, starting from $3,899.
News Source: Max Weinbach
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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