Apple's M5 Pro & M5 Max Easily Beat RTX 5090 in PugetBench Creator Benchmarks

Apple's M5 Pro & M5 Max Easily Beat RTX 5090 in PugetBench Creator Benchmarks

Apple's latest M5 Pro and M5 Max chips deliver exceptional performance in creative applications, surpassing even high-end Windows laptops equipped with the RTX 5090 GPU.

In comprehensive testing using PugetBench benchmarks across Adobe's creative suite and DaVinci Resolve, Apple's new MacBook Pro models with M5 processors have demonstrated remarkable performance advantages over their Windows counterparts.

Benchmark Results Show Clear Apple Dominance

The testing covered six different applications: Photoshop, Premiere Pro (both standard and extended versions), Lightroom Classic (standard and extended), and DaVinci Resolve (standard and extended). All devices ran identical versions of the applications and benchmarks, ensuring fair comparisons.

MacBook Pro 16 with M5 Max (40-core GPU) achieved outstanding scores:

• Photoshop: 15,875
• Premiere Pro Standard: 157,049
• Premiere Pro Extended: 139,339
• Lightroom Classic Standard: 10,662
• Lightroom Classic Extended: 12,310
• DaVinci Resolve Standard: 127,090
• DaVinci Resolve Extended: 88,696

MacBook Pro 14 with M5 Max (40-core GPU) showed slightly lower but still impressive results:

• Photoshop: 15,775
• Premiere Pro Standard: 149,151
• Premiere Pro Extended: 117,719
• Lightroom Classic Standard: 9,496
• Lightroom Classic Extended: 12,558
• DaVinci Resolve Standard: 115,172
• DaVinci Resolve Extended: 82,713

MacBook Pro 16 with M5 Pro (20-core GPU) also performed exceptionally:

• Photoshop: 15,271
• Premiere Pro Standard: 105,296
• Premiere Pro Extended: 89,026
• Lightroom Classic Standard: 12,739
• Lightroom Classic Extended: 12,418
• DaVinci Resolve Standard: 83,560
• DaVinci Resolve Extended: 58,878

Windows Competitors Fall Short

Even the powerful Asus ProArt P16 with Ryzen 9 HX370 and RTX 5090 couldn't match Apple's performance:

• Photoshop: 10,096
• Premiere Pro Standard: 107,130
• Premiere Pro Extended: 82,933
• Lightroom Classic Standard: 6,709
• Lightroom Classic Extended: 8,667
• DaVinci Resolve Standard: 85,114
• DaVinci Resolve Extended: 63,907

Other Windows devices tested included the Asus ROG Z13-KJP with AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 8060S, Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with Ryzen 9 7940HS and RTX 4090, and Samsung Galaxy Book6 Ultra with Core Ultra 7 365H and RTX 5070, all of which scored significantly lower across the board.

Key Performance Insights

The M5 Pro already matches or slightly trails the RTX 5090 in most creative workloads, which is remarkable considering the power efficiency differences between Apple Silicon and traditional x86+GPU configurations.

The M5 Max models demonstrate substantial GPU advantages, particularly in DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro where GPU acceleration is heavily utilized. The 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max consistently outperforms the 14-inch version, confirming that the larger chassis allows better thermal management and sustained performance.

Even the compact 14-inch MacBook Pro outperforms Windows rivals with similar display sizes, making it an exceptional choice for creators who need portability without sacrificing performance.

What This Means for Content Creators

For professionals working in photo editing, video production, and color grading, Apple's M5 lineup offers compelling advantages:

• Superior performance per watt means longer battery life during intensive workloads
• Better thermal management in the 16-inch model allows sustained peak performance
• Unified memory architecture eliminates bottlenecks common in discrete GPU setups
• Software optimization through Apple's tight hardware-software integration

Looking Ahead

The results confirm Apple's continued dominance in creative professional workloads, particularly for users who prioritize performance, efficiency, and portability. While Windows laptops with high-end GPUs like the RTX 5090 remain competitive in gaming and certain specialized applications, Apple's M5 chips have clearly established themselves as the preferred choice for content creation workflows.

For more detailed technical analysis of the M5 Pro and M5 Max architectures, including CPU and GPU performance breakdowns, readers can refer to our companion articles on the Apple M5 Pro/M5 Max CPU analysis and Apple M5 Pro/M5 Max GPU analysis.

The new MacBook Pro 16 with M5 Max represents a significant leap forward in mobile content creation performance, easily outpacing even the most powerful Windows competitors in creative professional applications.