2026-03-10 04:00:27
These days, Apple is approaching its Mac releases a little bit like how a car company approaches its model years: Every once in a while, it does a complete redesign, and there’s a whole new generation of devices. In the intervening years, the devices don’t change much, other than some of the internals. In Apple’s case, the regular release of new generations of Apple silicon drives the changes.
So when I say that the M5 Pro MacBook Pro, released this week, is very much the same pro laptop we’ve seen from Apple for the last few years, I’m not trying to be insulting. It’s the familiar, definitive MacBook Pro that was introduced with the M1 Pro and Max in 2021 and updated with new processors for the M2, M3, and M4 generations.
The display still rocks. It’s a 120-hertz ProMotion display with a wide color gamut, backlit by mini-LED display technology that allows it to run bright and peak even brighter, while also maintaining black levels that contribute to a remarkably extended level of dynamic range. The design, with flat sides and top and curved corners, defined what a 2020s Apple laptop looks like.
Some reports suggest that this fifth iteration of this design will be the end of the line, and that a new generation awaits later this year or in early 2027. That may be, but if you need a new Mac laptop now, or prefer to buy your Macs at the end of a design cycle after all the theoretical bugs have been shaken out, you will not find a finer Mac laptop available today than the M5 MacBook Pro with M5 Pro or Max processors.
Apple sent me the M5 Pro model, with 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores. It was like welcoming an old friend into my house, especially since I switched to an M4 Max MacBook Pro a year ago. This is a familiar, solid laptop, but the new generation of high-end M5 chips changes the game a bit.
In the end, it’s all about those chips. So here are the numbers in handy chart form:
To summarize, the M5 CPU core is about 15% faster than the M4 generation, and the Pro and Max 15- or 18-core CPU configurations are going to blow my 14-core M4 Max out of the water. My review unit is 23% faster than my M4 Max laptop.
As you might expect, GPU performance on the Pro laptops really depends on which chip class you buy. The Max versions have way more GPU cores and will generate much better performance. That said, my M4 Max’s Metal score was only about 14 percent ahead of the M5 Pro’s, despite my M4 Max having 32 GPU cores instead of the M5 Pro’s 20. It’s pretty impressive, and the M5 Max is there if you really want a ridiculous number of GPU cores to apply to your GPU-intensive workflows.
Of course, I need to mention that Apple has renamed its CPU cores as a part of the upgrade to M5 Pro and M5 Max. The top-speed cores, previously called performance cores, have been redubbed “super cores.” Meanwhile, the new lower-speed/higher-efficiency cores in the M5 Max and M5 Pro have been confusingly rebranded as “performance cores.”
The bottom line is still the same: In normal use, you’ll see the lower-tier cores grinding away on tasks efficiently, while the more power-consuming tasks will leap into action when there is CPU heavy lifting to be done. On my 18-core review unit, there are 6 super cores and 12 performance cores, while those who choose the lower-end 15-core configuration will get 5 super cores and 10 performance cores.
The pace of Apple silicon progress is breathtaking, not just at the base level that powers the MacBook Air and iPad Pro, but up here at the level of bespoke chips designed for Apple’s most powerful systems. The M5 Pro and M5 Max both look like major steps above the M4 equivalents, let alone against older chip generations.
In the end, the question for upgraders coming from older Apple silicon MacBook Pros will be: Is it worth it to get a more powerful chip to do whatever it is you’re doing? And, secondarily: Are you willing to wait to see what Apple might have up its sleeve with the first iteration of an entirely new design, if that’s indeed what’s coming?
These are questions I can’t answer for you. But I will say that the M5 Pro chip seems really impressive. Even if the laptops look the same on the outside as they did in 2021, the stuff inside just keeps getting better.
2026-03-10 03:37:26
Marcin Wichary, the author of the excellent Shift Happens and one of the best new blogs out there in 2026, Unsung, has written a lengthy essay about the history of modifier keys that’s keyed (eh?) off of Apple’s introduction of its Globe shortcut key:
Suddenly, the globe key on the iPad and the hybrid globe/Fn key on the Mac were equipped with a million Windows-like tasks: Globe-C to activate Control Center, Globe-A to show the dock, Globe-N for Notification Center, and so on. There was also Globe-left arrow and Globe-right arrow to jump between apps (even though Command-Tab also did that), Globe-H to go to the home screen (same as Command-H), Globe-F for fullscreen (also available via Command-Control-F), and a bunch of other window management functions. You could even press Globe-D for dictation, even though by now F5 was promoted to serve the same purpose.
The most frustrating thing about the Globe key, as Wichary points out, it that it’s basically a repurposed Fn key that’s been broken so that it’s not compatible with most (but not all!) non-Apple keyboards.
2026-03-10 00:45:33
The Notes app is a handy way to share material with other people. My family—particularly my spouse and I—has about 15 to 20 shared notes that let us collaboratively update various household, financial, college-related, and other details. We even use it with meal planning.
However, once you start adding a shared note, you get alerts about modifications. Notes let you see the editing history and highlight changes. But the stapled-on interface for this makes it harder to figure out what to choose and what you’re seeing than, say, the version history in Google Docs.
All the options to see what’s changed over time can be reached via the Shared Note menu, by clicking or tapping the profile icon with either a generic head and shoulders with a checkmark in it or a tiny profile pic from your contacts for the shared person:
Show Updates: If you haven’t clicked or tapped the Shared Note menu, you may see a button that reveals changes since your last visit. This status doesn’t appear synced: although I had already viewed a note on my Mac months ago, when I opened it on my iPhone, it still displayed “Show Updates.”
You can use activity and highlights in a couple of different ways.
First, you can use the Activity pane (Profile Pic: Show All Activity) to find previous revisions, listed from the top, oldest to newest, with a profile pic and name next to each. Click or tap the revision, and the note shows additions and changes; deletions don’t appear to be marked, and I don’t see any way to roll back to earlier versions. (If you need version history for shared documents, you can turn to Google Docs or Pages, among many apps.)
Second, when you choose Show Highlights, you see changes in the margin reflecting all edits across the history of the document tagged with the editor’s name and the date. If there are too many edits to fit, you will see +1 next to the name—click or tap it to reveal all names and dates associated with the dit, and that highlight is isolated from the rest of the document.
Third, you can combine Activity and Show Highlights: with a revision selected, choose Show Highlights, and you see just the edits in the margin associated with that set of changes.
Take a gander at my revision of Take Control of Notes, which tells everything you need to know about Apple’s Notes app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and the web, from basic features like formatting text and creating lists to advanced features like scanning documents, protecting notes with passwords, making sketches, and managing attachments.
[Got a question for the column? You can email [email protected] or use /glenn in our subscriber-only Discord community.]
2026-03-10 00:00:18
This week’s sponsor is Rogue Amoeba, and they’re here to tell you about SoundSource, their essential audio control app for the Mac.
If you’ve ever wished macOS gave you more control over your audio, SoundSource is exactly what you’re looking for. It puts your Mac’s audio settings right in the menu bar, giving you per-app volume control, per-app audio routing, and the ability to apply effects to any app’s audio in real time.
The newly released SoundSource 6 is a major upgrade, with dozens of enhancements. Highlights include:
Output Groups: Send audio to multiple devices at once.
Quick Configs: Save your entire audio configuration so you can switch setups with a click.
A powerful new Audio Devices window: Get deep control over settings for all your audio devices.
You can download a fully functional free trial and be up and running in under a minute. When you’re ready to buy, Six Colors readers can save 20% with code 6CSPRING26 in their store. The deal runs through the end of March, so give it a try!
2026-03-07 06:31:54
We break down the aftermath of the Warner Bros. Discovery sale, including positives for Netflix and questions for Paramount Skydance.
2026-03-07 02:12:41
Tech empires rise and fall so quickly that the mind can hardly conceive of one lasting half a century, but it’s true: In 1976, two 20-somethings named Steve (Jobs and Wozniak) asked their 41-year-old mentor, Ron Wayne, to file the paperwork that created Apple Computer.
Like most people who reach midlife, Apple has a complicated history. The path from a bunch of young people assembling computers in a Silicon Valley garage to the international titan it is today was far from linear. Early successes in helping define and popularize the personal computer were followed by a troubled adolescence that almost proved fatal. That crisis moment created the opportunity for a storied rebirth, setting Apple on the trajectory that has made it one of this century’s most profitable and valuable companies, currently valued near $4 trillion.
“Apple: The First 50 Years” tells the stories that lie behind dozens of Apple’s tech creations. David Pogue has seen many of those years up close, having written for Macworld magazine before becoming a columnist for the New York Times and a correspondent for PBS’s “Nova” and “CBS Sunday Morning.” Apple’s successes are famous, but Mr. Pogue doesn’t steer away from discussing the dead-end products and corporate malfunctions. While tech media tends to focus on hot new products and strong personalities, Mr. Pogue’s book is resolutely a biography of Apple Inc. itself—one of the most distinctive characters in American business history.
