The Apple MacBook Pro M5 is on Sale, and a Top MacBook to Buy Right Now

While the updated M6 is a perfectly capable laptop in its own right, it fits a bit awkwardly into the current lineup of MacBooks. It's identical to the previous-gen M5 model, which came out in late 2025. But here's the problem: Despite having the exact same laptop specs (save for the chip difference), you can currently get the M5 for $200 less on Amazon and Walmart.

If you're thinking that upgrading from the M5 to the M6 must be worth $200, I'm not so sure. The M6 comes with two additional CPU and GPU cores, which is the origin of most of its gains. While that's not nothing, it's one of the smaller gen-over-gen Apple Silicon performance bumps in the past six years.