A recent comparison between Intel’s Panther Lake SoC and Apple’s M5 processor shows that both platforms deliver nearly similar battery performance under heavy workloads. The test used a 14-inch Asus ExpertBook Ultra powered by Intel’s latest 18A-based Panther Lake chip and a 14-inch MacBook Pro with Apple’s entry-level M5 configuration.
During 2.5 hours of continuous heavy use at maximum screen brightness, the MacBook Pro retained 40 percent battery, while the Asus ExpertBook Ultra held 38 percent, indicating that Apple’s M5 maintains a slight efficiency edge. The minimal two percent difference highlights the significant improvement in Intel’s power management with Panther Lake.
Hardware and benchmark comparisons reveal trade-offs between the systems. The Asus laptop was equipped with 32GB RAM and a 1TB SSD, while the M5 MacBook Pro had 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. In the Blackmagic disk speed test, the Asus system recorded read speeds of 13,980MB/s, outperforming the MacBook Pro’s 6,797MB/s. Geekbench 6 scores favored Apple’s processor, with the M5 achieving 4,328 in single-core and 17,987 in multi-core tests, compared to 2,823 and 15,449 on the Asus laptop. Graphics performance also leaned toward Apple, as the Intel Arc B390 GPU in the Asus scored 50,072 in OpenCL tests, while the M5’s GPU scored 76,601.
Overall, Intel’s Panther Lake shows strong gains in efficiency and storage performance, while Apple’s M5 continues to excel in CPU and GPU workloads.
