The new M5 MacBook Pro’s real target isn’t Mac users. Here’s why.

So, Apple just dropped new 14-inch MacBook Pros on a random Wednesday morning, which tells you all you need to know. As Apple analyst Mark Gurman pointed out in his newsletter, this was a classic “chip-and-ship” refresh. They just swapped in the new M5 processor without adding much else, and didn’t even bother with a fancy event. If you’ve bought any M-series MacBook Pro in the last few years, there’s zero reason to upgrade.That said, the new base $1599 model is pretty potent. Gurman highlights that Apple’s own benchmarks show the M5 is on par with the old M1 Ultra, which was a top-tier desktop chip. It also has a fan for sustained performance (unlike the MacBook Air), a much better display, and great battery life. It’s a solid machine, but it’s definitely not aimed at recent buyers.

Here’s where it gets interesting. This quiet launch is happening at the perfect time, thanks to Microsoft. As Gurman also noted, the PC world is a bit of a mess right now. Microsoft is pushing hard to get everyone off Windows 10, which is facing an end to its security updates.

The problem? A lot of people just don’t want to move to Windows 11. It has strict, annoying hardware requirements (that whole TPM 2.0 thing) that make perfectly good older PCs obsolete, and many users just aren’t sold on the new interface or the ads. This puts Windows users in a bind: either stick with an aging, insecure OS or buy a new machine for an operating system they’re not excited about. This frustration is a massive opening for Apple.

Personally, this feels like one of the smartest, most opportunistic moves Apple has made in a while. They know the M5 won’t make an M3 user upgrade. But for that Windows power user who’s staring down the barrel of a forced, unwanted Windows 11 upgrade, Apple just offered a powerful, stable, and very enticing alternative.If you’re already resigned to buying new hardware, the $1599 question becomes: “Do I buy another Windows machine for an OS I dread, or do I make the jump?” For the first time, the “switch to Mac” argument is less about Apple’s hardware and more about escaping Microsoft’s software. It’s a brilliant pitch. Microsoft’s fumble might just hand Apple a whole new batch of Pro users.

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