The Apple MacBook Pro 16 would be a great choice for creative professionals who need color-accurate displays and long battery life, along with a preference for macOS. Alternatively, the Gigabyte Aorus 5 is better suited for gaming and Windows-based engineering applications due to its high-refresh-rate display and dedicated graphics card. The MacBook Pro has a sharper and brighter display, better build quality, and a more advanced processor for everyday tasks, but it commands a higher price and isn't designed with gaming in mind. The Gigabyte, while powerful, may not be as portable due to its weight and has shorter battery life, but it costs less than the MacBook Pro. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023)
Very good for general use
Very good for software development
Very good for content creation
Excellent overall display quality
Best in class overall build quality
Good portability
Best in class battery life
Best in class speakers
Best in class keyboard
Advantages of the Gigabyte Aorus 5
The Gigabyte Aorus 5 has no clear advantages over the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023).
Key differences
General Use
8.8/10
7.5/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
487.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
280.0 nits
17.5 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
5.0 Hours
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
7.6/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
6.7/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for general use, while the Gigabyte Aorus 5 is good.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) stands out for general use due to its high-resolution Mini LED screen, long battery life, and lightweight design, alongside its potent Apple M3 Pro CPU and ample RAM ensuring smooth performance. In comparison, the Gigabyte Aorus 5, while offering a strong Intel CPU and ample RAM for good performance, has a lower-quality IPS screen, is heavier making it less portable, and has a shorter battery life, though it presents benefits in keyboard and speaker quality and is more suited for gaming with its dedicated Nvidia GPU.
Engineering and Design
8.9/10
8.2/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
6.2/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.2/10
18.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) and Gigabyte Aorus 5 are both very good for engineering and design, though the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is somewhat better.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) provides powerful engineering and design capabilities with its superior Apple M3 Pro CPU and GPU combo, an impressive Mini LED screen with higher resolution, and extensive color accuracy, but it's less portable due to its weight. In contrast, the Gigabyte Aorus 5 also offers solid performance for such tasks through its Intel i7 processor and Nvidia RTX 3070 graphics, a quality IPS display, and has the advantage of being slightly more portable with additional slots for RAM and storage expansions but falls short in screen resolution and color representation.
Content Creation
8.9/10
7.6/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
18.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for content creation, while the Gigabyte Aorus 5 is good.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
8.9/10
7.3/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
18.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
9.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.5/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) is very good for software development, while the Gigabyte Aorus 5 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
Screen Quality
9.3/10
8.0/10
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
3456 x 2234
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
Mini LED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
120Hz
REFRESH RATE
360Hz
487.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
280.0 nits
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has a better screen than the Gigabyte Aorus 5 for general use, AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16, with its high-resolution display and brightness, offers excellent clarity and detail for everyday tasks and professional design work, further enhanced by its wide color gamut coverage ensuring accurate color representation crucial for engineering and design. In contrast, the Gigabyte Aorus 5, while providing good general and design experience with respectable resolution and brightness, falls short in 3D tasks due to its lower refresh rate, which is vital for smooth visuals in fast-paced environments. The MacBook's Achilles' heel for 3D applications is similarly its refresh rate, which, despite its outstanding resolution and panel technology, limits the fluidity of motion required in 3D and gaming scenarios.
Battery
17.5 Hours
5.0 Hours
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 has 17.5 hours of battery life. The Gigabyte Aorus 5 has 5 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Good
Fair
16.2in
SIZE
15.6in
4.7 lbs
WEIGHT
5.0 lbs
0.6in
THICKNESS
1.0in
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has good portability, while the Gigabyte Aorus 5 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
10.0/10
7.4/10
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has best in class build quality, while the Gigabyte Aorus 5 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
The Gigabyte Aorus 5 and Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) are both good for gaming and AI.
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023)with its higher screen quality and Apple GPU is suitable for 3D work, but its MacOS may limit game availability compared to the Gigabyte Aorus 5 which, with its high refresh rate IPS screen and Nvidia RTX 3070 GPU, provides an immersive gaming experience suitable for most PC games.
Cost
$2,299
$2,359
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) has a price of $2,299 and the Gigabyte Aorus 5 costs $2,359.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) and the Gigabyte Aorus 5 compare to other laptops
"The Apple MacBook Pro 16 2023: M2 Max challenges GeForce RTX 3080 Ti. The new MacBook Pro 16 2023 with the M2 Max SoC is the most powerful laptop Apple has on sale right now. While we do not get the expected performance and efficiency improvements from completely new 3 nm chips, which we expected ahead of the launch, the 2023 model is still a solid update. The CPU of the M2 Max can be up to 20 % faster than the old model and we also see an advantage of 25-30 % for the GPU with 38 cores. However, both components also consume more power, so the efficiency did not change that much under maximum load."
"The Gigabyte Aorus 5 SE4 is a capable mainstream gaming notebook that will run the latest PC games with aplomb. However, it's not your stereotypical flashy gaming PC. Gigabyte has added some interesting tweaks. For example, the webcam placement and its Microsoft Azure AI tool — to automatically switch between power modes — are unusual for this genre. But more importantly, the pricing is fairly competitive and reasonable."
Get a great deal on the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (Late 2023) or the Gigabyte Aorus 5
About Apple
Apple, an American technology company, is one of the world’s largest company in terms of market capitalization. Their MacBook laptops feature a slim, minimalistic design, class-leading battery life, and premium display and speaker quality. In 2020 Apple switched from using Intel processors to their own silicon chips which have excellent performance and efficiency. The macOS operating system is the second most widely used OS, after Windows.
About Gigabyte
Gigabyte is a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer. While Gigabyte mainly focuses its business on desktop hardware, Gigabyte is known for its value-oriented G series laptops, thin and light Aero series, and performance-oriented Aorus series. Gigabyte laptops offer a strong value proposition to compete with mainstream alternatives.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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About the laptop team
Joe Golden, Ph.D
CEO and Laptops Editor
Joe is an entrepreneur and lifelong electronics enthusiast with a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Michigan.
Jason Lew
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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Chandradeep Chowdhury
Staff Expert & Software Engineer
Chandradeep is a staff expert and software engineer and expert in televisions and monitors. He’s been making monitor recommendations for ten years.
Craig Russell
Laptops Expert
Craig is a UK-based laptops expert. Craig works in IT, where he recommends and supports laptops and PCs for clients and has been recommending laptops on Reddit for five years.