Helio Book Pro 16 (M5 Max) review: a workstation that never raises its voice

Design and build

The chassis is unchanged from last year: a single block of aluminium, 2.1 kg, with the same six ports along the sides. That is not a complaint. The hinge still opens with one finger and the keyboard deck has no flex anywhere we pressed.

The one change is a matte display option, which costs $150 and is worth it if you work near windows. It cuts reflections without the grainy look of older anti-glare coatings.

Performance

The M5 Max has 18 CPU cores and a 48-core GPU. In our tests it finished ahead of every Windows laptop we have reviewed this year, and it did so on battery power with no drop in scores.

Battery life

This is where the Book Pro pulls furthest ahead. In our looping video test at 200 nits it lasted 22 hours and 14 minutes. The closest Windows rival, the Stratos X16, managed 11 hours and 2 minutes.

Verdict

If your work is video, 3D or large compiles, and your software runs on it, this is the best laptop you can buy. The base model is already expensive, and the upgrades that matter most, memory and storage, are priced well above market rates.

Specifications