r/protools • u/JusJoshinYa • Jun 25 '26

Help Request ELI5: Pro Tools M5 Compatibility

This is potentially a dumb question, so bear with me. I’m not super knowledgeable about this part.

I was put in a position where I was forced to get a new computer. RIP my trusty Mac Mini. I hate spending money on old technology and so I got a new M5 Pro MacBook Pro. I’ve been doing this for quite some time…I KNOW you should never upgrade (well change anything in your rig really) without checking compatibility. I was in such panic mode that my dumbass didn’t even think about checking. We have officially established I have made a dumb decision. Cue the walk of shame through the city. We’ve gotten that out of the way.

Can someone explain to me why Pro Tools would not be compatible on new chips and why it takes months to establish that compatibility?

At this point, I’ve accepted the fact, so now I’m genuinely curious about what changes that causes the incompatibility. Like the chips have to have a different software structure? Or? Thanks in advance!

EDIT FOR CONTEXT: I have tried using pro tools on the new machine and sometimes it runs great and sometimes it’s really bad. It’ll freeze. It’ll give me cpu overload errors and tell me up the buffer. The system usage window will be at 100% bright red and stay there. Critical video engine errors. Sometimes it’ll freeze to the point i have to full on force restart. It’s bad. I can edit 4k footage in DaVinci Resolve with color correction but I can’t run pro tools…

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/fakechrismartin Jun 25 '26

Have you attempted to run Pro Tools on your new machine? I currently am able to run the program just fine on my M4 MacBook Pro. The M5 chip is based on the same format as the M4 (to my understanding), so your biggest hurdle compatibility-wise is operating system. Pro Tools is supported on MacOS 26 Tahoe, so as long as you aren't running beta versions of MacOS 27, you should be fine.

Historically, Avid is very slow with establishing "official" compatibility with their software, so when MacOS 27 does release, I would not recommend updating until a few months later, when Pro Tools updates.

2

u/praise-the-message Jun 26 '26

There have been some reports of stability issues on M5.

I don't know what would cause the issue and there are certainly also some people who say they are running PT on an M5 without issue. IIRC there was also a stability issue with the M3 that was somehow resolved via update but don't quote me on that.

It's certainly weird and a bit unsettling, but eventually compatibility will be official and Avid will sort it out.