It happened much later than we expected, but Apple's announcement of MacBook Pros with its M5 Pro and M5 Max chips has finally arrived. These more powerful variants on Apple's silicon will be available in the 14-inch and 16-inch models of the laptops. Pre-orders will open on March 4 with an expected ship date of March 11. You’ll want to save some extra coin this time, though, as prices have gone up compared to the prior generation.

The new 14-inch MacBook Pro can be kitted out with either an M5 Pro or M5 Max. The Pro option for the chip boasts a CPU with 15 or 18 CPU cores and 16 or 20 GPU cores. For the M5 Max, users will have 18 CPU cores along with 32 or 40 GPU cores. The base model with an M5 Pro has either 24 or 48GB of RAM and now starts with 1TB of storage, up from 512GB as was standard before.

If you're eyeing the 16-inch MacBook Pro, it starts with the M5 Pro with 18 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores. You can also get the same two M5 Max configurations as you can on the 14-inch model.

Perhaps most significantly, Apple has raised prices on its entire MacBook Pro lineup. The 14-inch M5 model previously started at $1,599; it’s now priced at $1,699. At least you’re getting something for that cash, as Apple has doubled its base storage to 1TB.

The same goes for the new M5 Pro and Max options. The 14-inch with the M5 Pro now starts at $2,199 instead of $1,999, while the 16-inch starts at a whopping $2,699 instead of $2,499. That 16-inch model comes with 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage now as standard; that’s again double the storage space from the prior model. The M5 Max model starts with 2TB of storage and 36GB of RAM for $3,599 (14-inch) or $3,899 (16-inch).

Running down the rest of the specs: Apple says the storage in the new MacBook Pro is twice as fast as the prior generation — so you’re getting more, faster storage than before for the extra cash. The laptops also include the Apple-designed N1 chip for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity, and Apple says the MacBook Pro is rated for up to 24 hours of battery life. It has the same excellent Liquid Retina XDR display as we’ve seen for multiple years now, as well as a 12-megapixel “Center Stage” front-facing camera.

It's a little unusual for these heavy-duty upgrades to Apple's MacBook Pros to be announced so much later from the news of its latest silicon updates. The company debuted the M5 chip last fall as usual, but spent several months before it revealed these major hardware additions for housing it. And the M5 MacBook Pro that was announced in October shortly after the M5 chip news came with zero fanfare. 

Australia's government may take a strict stance on ensuring younger users cannot access AI chatbots. Reuters reports that Australian regulators may require app storefronts to block AI services that do not implement age verification for restricting mature content by March 9. 

"eSafety will use the full range of our powers where there is non-compliance," a representative for the commissioner said in a statement to the publication. Those paths could include "action in respect of gatekeeper services such as search engines and app stores that provide key points of access to particular ‌services."

A review by Reuters found that of 50 leading text-based AI chat services in the region, only nine had introduced or shared plans for age assurance. Eleven services reportedly "had blanket content filters or planned to block all Australians from using their service," according to the report, leaving a large number that had not taken public action a week ahead of the country's deadline. Failure to comply could see AI companies face fines of up to A$49.5 million ($35 million).

The question of which parties are responsible for keeping children from accessing potentially harmful content is being debated around the world. In the US, for instance, Apple and Google have been lobbying to have the task delegated to platforms rather than app store operators. The language from the Australian regulators about all stores is hardly definitive at this stage, but given the breadth of its sweeping ban on the use of social media and some highly social digital platforms for citizens under age 16 enacted last year, an aggressive stance seems to align with leaders' priorities.