How the New MacBook Air With M5 Could Sneakily Be Apple’s Best Value Laptop

Announced alongside the introductions of Apple’s newest M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, as well as a new flagship MacBook Pro, which is set to retail for $2,199 for its 14-inch model, Apple’s new MacBook Air with M5 might sneakily be the best value laptop the company has ever rolled out.

As is often the case, the MacBook Air doesn’t get the same headlines as the flagship MacBook Pro, and it obviously doesn’t get all of the same top-of-the-line features and specs. However, with so much of the focus for the new MacBook Pro, the new chips, and even the focus on this MacBook Air with M5, being on AI capabilities, this more affordable option does begin to make more sense.

Let’s take a look at the new MacBook Air with M5 and see what it might offer for your AI (and non-AI) video workflow needs.

The New MacBook Air With M5

While not getting the super-boosted M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, the MacBook Air with M5 is still getting some improved performance and expanded AI capabilities. The MacBook Air with M5 is set to feature a faster CPU and next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core, enabling this latest MacBook Air to power through a variety of workflows, from creative projects to complex AI tasks.

“The new MacBook Air with M5 brings incredible performance and even more capability to the world’s most popular laptop. With M5, MacBook Air powers through a wide range of tasks, from everyday productivity to creative workloads, and is even faster for AI. Now featuring double the starting storage, as well as Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, in a sleek and durable design with long battery life, MacBook Air is the perfect laptop for anyone who values the unrivaled combination of performance and portability.” — John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.

Notably, the new MacBook Air will now come standard with double the starting storage at 512GB with faster SSD technology (it will also be configurable up to 4TB). Apple’s N1 wireless chip will also be included, and it promises to deliver Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 for seamless connectivity on the go.

Improvements Across the Board

As mentioned above (as well as in our write-up on the new MacBook Pro), the name of the game here—at least according to Apple’s press releases—is on the AI capabilities of these new laptops and chipsets. However, with the MacBook Air with M5 being the more affordable option, it kind of helps it focus more on its non-AI improvements.

The MacBook Air will feature a very nice Liquid Retina display, a 12MP Center Stage camera, up to 18 hours of battery life, an immersive sound system with Spatial Audio, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports with support for up to two external displays.

The laptop’s M5 chip will also help supercharge it for working with 3D rendering with ray-tracing performance in Blender when compared to MacBook Air with M1, and up to 1.5x faster than MacBook Air with M4.

Price and Availability

Overall, the MacBook Air with M5 should be a nice option to consider thanks to its spec improvements as well as its powers provided by macOS Tahoe and Apple Intelligence.

The MacBook Pro with M5 will be available in 13- and 15-inch models in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver, with units available for pre-order starting on March 4th, and available for purchase beginning on March 11th.

The 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 starts at $1,099, and the 15-inch MacBook Air with M5 starts at $1,299.