I’ve tested every MacBook Air in recent years – here’s why the time to upgrade is now

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Apple’s MacBook Air is no longer the baby in the family. In fact, it’s looking rather grown up these days. Last year, the MacBook Air got a free upgrade to a baseline 16GB of RAM. This year’s MacBook Air M5 follows that up with an increase to 512GB of standard storage. The SSD is also twice as fast as the M4 — an impressive increase in read and write speeds for just one generation. 

With core hardware improvements, form factor maturation, and the addition of the Neo to Apple’s lineup, the Air is less the Pro’s younger sibling and more the “laptop for everybody”, with enough horsepower to compete with the Pro on many tasks. 

Also: MacBook Neo review: My biggest concern with Apple’s near-perfect budget laptop

Following in that vein, the MacBook Air M5 also comes with a $100 price increase, starting at $1,099 for the base 13-inch and $1,299 for the 15-inch with 16GB of memory and 512GB storage. To be honest, I’m not mad at the slightly higher cost, as it’s justified, especially with future-proofed support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 from its N1 networking chip. 

All of this is to say that the MacBook Air is no longer the entry-level laptop, instead better considered as the “Goldilocks” model — and still the Mac I’d recommend to most people. 

Impactful isn’t always sexy 

These core improvements aren’t the most flashy features to the average consumer, but when considered together, they add up to a value boost that not only keeps the Air relevant but also solidifies its performance as one of the best ultraportables on the market. 

Plus, now that the Neo can capture consumers looking for genuine value, Apple will likely continue imbuing the Air with hardware upgrades that inch it ever closer to the Pro. 

Even without the physical design changes and incremental upgrades from last year’s Air M4, the M5 looks a lot more compelling when you zoom out and look four or five years down the line. If you’re still on an M1 and are feeling the crunch, the M5 is a seriously justifiable upgrade. For all of these things, the recommendation comes with a bit more confidence than last year’s M4.

I tested the M5 MacBook Air with 16GB of unified memory and 1TB of storage and found it blazingly fast for file transfers, multitasking, and everyday tasks. The base M5 chip has a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, with four “super cores” and six efficiency cores, and the M5 also offers higher memory bandwidth, up to 153GB/s compared to the 120GB/s on the M4.

Also: Is an M5 MacBook Pro worth upgrading from an M1 model? What the numbers tell us

The result is a smooth, capable user experience across the board, even on the lower-end configurations. However, consider how the prices add up with upgrades: if you want 32GB of memory (the max), the starting price jumps to $1,699 — $1,899 if you keep the 1TB SSD. 

Still light as Air

Physically, the M5 Air lives up to its name at 2.7 pounds for the 13-inch and 3.3 pounds for the 15-inch. Is it the absolute lightest laptop on the market? No, but I think the obsession with numbers isn’t always helpful. The Air is incredibly portable, and its solid aluminum build with its signature rounded corners is the ultimate backpack companion, and durable enough to be dinged around. 

It still features two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left side with up to 40Gbps data transfer speeds. Both ports support charging and DisplayPort video output either for two displays at up to 6K and 60Hz refresh, or one display at 8K and 60Hz refresh.

It also features the proprietary charging port so you don’t have to give up a USB-C to stay plugged in. The right side features a 3.5mm audio jack, and the power button supports fingerprint recognition but that’s about it for the Air’s minimal take on connectivity. 

Also: The new MacBook Air M5 costs $100 more – here’s what that gets you

It comes in four colorways: Silver, Starlight, Sky Blue (a very pale blueish silver), and Midnight, a dark, matte blue. The laptop I had a chance to review was in the Midnight color, and while it looks great when it’s clean, the dark surface is a bit of a fingerprint magnet. This may or may not be a consideration for you. 

Other than that, the physical appearance is the same as last year, without any real changes to the keyboard and Apple’s top-tier haptic trackpad. The display remains unchanged, as well. Apple’s Liquid Retina display at 500 nits of brightness and 60Hz returns at a time when very affordable laptops are getting OLEDs and blazing fast refresh rates. 

Don’t get me wrong, the display on the Air M5 looks great, but more affordable laptops with competitive displays are certainly catching up. Even the high-end Chromebook devices, like the Lenovo Chromebook Plus — a direct competitor to the Neo — have vivid OLED panels that have a little more pop.

That being said, Apple tends to upgrade components in segments, and if base memory, storage, and read/write speeds hit the market in the M4 and M5, we could finally see an OLED in the next generation, especially if it were paired with a long-awaited touchscreen option. 

Performance and usability 

As I mentioned above, if you have an M2, M1, or earlier Mac, the M5 is a compelling upgrade. However, the performance relative to price for M3 or later might be harder to justify. This isn’t something unique to the MacBook Air M5, but the new reality of the upgrade cycle now that we have reached the fifth generation of Apple’s chips. 

This is reflected in our benchmarking, which confirms you’ll want about five years in between generations for the biggest performance upgrade.

The Air M5 breezes through multitasking with countless browser tabs, Messages, and iPhone continuity features. FaceTime is crisp, clear, and seamless with the 12MP Center Stage webcam. I maintain that the videocall experience on the Mac is the best out of any laptop on the market, and although it’s the same here as its predecessor, that’s a good thing. 

And it’s not just for everyday performance. The MacBook Air M5 is not a gaming laptop, but it’s not not a gaming laptop. The M5’s third-generation ray tracing delivers solid performance in games that are already optimized for Mac. If you haven’t gamed on a Mac in a while, you might be surprised how good it feels. Obviously, however, the thin-and-light form factor isn’t ideal for competitive triple-A gaming.  

The 10-core GPU in the M5 chip delivers competitive performance improvements over earlier models. I’ve already broken down the numbers extensively, but Apple claims 3.2 times higher frame rates than the MacBook Air M1 while gaming, 6.8 times faster 3D rendering in Blender, and 7.7 times faster AI video-enhancing performance in Topaz Video.

This makes it a solid option for creators and artists who don’t need the top-of-the-line hardware from a MacBook Pro. 

In terms of battery life, the MacBook Air M5 offers impressive longevity, but I wouldn’t say we’re seeing big steps forward compared to previous generations. I got around 12 hours of regular use out of the Air M5, with around 18 hours under optimal video playback conditions. 

Also: MacBook Neo vs. Mac Mini: I’ve tested Apple’s $599 computers, and my preference is clear

This translates to all-day battery life if you’re in the office, browsing the internet, and handling everyday tasks, but expect it to be closer to 9 or 10 hours with more demanding workloads. This is certainly enough for most Air users, but, as with display technology, this is one area in which Windows PCs are catching up. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

The Apple MacBook Air M5 marks an incremental upgrade over its predecessor, but it’s highly recommended for anyone with an M1 or older machine. Prices are particularly favorable for anyone entering the MacBook ecosystem from a Windows PC, but not exactly worth it if you already have an M3 or M4. 

With the introduction of the MacBook Neo, the MacBook Air M5 is the “Goldilocks” model, well-equipped to do a little bit of everything, but still powerful enough to outshine many of its competitors in the same price point. Core hardware improvements nudge it closer toward the Pro, as opposed to the other way around, and the slight price increase justifies that. 

If you’ve been looking to upgrade your older Mac, the Air M5 is a no-brainer.