M5 MacBook Air Debuts: More Storage, Higher Price
▼ Summary
– Apple has refreshed most of its laptop lineup, upgrading the MacBook Air with an M5 chip and the high-end MacBook Pros with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips.
– The MacBook Air’s base storage has been doubled to 512GB, which Apple states is up to twice as fast as the previous M4 model’s storage.
– This storage increase raises the starting price by $100 for both the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models.
– The new MacBook Air offers two M5 chip variants, with a $100 upgrade to a version enabling all 10 GPU cores and access to higher RAM and storage configurations.
– The updated MacBook Airs will be available for pre-order on March 4 and for purchase on March 11, as part of a series of product announcements this week.
Apple has introduced a significant refresh to its MacBook Air lineup, headlined by the new M5 chip and a substantial upgrade to the base storage configuration. The latest models now start with 512GB of storage, a notable jump from the previous 256GB standard. Apple claims this storage also operates up to twice as fast as the version found in the prior M4 MacBook Air. This enhancement, however, comes with a revised starting price. The 13-inch model now begins at $1,099, while the 15-inch version starts at $1,299. This represents a $100 increase for each size compared to the base models of the previous generation.
Whether this constitutes a price hike depends on perspective. The new base model with 512GB is priced identically to what the 512GB configuration of the older M4 Air would have cost. For buyers who simply sought the lowest entry price and were content with 256GB, the cost of admission has indeed risen. The new M5 chip inside the Air comes in two GPU configurations. One version utilizes 8 GPU cores, while a more powerful option unlocks all 10 cores. Choosing the fully-enabled 10-core GPU adds $100 to the price. Furthermore, selecting this top-tier chip is a prerequisite for accessing higher-tier upgrades, including 24GB or 32GB of RAM and storage options of 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB.
All M5 variants in the Air feature a unified architecture with four high-performance “super cores” and six efficiency cores. Completing the internal updates is a new Apple N1 chip, which handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. These new MacBook Air models are available for pre-order starting March 4, with general availability and shipments commencing on March 11. This launch is part of a broader series of product announcements from Apple this week, which also includes new MacBook Pro models, an updated iPad Air, and refreshed Studio Displays, leading up to a special company event.
(Source: Ars Technica)
