Apple's M5 MacBook Air: The Premium Laptop to Beat
The 13-inch MacBook Air stands as the premium laptop to beat, setting a high benchmark in the consumer market. Apple's latest iteration brings significant upgrades, including the powerful M5 chip, double the starting storage, and exceptional battery life, making it better than ever for productivity and everyday use. However, this year, the introduction of the lower-cost MacBook Neo has introduced new competition, muddying the waters for potential buyers.
Pricing and Positioning
The M5 MacBook Air starts at £1,099 for the 13-inch model, which is £100 more than last year's M4 version but includes at least 512GB of storage. Positioned above the £599 MacBook Neo and below the £1,699 M5 MacBook Pro, the Air serves as Apple's mid-range machine. Externally, it remains unchanged, retaining its status as Apple's thinnest laptop with a recycled aluminium body, rounded corners, and one-finger opening, exuding quality and durability.
Display and Design
The 13.6-inch screen continues to impress with its brightness, crispness, and vibrant colours, though it is limited to a 60Hz refresh rate, unlike the smoother 120Hz displays found on the MacBook Pro, iPad Pro, and recent iPhone models. The keyboard and generous trackpad remain best-in-class, offering a satisfying typing and mousing experience that enhances user comfort and efficiency.
Performance and Specifications
Inside, the new M5 chip represents a watershed moment for Apple's laptop lineup. It is approximately 10-20% faster than the M4 chip in the previous model, and compared to the M1 MacBook Air, it delivers performance boosts of 75% to 108% depending on the task. Remarkably, it outperforms the groundbreaking M1 Pro MacBook Pro from 2021 across all metrics, providing pro-level performance in a consumer-friendly package.
The Air also features Apple's N1 chip, which brings upgrades like Bluetooth 6 and wifi 7 for faster and more reliable connectivity with modern routers. The new 512GB or larger SSD not only offers ample storage for most users but is also twice as fast as the previous version, enhancing performance in intensive tasks and speeding up file transfers significantly.
Battery Life and Sustainability
The M5 chip maintains the Air's standout feature: exceptional battery life. It routinely lasts over 17 hours for office work, including browsing, note-taking, document writing, chat, and email, plus several hours of photo editing. Even during more intensive tasks like video editing, it manages about 10 hours, ensuring a full day of use without needing a charger—a feat many PC competitors still struggle to achieve.
In terms of sustainability, the MacBook Air is made with 55% recycled materials. Apple provides detailed environmental impact reports, and the battery is designed to last over 1,000 full-charge cycles while retaining at least 80% of its original capacity. Replacement batteries cost from £179, and Apple offers trade-in and free recycling schemes, including for non-Apple products.
Verdict and Competition
The M5 MacBook Air continues to set the standard for thin, light, and powerful consumer laptops. Its combination of excellent build quality, screen, trackpad, keyboard, speakers, mics, and webcam, along with serious performance and long battery life, remains unbeaten. While some rivals may offer better screens, beefier graphics chips, or more ports—the Air has only two USB-C ports—none package these features as cohesively, unless you specifically require Windows or Linux.
The new MacBook Neo poses a significant challenge, offering excellent value at roughly half the price of the Air for light computing tasks. However, the M5 MacBook Air is the superior all-round computer, ideal for those seeking a premium notebook for work or play that delivers lasting performance and reliability.
Pros: rapid M5 chip and extremely long battery life, silent and cool running, good 13.6-inch screen, great keyboard, best-in-class trackpad, MagSafe, good speakers, Centre Stage webcam, Touch ID, wifi 7 and Bluetooth 6, at least 512GB of storage.
Cons: only two USB-C ports, no USB-A or SD card slot, no Face ID, RAM and SSD upgrades are expensive and cannot be changed after purchase, no power adaptor included in the UK box.
