M5 MacBook Air: Too powerful for its own good (and my wallet)

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Apple’s latest MacBook Air is a near-perfect machine, but it doesn’t get a near-perfect rating. And it’s not just because it was accompanied by an increase in the base price. That’s because this sleek, lightweight laptop, now powered by Apple’s M5 silicon, is too powerful for its own good, which means its biggest strength is also its biggest weakness.

Make no mistake, this is undoubtedly one of the best laptops and MacBooks in the world right now. And if you decide to invest, I don’t think you’ll regret it.

I’m still testing the M5 Air, so consider this a review in progress. A full battery discharge test will be available soon.

The MacBook Air M5 works like a Pro

Liquid Glass looks especially good on the MacBook Liquid Retina display.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

The new MacBook Air is definitely an iterative upgrade. Like its predecessor, it comes in 13.6- and 15.3-inch models, and you can choose between silver, sky blue, starlight, and midnight black. It measures just 0.44 inches and weighs 2.7 pounds.

It’s remarkably thin and light, but it never feels flimsy or flimsy. On the contrary, the MacBook’s all-aluminum body makes it a very durable laptop.

The big difference, of course, is the M5 chip inside. When we put it through the Geekbench 6 benchmark test, it scored 16,099 on the multi-core test. In the single-core test, it scored 4,025, even higher than expected. The multi-core score puts it close to the M5 MacBook Pro released late last year.

For almost all purposes, it East a MacBook Pro. Without the fans, of course.

Take a look at how the Geekbench multi-core processor in the MacBook Air M5 compares to other MacBook models.
Credit: Timothy Werth / Mashable

The single-core score is a good indicator of everyday performance (what our laptop expert calls “liveness”), and it matches up nicely with my testing so far. When exporting or importing large files, it barely flinches. It can handle video editing software, complex Apple shortcuts, and even some games.

Please note that I tested the 15.3 inch model, and you may see some light performance variations with the 13.6-inch model.

The MacBook Air M5 is too powerful, in fact

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

In 2020, Apple presented the M1 chip, its first in-house processor, and the start of a small revolution in the world of laptops. The M1 chip completely destroyed the competition, and the original M1 MacBook Air is probably the most awarded laptop of all time. It’s a legendary device that is still just as popular six years later, which is unheard of.

With the introduction of the M2, M3, M4, M5 and now M5 Pro and Pro Max chips, MacBook Air and Pro laptops have become extremely powerful. In early benchmark testing, the M5 Max chip scored 29,000 in the Geekbench 6 test, putting the competition to shame. It’s so powerful that professional laptop reviewers have a hard time testing it properly.

As I wrote in my MacBook Neo review, I know professional film editors who still work on M1 and M2 laptops. In 2024, my colleague Stan Schroeder wrote that “Apple’s M-series chips are too good for their own good.” This is doubly true today.

The new MacBook Air is more powerful than ever, and it now comes with 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a higher starting price of $1,099. That’s $100 more than the previous generation’s starting price. Yes, Apple increased the starting storage from 256GB to 512GB, but Apple experts like Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman say that’s simply Apple’s way of softening the blow of a price increase.

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Traditionally, the MacBook Air has been a popular laptop among students, early-career professionals, and more casual users. If you run complex programs like Final Cut Pro, DaVinci Resolve, or Adobe Suite, go for the Pro. But today’s Airs are perfectly capable of handling most professional jobs.

Only hardcore superusers will be about to tax the M5 Air, and those types of users should be using a Pro or Mac Studio anyway.

So, in a world with the $599 MacBook Neo — a surprisingly capable laptop that matches the M1 Air in performance — I’m not sure we need a newer, even more powerful Air. The recipe was already perfect.

We need to talk about the price

Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

Now, technically, the MacBook Air M5 only comes with a $100 starting price increase and you get double the starting storage. But in reality, the MacBook Air M3 and M4 are often on sale at Amazon, Best Buy, and other retailers. Mashable readers have certainly become accustomed to purchasing the MacBook Air on sale on Amazon for $799.

And that’s what makes the $1,099 price tag a lot harder for me to swallow. There’s no denying that this laptop justifies its price with plenty of storage, the latest WiFi and Bluetooth technology, and a fast chip with no real competition in the Windows market. For performance and specs, $1,099 is great value. But I think most people will be just as happy with a cheaper M3 or M4 Air.

Again, I’m not saying the MacBook Air M5 is a bad laptop. I am literally saying the opposite.

I just wish Apple would continue selling the MacBook Air M3 or M4 for under $1,000 for another year or two. These laptops already had enough performance for the typical Air customer.

If I were you, I’d wait to buy the new Air until we know what the inevitable sale price will be. Amazon has already marked this device down from $50 to $1,049, and I expect it to drop even further for Amazon’s Big Spring Sale or Prime Day 2026. (Of course, given the worsening global memory shortage, another price cut is a no-brainer.)

For $899, or even $949, ​​I would find this laptop irresistible.

Seriously, it’s a very good laptop

The M5 Air has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a headphone jack.
Credit: Joe Maldonado / Mashable

When you evaluate the M5 MacBook Air on its own, it’s a dangerously impressive machine. Even as a professional product reviewer, it’s hard to believe how thin and light it is, and I’m a big fan of macOS 26 Tahoe and Liquid Glass. The default screensaver that plays is completely mesmerizing, and sometimes I find myself staring at it for minutes on end, enjoying a nice moment of zen in the middle of a workday.

On top of that, you get all the premium features you expect from a modern MacBook: an incredibly sharp Liquid Retina display, Touch ID, a 12 MP central camera, a Magic Keyboard, and much more.

To be clear, it only suffers when compared to other laptops Apple offers in 2026.

MacBook Air M5 review: final thoughts

So, is the new MacBook Air M5 worth it for $1,099? Personally, I would wait until it goes on sale. But if you have the coin and want 92.5% of the power of the MacBook Pro (that’s the difference between their performance scores) but in a lighter, more portable package, then you can look to the new and improved Air.

However, if it were me spending your hard-earned money, I’d get the M4 MacBook Air while it’s still available. Best Buy still has it in stock for $899.