GoKawiilThe arrival of new MacBooks each spring marks the start of the season for potential laptop renewal. Apple updated its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lines with new M5 processors last week and introduced the new MacBook Neo for budget shoppers. This new raft of machines might have you wondering if it's time to move on from your current MacBook.
We've tested and reviewed the MacBook Neo, M5 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with both M5 Pro and M5 Max chips so you can compare the performance and features of these new M5 machines with those of older generations to help you answer the question: Should I upgrade?
Read more: Is the MacBook Neo more than just a student laptop?
If you have an Intel-based MacBook from the previous decade, the answer is easy: Don't think twice and buy a new M5 MacBook Air. I prefer the larger 15-inch model and think it's worth the additional $200 over the 13-inch model, but either the 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch M5 Air will be larger than the 13.3-inch display of an older Intel MacBook Air and offer drastically better performance.
If you have a MacBook Air with one of Apple's M-series processors, the answer to the question varies, based on whether you have an Air with an M1, M2, M3 or M4 chip. Let's take a run through each generation of Apple's M-series MacBook Air roster from the past six years and answer the to-upgrade-or-not-to-upgrade question for each.
What's new with the M5 MacBook Air?
Let's start with what's changed and what hasn't changed with the M5 MacBook Air that Apple just introduced.
The design and displays remain the same, as do the color choices, with this year's update. The changes are on the inside, starting with Apple's M5 processor. With 10 CPU cores and either eight or 10 GPU cores, M5 has the same number of cores as the previous M4 chip, but the M5 introduces a new GPU architecture that puts a neural accelerator on each core to boost AI and ray-tracing performance.
The minimum storage and starting price have both increased. Apple did away with the undersized 256GB SSD and now supplies 512GB of storage at a minimum on the M5 Air. Pricing now starts at $1,099 for the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air and $1,299 for the 15-inch model, an increase of $100 for each. When you consider that Apple previously charged $200 to double the storage on the M4 Air, the M5 Air is $100 less than what you would have paid last year for a MacBook Air with a 512GB SSD.
Read more: Should you choose a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro?
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