GoKawiilThe battery life also contributes to that feeling of freedom—being able to move from place to place and take your work with you, without worrying too much about being chained to an outlet. It's not just about how long the battery lasts, either. Regardless of what you're doing, the MacBook Air performs comparably on battery to how it does plugged in.
I tested the 15-inch model, which doesn't feel as portable simply due to its footprint. It doesn't matter how thin a laptop is if it takes up this much space on your desk or lap. Its strengths are still in its expansive screen real estate and the robust-sounding speakers. I appreciate being able to use Split View in apps more easily and anyone using highly detailed applications with lots of menus and overlays will benefit from a larger workspace.
Photograph: Luke Larsen
But for the most part, all of that has been true of the MacBook Air since 2020. Improvements since then have included upgrading the webcam from 720p up to 1080p in 2021, and enlarging the sensor up to 12 megapixels in last year's model. The ports remain limited, but they can now support two 5K external monitors. That means two Studio Displays if you really want. And the upward march of Apple Silicon has been relentless. This year's only addition outside the M5 is the introduction of Apple's new N1 wireless chip, which brings the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity to the MacBook Air.
Apple was making room in its lineup for the MacBook Neo to make its grand appearance, but the result is that the 2026 MacBook Air is stacked. It's probably overkill for a lot of people in terms of performance, especially with the improvements that the M5 brings over the M4. As I saw when I reviewed the M5 MacBook Pro 14-inch last year, it's a pretty dramatic boost across the board, whether that's CPU, GPU, or for on-device AI.