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Apple's MacBook Air is no longer the baby in the family. In fact, it's looking rather grown up these days. Last year, the MacBook Air got a free upgrade to a baseline 16GB of RAM. This year's MacBook Air M5 follows that up with an increase to 512GB of standard storage. The SSD is also twice as fast as the M4 -- an impressive increase in read and write speeds for just one generation.
With core hardware improvements, form factor maturation, and the addition of the Neo to Apple's lineup, the Air is less the Pro's younger sibling and more the "laptop for everybody", with enough horsepower to compete with the Pro on many tasks. There's even a strong case that it's the scarier competitor to Windows than the Neo, due to its price-to-performance ratio compared to other $1,000 laptops.
Also: MacBook Neo review: My biggest concern with Apple's near-perfect budget laptop
Following in that vein, the MacBook Air M5 also comes with a $100 price increase, starting at $1,099 for the base 13-inch and $1,299 for the 15-inch with 16GB of memory and 512GB storage. To be honest, I'm not mad at the slightly higher cost, as it's justified, especially with future-proofed support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 from its N1 networking chip.
All of this is to say that the MacBook Air is no longer the entry-level laptop, instead better considered as the "Goldilocks" model -- and still the Mac I'd recommend to most people.
Impactful isn't always sexy
These core improvements aren't the most flashy features to the average consumer, but when considered together, they add up to a value boost that not only keeps the Air relevant but also solidifies its performance as one of the best ultraportables on the market.
Plus, now that the Neo can capture consumers looking for genuine value, Apple will likely continue imbuing the Air with hardware upgrades that inch it ever closer to the Pro.
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
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