New Macbook Air arrives with M5; MacBook Pro keeps battery life
Apple has announced a new macOS lineup that includes a new macbook Air powered by the M5 chip and refreshed MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The announcements matter because they combine substantial chip changes, higher base storage and higher prices while maintaining claimed battery life on the pro models.
New Macbook Air M5 Specs
The new macbook Air is built around the M5, which pairs a 10‑core CPU with an up‑to‑10‑core GPU and a Neural Accelerator in each core. The laptop ships standard with 512GB of storage—double the previous entry level—and is configurable up to 4TB. Memory bandwidth is listed at 153GB/s, a stated 28 percent increase over the prior generation. Apple positions the Air for a mix of everyday productivity, creative work and on‑device AI, noting speed improvements that include up to 4x faster AI task performance versus the previous chip and up to 9. 5x over an older generation.
Hardware highlights include a thin, light aluminum build, Liquid Retina display, a 12MP Center Stage camera, up to 18 hours of battery life, Spatial Audio, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports with support for up to two external displays. Wireless connectivity is upgraded with the new N1 wireless chip offering Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. macOS Tahoe and built‑in Apple Intelligence are listed as part of the package.
MacBook Pro chip changes
The MacBook Pro line now expands the M5 family into M5 Pro and M5 Max variants and shifts core architecture. The higher‑end chips depart from the prior mix of distinct efficiency and performance cores and instead use a new balanced core type; the naming has been reused from earlier lines. The M5 Pro can be configured with up to 18 CPU cores and up to 20 GPU cores, while the M5 Max extends GPU capacity up to 40 cores. Apple states multithreaded CPU performance gains of about 30 percent for the M5 Pro over the prior generation and roughly 15 percent for the M5 Max, plus higher memory bandwidth and an improved Neural Engine aimed at AI workloads.
Despite the architectural shift that removes the separate efficiency cores, maximum battery life figures listed for the M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models remain the same as the prior generation for the undemanding task of wireless web browsing. One explanation offered is a new Fusion architecture that combines two dies into a single system on a chip, which is presented as a path to maintaining or improving power efficiency even as core counts and raw performance rise.
Pricing, Storage, and Availability
Both Air and Pro lines now come with larger base storage and higher starting prices. The Air’s base storage is 512GB, and the company applied a modest price adjustment to reflect the change. For pro models, base storage doubles as well, with the 14‑inch M5 Pro configuration listed with a 1TB baseline and higher starting prices for both the 14‑ and 16‑inch models. The company set pre‑orders to begin March 4 (ET) with availability starting March 11 (ET).
- Key takeaways: M5 brings higher AI and GPU performance; Air starts at 512GB; Pro chips change core design but keep listed battery life.
Forward look: If the Fusion die approach preserves efficiency in real‑world mixed workloads, the Pro line may sustain its claimed battery endurance even as raw performance rises. Observers will also watch how the higher base storage and adjusted pricing affect upgrade cycles among students, creatives and business users when the new models reach retail availability.
