MacBook Air M5 vs. MacBook Air M4: What's changed beyond the Apple silicon

Apple unveiled a new MacBook Air today, and apart from the new M5 chip, things don’t look remarkably different. Sure, it’s getting a mild refresh, but maybe not in the way most people would want. Namely, it’s more expensive — a $100 price bump across all models. In exchange, the MacBook Air M5 does get faster performance and double the storage.

If you placed the MacBook Air M4 and the M5 in front of me, I wouldn’t be able to tell which was which. The M5 offers an overall CPU/GPU performance boost, along with some extra storage and double the file transfer speeds. Still, I didn’t expect a radical change, but I wish we got more for that extra $100.

It’s not worth jumping to the MacBook Air M5 if you’ve got the M4 unit already, but if you’re working with an older model, then it may be worth the switch, especially if you’re a professional. Like the rest of Apple’s new suite of products, pre-orders start at 9:15AM ET on March 4. I’d wait until full reviews are published before committing to spending money, though. Still, if all you care about are the specs and what they mean, we’ve got a pretty good idea of all that.

MacBook Air M5 vs. MacBook Air M4: Performance and battery life

Naturally, the biggest difference between the MacBook Air M5 and the MacBook Air M4 is their chipsets. While the price did go up, we also got double the storage in the MacBook Air M5, jumping from 256GB to 512GB at the base configuration for both sizes. Upgraded configurations start at 1TB.

According to Apple, the MacBook Air M5’s unified memory is 28 percent faster than the M4’s, and the AI performance is 4x faster. Casual users likely won’t feel the impact of the overall performance gains. (You could potentially get more use out of it compared with an M4 chip.) But Apple claims that folks who are rendering 3D in Blender will see a 50 percent increase in speed. That’s pretty significant if you’re a professional looking for a relatively affordable premium laptop with some oomph.

The MacBook Air got double the storage, but what you might overlook is that it also got double the speed. In theory, the read and write performance should be much faster. In real-world use, you won’t have to wait as long when you’re copying files, importing photos or videos and doing AI-enabled tasks. It could also potentially decrease boot times, meaning your MacBook might be faster at waking up after shutting down, but if so, the improvement may be negligible.

The MacBook Air M5 is also equipped with Apple’s new N1 chip. This enables the latest standards in connectivity, like Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Unless you’re a power user, it’s unlikely you’ll be using this chip to its full capacity, which can take up 46 gigabits per second of internet speed. If you’re paying your ISP for those rates, you can probably afford a MacBook Pro, which might better suit your needs (you speed demon).

The battery life of the MacBook Air M5 remains the same as its predecessor. In my experience reviewing laptops, Apple has been killing it with its battery life scores (with the M4 lasting over 18 hours on Engadget’s battery test), so I wouldn’t be too shocked if its claims are accurate. Those are: 18 hours of video streaming and 15 hours of wireless web surfing. I’ve also tested the MacBook Air M4, and that latter time is on point.

MacBook Air M5 vs. MacBook Air M4: Design, display, audio

Similar to the iPad Air M4 announcement this week, the MacBook Air M5’s design, display and audio remain unchanged despite the overall price increase. Apart from being frustrated by the higher cost, I was satisfied that everything that’s here is already pretty solid.

There’s a decent array of colors, with the MacBook Air available in either blue, silver, beige and black. Although, I will always advocate for more, and brighter, colors especially since these hues are so tame.

The MacBook Air M5 continues to live up to its name with a thin and light design. The 13-inch model comes in at 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches and 2.7 pounds, while the 15-inch stacks up to 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches and 3.3 pounds. Unfortunately, since there’s no change in design, we’re stuck with only two Thunderbolt 4 ports and a headphone jack.

I’d like to complain that the MacBook Air still doesn’t have an OLED panel, but I can’t, since even the Pro MacBooks still have yet to feature one. (There are laptops, like the ZenBook 14, that cost around the same as the MacBook Air and manage to sport an OLED display, so it’s not unreasonable.) 

Despite that, the MacBook Air’s displays are plenty vibrant. Both models come with a Liquid Retina LED panel at 224 ppi, and emit up to 500 nits of brightness. It makes working outdoors possible, but since it’s a glossy panel, I’d still recommend staying inside (or finding shade). The MacBook Air 13 has a 13.6-inch, 2,560 x 1,664 panel, while the 15 is equipped with a 15.3-inch, 2,880 x 1,864 screen. I’ve seen both the 13-inch and 15-inch versions of the MacBook Air M4 in person and they’re pleasantly bright.

The speakers on both the MacBook Air M4 models produced loud and clear sound, albeit with middling bass. The MacBook Air M5 features the same speaker system, with the 13-inch supporting four speakers and the 15-inch carrying six, so it stands to reason the new laptops will deliver similar experiences on sound.

macOS Tahoe and Apple Intelligence

No changes to macOS Tahoe here. Everything you get with the MacBook Air M4 you’ll get on the M5. That includes the controversial Liquid Glass design and Apple Intelligence features like Live Translation in Messages. Speaking of Apple Intelligence, like I said earlier, you will likely benefit from faster processing thanks to the M5 chip. Apple claims AI tasks will be 4x faster, so even those who casually use AI may notice the difference.

If you’d like to compare for yourself exactly what changes the MacBook Air M5 brings over its predecessor, we’ve compiled this table to make it easier on your eyes.

MacBook Air M5 vs. MacBook Air M4: Specs at a glance

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/macbook-air-m5-vs-macbook-air-m4-whats-changed-beyond-the-apple-silicon-185256565.html?src=rss