Apple M5 Air: Subtle Upgrades, $100 Hike

Apple's MacBook Air M5 lands with a $100 price bump.

Apple’s newest Air sticks to a familiar silhouette while trading a bigger leap for a modest, workhorse upgrade. The M5 chips in faster CPU/GPU performance and doubles the base storage to 512GB, with reviewers noting faster file transfers as a tangible plus. But visually and tactically, the aluminum frame still looks like last year’s model, and the headline change isn’t a design overhaul so much as a performance bump. The company confirms pre-orders begin at 9:15 a.m. ET on March 4, with configuration options that push base storage higher across the board.

In hands-on summaries, Engadget notes the M5’s gains are real but not revolutionary. The real story is the chip—an incremental improvement that will help professionals who juggle compiling projects or video workflows, while everyday tasks feel indistinguishable to the casual user upgrading from the M4. The price move is clear: across all configurations, Apple nudges the sticker up by $100. The exact starting price isn’t published in the articles, but the jump is the consistent number to watch if you’re evaluating value this week. And there’s no subscription required to use these laptops—just the standard macOS ecosystem.

For current MacBook Air owners, the upgrade calculus isn’t black and white. In testing terms, the M5’s extra horsepower and doubled storage base tilt the balance toward those who run storage-heavy apps or multi-tab workflows. For readers eyeing a jump from the M4, the decision hinges on two questions: how much you value immediate speed and the extra 256GB of base storage, and whether you’re confident you’ll extract enough benefit to justify the price bump. If you’re a light user on an intact M4, the gains may not justify the cost. If you’re upgrading from a much older MacBook Air, the M5 offers a meaningful, if not transformative, uplift.

The release lands in the broader context of Apple’s “big week” push, which also includes iPhone 17e and an M4-powered iPad Air, plus a refreshed Studio Display lineup. The breadth of announcements signals Apple’s continuing strategy: steady, predictable hardware refreshes that knit together a more powerful silicon story across laptops, tablets, and displays—without shaking up the familiar design language you’ve seen for years. In other words, the M5 is a performance bump, not a reinvention.

What to watch next: full reviews will matter for battery life and real-world performance in demanding workloads. Early impressions suggest the M5’s gains are measurable but not dramatic, and the price increase will be a sticking point for budget-minded buyers who counted the M4’s value as a bright spot in Apple’s lineup. If you’re shopping now, factor in storage needs, your current machine’s age, and whether the extra speed will materially accelerate your daily tasks.

Verdict: Buy if you’re coming from an older MacBook Air or you routinely push storage-heavy apps and need the extra headroom. Wait if you’re on an M4 and can tolerate a slower upgrade cycle, or if the $100 bump tilts you toward a later generation when the value proposition improves. Skip if you’re satisfied with your current device and don’t crave the extra storage or speed.

Sources

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