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Article: New MacBook Airs come with M5, double the storage, and higher starting prices

Impact Score

4 / 10

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Apple has refreshed its MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lineup, with the Air receiving the new M5 chip and a significant base storage upgrade from 256GB to 512GB, which Apple states is up to twice as fast. This upgrade, however, increases the starting price by $100 for both the 13-inch and 15-inch models.

The M5 chip in the Air comes in two GPU core configurations, with the fully enabled 10-core version required for higher-tier RAM and storage upgrades. Other internal updates include an Apple N1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip.

The new MacBook Airs will be available for preorder on March 4 and launch on March 11, as part of a series of product announcements leading up to a special event.

Main Topics: Apple product updates, MacBook Air specifications and pricing, M5 chip details, product availability.

Original URL

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/new-macbook-airs-come-with-m5-double-the-storage-and-higher-starting-prices/

Source Feed

Ars Technica

Published Date

2026-03-03 15:58

Fetched Date

2026-03-04 14:27

Processed Date

2026-03-04 15:37

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Present

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Not Clustered

Raw Extracted Content

Most of Apple’s laptop lineup is getting refreshed today—the high-end MacBook Pros are getting M5 Pro and M5 Max chip refreshes, and the MacBook Air is getting upgraded with an M5.
The more significant update might be the storage, though: Apple is bumping the Air’s base storage from 256GB up to 512GB, and Apple says the storage will be up to twice as fast as the M4 MacBook Air.
But that’s also increasing the Air’s starting price from $999 to $1,099 for the 13-inch model, and from $1,199 to $1,299 for the 15-inch model. Whether you describe this as a price increase or a price cut depends on your point of view; the 512GB version of the M4 MacBook Air would have cost you $1,199. But for people who just want the cheapest Air and don’t particularly care about the specs, the pricing is now $100 higher than it was before.
Apple is offering two versions of the M5 in the new Airs: one with 8 GPU cores enabled, and one with all 10 GPU cores enabled. Upgrading to the fully enabled chip will run you an extra $100, and you’ll also need to have the fully enabled chip to step up to the 24GB or 32GB RAM upgrades or the 1TB, 2TB, or 4TB storage upgrades. All versions of the M5 include a total of four high-performance cores—now dubbed “super cores”—and six efficiency cores.
An Apple N1 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth chip rounds out the internal upgrades.
Like the other products Apple has announced so far this week, the new MacBook Airs will be available for preorder on March 4, and you’ll be able to get them on March 11.
The new MacBook Airs are part of a string of announcements that Apple is making this week in the run-up to a “special experience” event on Wednesday morning. So far, the company has also announced a new iPhone 17e, an updated iPad Air with an M4 chip and additional RAM, new MacBook Pros, and updated Studio Displays.