Apple just refreshed the entire Mac notebook lineup in one swoop with its new M5 chips. And if you’ve been waiting to upgrade, this might be the cycle to do it. This isn’t just a routine chip bump.
This is Apple doubling down on AI performance, faster storage, better wireless, and longer battery life, while quietly increasing base storage across the board. The new laptops are Apple MacBook Air with M5 chip and MacBook Pro with M5 Pro or M5 Max chip.
MacBook Air with M5: The Everyday Beast Gets Smarter
The MacBook Air has always been Apple’s volume king. Now with M5 chip, it becomes surprisingly powerful — especially for AI workflows. The M5 chip features a 10‑core CPU (with Apple’s “world’s fastest CPU core”), up to 10‑core GPU, a Neural Accelerator in each GPU core, and 153GB/s unified memory bandwidth (28% increase over M4)
Apple claims that the new MacBook Air – available now in two sizes of 13 and 15 inches – is up to 4x faster AI performance and 9.5x faster genera performance compared to M4 Air. For students running on-device LLMs or creatives using AI-enhanced tools, this is a serious jump.
For most users, 512GB should now be the minimum standard, and Apple finally agrees. The M5 MacBook Air now starts with a base flash storage of 512GB (double from previous generation), configurable up to 4TB. Battery life is said to be up to 24 hours, ideal for those always on the go.
Other highlights include the upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, and a 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max instead of the old 30W USB-C Power Adapter. Otherwise, the MacBook Air’s design remains the same and is available in four colours of Sky Blue, Midnight, Starlight and Silver. Prices start from S$1,599 for the 13-inch model and S$1,899 for the 15-inch model. Pre-order starts on 4 March with availability on 11 March.
MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max: AI Workstation Mode
Now things get serious. Apple’s new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are designed from the ground up for AI-heavy pro workflows. They use a new Fusion Architecture, combining two dies into a single system-on-chip.
Compared to previous generations, the M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros offer up to 4x AI performance vs M4 generation, up to 8x AI performance vs M1 models and up to 50% GPU performance increase vs M4 Pro/Max. In other words, this isn’t just “export your Final Cut project faster” but about running LLMs locally, training AI models on-device, real-time 3D and VFX workflows, and heavy 8K video production.
But the biggest shift? The base storage is finally at least 1TB for M5 Pro models, and 2TB for M5 Max models, with up to 2x faster SSD speeds.
In addition, the new M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pros now come with three Thunderbolt 5 ports, a HDMI port support up to 8K, and Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 (thanks to Apple N1 chip). It still has an SDXC card slot and uses MagSafe 3 charging port.
Available in two sizes of 14 inches and 16 inches with two colour options of either Space Black or Silver, the new MacBook Pros will be available on 11 March with pre-order starting 4 March. Prices of the M5 Pro models start from S$2,999 for 14-inch variant and S$3,649 for 16-inch variant, while the M5 Max 14-inch model starts from S$5,099 and the M5 Max 16-inch models starts from S$5,449.