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What's Coming in the M5 MacBook Air

Humm...sounds like the new low cost MacBook is coming out next week with the fancy colors, but does it make sense that the MacBook Air would come out as well? Understandable if the M5 MacBook Pros come out.

Interested in seeing how marketing markets the new MacBook vs. MacBook Air.
 
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loby said:
Humm...sounds like the new low cost MacBook is coming out next week with the fancy colors, but does it make sense that the MacBook Air would come out as well? Understandable if the M5 MacBook Pros come out.

Interested in seeing how marketing markets the new MacBook vs. MacBook Air.
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I could see it, along with a price tweak (upward) for the MBA to account for market conditions and the new top to bottom lineup.
 
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jb333 said:
what are your reasons and use?
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So the display is much better, not really the 120hz but all the rest of it, better Colors, more nits… Very good when I edit photos !

More ports too, allows me to plug in more things at once ! Like an sd card and another thing ! Also cool if you wanna charge your mac from the right side (yeah I always bring usb-c cable because works on every device instead of MagSafe)

Then it has better speakers, better battery and more !! Base model also has 512gb which I really like, allows me to download more stuff like small AI models ! You could get 512gb on a MacBook Air but you realize that 15 inch MacBook Air with 512gb almost cost as much as base MacBook Pro !
 
Saturn1217 said:
I don't expect any changes. The M4 Macbook Air is getting pretty close to perfect for the laptop form factor.
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I’m very happy with my M4 Air as well. The only bit of improvement I’d love to see would be some way to not have a notch in the display. I get why it’s there but if they could work out a way to not have it, all the better IMO.

But honestly that’s small potatoes. Hardware-wise, Apple has been killing it lately... but the software side? Yikes.
 
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Astuces iOS said:
So the display is much better, not really the 120hz but all the rest of it, better Colors, more nits… Very good when I edit photos !

More ports too, allows me to plug in more things at once ! Like an sd card and another thing ! Also cool if you wanna charge your mac from the right side (yeah I always bring usb-c cable because works on every device instead of MagSafe)

Then it has better speakers, better battery and more !! Base model also has 512gb which I really like, allows me to download more stuff like small AI models ! You could get 512gb on a MacBook Air but you realize that 15 inch MacBook Air with 512gb almost cost as much as base MacBook Pro !
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So you basically bought the specs, not because you really have any real use for its power.
 
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My grandfather bought the M3 MacBook Air on sale last summer for like $749 or something. I've played with it some since I helped him set it up and migrate things from my old 2012 MBP that I had given him years ago, and it is such a nice, thin, light, and cool running silent device.

I have a theory they may one day put the MX Pro chips in the MacBook Air, like they do with the Mac mini. I think this is likely because eventually the MacBook Pro will get the MX Ultra chips, due to die shrinks on 2nm or 1.6/1.4nm, as well as power efficiency improvements. That same sort of efficiency should also trickle down to the MX Pro line of chips, and having, for instance, an M6 Pro in an OLED MacBook Air in early 2027 would be very tempting indeed. Especially if they can get an Apple CX chip in it for 5G connectivity!
 
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M5 with 32GB RAM and 2TB/4TB SSD. Add in a SD card slot and HDMI output like on the MacBook Pros. All for just under $2K. Perfect for dongle-free travel.
Then limit the MacBook Pros to M5 Pro/Max for market segmentation.
 
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loby said:
Humm...sounds like the new low cost MacBook is coming out next week with the fancy colors, but does it make sense that the MacBook Air would come out as well? Understandable if the M5 MacBook Pros come out.

Interested in seeing how marketing markets the new MacBook vs. MacBook Air.
Click to expand...

turbineseaplane said:
I could see it, along with a price tweak (upward) for the MBA to account for market conditions and the new top to bottom lineup.
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It may not sit well with many, for basically Apple would be saying:

"Here is the new fantastic MacBook at only $___.99....Oh, and one more thing (or by the way), we up'd the price of the MacBook Air $100-200...so buy that one too."

Don't think they would do that, but...if they release the MacBook Air later they might, but probably not next week.

I first was just "bla...bla...bla.." about next week, but now curious how it all plays out.
 
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MacRumors said:


Along with the low-cost MacBook, Apple could introduce a refreshed version of the MacBook Air next week. Most of the focus will be on the new machine, but the MacBook Air is expected to get some useful internal updates.

macbook-air-blue.jpeg

M5 Chip

The next-generation MacBook Air will adopt the M5 chip, which Apple already introduced in the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro models that came out last year.

Apple's M5 chip uses third-generation 3-nanometer technology, and it features up to a 10-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU with 3.5x faster performance than the M4 chip.

The M5's multithreaded CPU performance is up to 15 percent faster than the M4, and it offers 30 percent faster GPU performance. Apple added a Neural Accelerator to each GPU core to improve the speeds of GPU-based AI workloads. Unified memory bandwidth is 153GB/s, which is close to a 30 percent improvement over the M4's memory bandwidth. Unified memory architecture lets the chip use a single memory pool for running AI models on device, boosting GPU performance, and improving multithreaded performance in apps, so an upgrade there is meaningful. RAM will continue to start at 16GB, with 24GB and 32GB available as upgrade options.

Third-generation ray-tracing, second-generation dynamic caching, and enhanced shader cores bring improvements to gaming and other system-intensive tasks. An updated 16-core Neural Engine is more energy efficient than before, so we could see battery life improvements.

Storage tiers are likely to stay the same, starting at 256GB with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB available as upgrade options.

Design

The MacBook Air got a design overhaul in 2022, and there are no signs that Apple is planning for an updated chassis in 2026. Apple often uses the same design for several years before updating, and design refreshes are usually tied to major new features.

There are rumors that the MacBook Air will get an OLED display sometime after Apple launches new MacBook Pro models with OLED technology in late 2026, so we could be waiting for OLED before we get another major design update.

We're expecting Apple to release the same 13-inch and 15-inch size options in 2026. Both will feature the same aluminum unibody design and fanless thermal system, along with a Retina LCD display.

The MacBook Air is likely to continue to offer two Thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports, and the same speaker, microphone, and camera setup.

Pricing

MacBook Air pricing is not expected to change, and it should continue to start at $1,099. There is a possibility that memory upgrades will be more expensive due to DRAM shortages that have driven prices up.

Release Date

Apple CEO Tim Cook teased product announcements that are set to start on Monday, so we could see the MacBook Air as soon as next week.

Article Link: What's Coming in the M5 MacBook Air
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Nothing is going to come another worst MacBook from Apple
 
Memory upgrade price increases…..not something I want to see. I’m planning on going from my 13 inch M2 air to a 13 inch M5 air with 32 gigs of Ram and a 1TB SSD. I’ll probably upgrade again in 3 years when the M8 air drops. I would love to see them allow 36gigs or even 48 gigs of ram in the airs down the road.
 
Like the budget MacBook E and its “missing 8 features”, may as well write these articles to “what’s NOT coming in the M5 MacBook Air”.
 
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