Apple unveiled its latest lineup of laptops on Tuesday, featuring the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models equipped with Apple’s M5 chips. The Pro variants were released alongside the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, touted as Apple’s most sophisticated CPU cores to date.
These M5 chips are engineered for enhanced performance in AI tasks, which are increasingly central to Apple’s hardware. According to Apple, the new Air and Pro models are capable of processing AI tasks four times faster than their M4 predecessors.
While the AI-centric enhancements might not be evident to casual users, these developments impact other aspects of the laptops. MacBook Air users benefit from features like an 18-hour battery life, improved from the 2020 Intel-based models, a 12MP Center Stage camera, a three-mic array, and an audio system supporting Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos. The Air includes two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a headphone jack.
The MacBook Air lineup includes a 13-inch model starting at $1099 and a 15-inch model starting at $1299, available in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver. The Air now boasts a starting storage of 512 GB, double the previous model’s base capacity.
The MacBook Pro is designed for technical users, particularly those working with AI. The M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are up to four times faster in LLM prompt processing than the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and up to eight times faster in AI image generation than the M1 Pro and M1 Max.
These advancements enable AI researchers and developers to train custom models on their devices, while creative users can perform quicker 3D rendering, video editing, and music production.
The MacBook Pro also features up to twice the read/write performance of the last generation and starts at 1TB of storage for the M5 Pro model and 2TB for the M5 Max model. These laptops offer up to 24 hours of battery life and can reach 50% charge in thirty minutes with a 96W or higher USB-C adapter. They support Thunderbolt 5 and have a six-speaker sound system.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro chips are priced at $2,199 and $2,699, respectively, while models with M5 Max chips start at $3,599 and $3,899, available in black or silver.
All these laptops will be available for preorder on Tuesday, March 4, and officially released on Wednesday, March 11.