Review: MacBook Air (2026, M5)

Apple often touts the MacBook Air as the world's most popular laptop, and it earned that crown. For years, it's been the best laptop you could buy for around $1,000 and was the cheapest MacBook in Apple's lineup.

But with the introduction of the entry-level MacBook Neo, that calculus has changed. The MacBook Air is now the middle option, which means it needs to justify its $500 price difference over the Neo. To make things worse, the latest M5 refresh is one of the least exciting updates to the device in years, offering almost no significant changes other than the chip inside. It would have been easy for the MacBook Air to become lost in the mix. And yet, when considering which MacBook I recommend most people buy, the MacBook Air still has the do-it-all, Goldilocks quality that sets it apart.

The Airy Laptop

Photograph: Luke Larsen

The MacBook Air is steadfast. The newer MacBook Neo might be flashier thanks to its bolder approach to color, but the MacBook Air has the all-around better design. It's the most portable MacBook in the lineup, and remains one of the thinnest laptops you can buy. Like the Neo, it's a fanless laptop, meaning it is completely silent, even under the heaviest workflows. That gives the experience of using the MacBook Air a light, weightless feel.

The battery life also contributes to that feeling of freedom—being able to move from place to place and take your work with you, without worrying too much about being chained to an outlet. It's not just about how long the battery lasts, either. Regardless of what you're doing, the MacBook Air performs comparably on battery to how it does plugged in.

I tested the 15-inch model, which doesn't feel as portable simply due to its footprint. It doesn't matter how thin a laptop is if it takes up this much space on your desk or lap. Its strengths are still in its expansive screen real estate and the robust-sounding speakers. I appreciate being able to use Split View in apps more easily and anyone using highly detailed applications with lots of menus and overlays will benefit from a larger workspace.

Photograph: Luke Larsen

But for the most part, all of that has been true of the MacBook Air since 2020. Improvements since then have included upgrading the webcam from 720p up to 1080p in 2021, and enlarging the sensor up to 12 megapixels in last year's model. The ports remain limited, but they can now support two 5K external monitors. That means two Studio Displays if you really want. And the upward march of Apple Silicon has been relentless. This year's only addition outside the M5 is the introduction of Apple's new N1 wireless chip, which brings the latest Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 connectivity to the MacBook Air.

Apple was making room in its lineup for the MacBook Neo to make its grand appearance, but the result is that the 2026 MacBook Air is stacked. It's probably overkill for a lot of people in terms of performance, especially with the improvements that the M5 brings over the M4. As I saw when I reviewed the M5 MacBook Pro 14-inch last year, it's a pretty dramatic boost across the board, whether that's CPU, GPU, or for on-device AI.

As tested in Cinebench 2026, I'm seeing an average of 10 percent difference in CPU performance over the M4 MacBook Air. The big leap is GPU performance, where the M5 has a 30 percent advantage over the M4. That's impressive and meaningful, to the point where it's on par with what Apple was calling a Pro level chip just a couple of generations ago. A more powerful GPU means not just better performance in games but also faster video render times, improved on-device AI processing, and much more.

The question remains, though: Do people who buy the MacBook Air actually use this laptop for those tasks? Maybe occasionally? Its ability to perform well enough in those tasks contribute to making it feel like anything is possible. You can dip your toe as a hobby and not be limited by the computer. Professionals know those limits are real, which is what the MacBook Pro is for.

The Neo Problem

Photograph: Luke Larsen

As I mentioned up top, the MacBook Air has a problem this year. It's no longer the default MacBook people should buy—it needs to justify why it costs so much more than the Neo. Here are some obvious reasons you should get a MacBook Air:

• The M5 chip is supremely powerful
• 16 GB means not worrying about ever overloading your laptop
• Supports up to two external 5K displays
• Much faster storage and USB ports
• Backlit keyboard and haptic feedback trackpad
• Better speakers and webcam

The combination of the M5 and the 16 GB of RAM make the MacBook Air feels like a true do-it-all laptop. You'll find it difficult to slow down the computer with basic apps, regardless of how many tabs, windows, office applications, YouTube videos, and downloads are going simultaneously. You can leave all your work things open without ever worrying about tipping the system into a freeze. It can even handle heavier applications for graphic design, photo editing, music production, and video production—perhaps not with the speed of a MacBook Pro, but with a surprising amount of oomph.

The ability to connect to multiple high-resolution displays even means it can comfortably run a full workstation, so long as you get a USB hub or Thunderbolt dock for more ports. That's the power of those two Thunderbolt 4 ports onboard that you'll find on the left side of the MacBook Air. My only complaint is that they're all on the left, meaning you can't charge the device from the right side. Meanwhile, storage speed is on par with the M5 MacBook Pro (and around six times faster than the MacBook Neo), with an average read/write speed of 6,740 megabytes per second. That is an exponential jump in speed over all the previous MacBook Airs, and that accelerates everything from opening applications to transferring large files. It's one of the reasons (along with the limitation of 16 GB of RAM) that people who spend eight hours or more working on a laptop every day will want the MacBook Air over the MacBook Neo.

Photograph: Luke Larsen

The Windows side is also offering some serious competition. I still love the Surface Laptop as an alternative, though we're waiting for the next-generation model to come. The Dell XPS 13, currently only $850, is a closer size to the 13-inch MacBook Air and uses the same Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chips as the Surface Laptop. Unfortunately, it doesn't have as high-resolution and bright a screen. The extremely lightweight Asus Zenbook A14 can't match the MacBook Air's screen either, but is often on sale for hundreds of dollars less.

Lastly, there's the 2025 M4 MacBook Air to consider. If you never use heavier applications, you won't benefit much from the difference in the M5's performance. The storage options are also slightly different from last year's—Apple removed the 256-GB model from the lineup, and the M5 starts at 512 GB. You might look at the prices on Amazon and be tempted to pocket some cash by getting the M4. But, barring a sale of some kind, the 512-GB M5 MacBook Air will only cost $50 more than the 512-GB M4.

Despite the compelling options presented by both the MacBook Neo and an assortment of different Windows laptops, the M5 MacBook Air is still the laptop most people should buy. It's well rounded, surprisingly powerful, high-end, and will last you many, many years to come.