Apple MacBook Air (M5) Review: The Goldilocks MacBook

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.