Apple has today announced new models of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, powered by the M5 series of processors.
MacBook Air with M5
The new MacBook Air features the M5 processor. The M5 has a 10-core CPU and what Apple describes as the world's fastest CPU core, and an up-to-10-core GPU with a Neural Accelerator in each core. The result, Apple says, is up to 4x faster performance on AI tasks than the M4 MacBook Air and up to 9.5x faster performance on AI tasks than the MacBook Air M1.
In addition to processor performance improvements, the base M5 MacBook Air configuration now comes standard with 512GB of storage and an SSD that Apple says delivers 2x faster read/write performance than the previous generation. The new MacBook Air with M5 now also includes the Apple-designed N1 networking chip, bringing support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
The MacBook Air with M5 comes in sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver. Pricing for the 13-inch MacBook Air with M5 starts at US$1,099, while the 15-inch model starts at $1,299. A $100 discount is available for education customers. Preorders begin March 4, 2026, with in-store availability and delivery to customers starting March 11.
MacBook Pro with M5 and M5 Max
Along with the M5 MacBook Air, Apple also announced new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro and M5 Max processors.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max processors come with an up-to-18-core CPU with what Apple describes as the world's fastest CPU core, 6 super cores and 12 all-new performance cores; combining to give up to 30% faster performance. For AI tasks, Apple says that the M5 and M5 Pro offer up to 4x faster LLM prompt processing than M4 Pro and M4 Max and up to 8x faster AI image generation than M1 Pro and M1 Max. The M5 Pro and M5 Max also bring up to a 50% increase in graphics performance over M4 Pro and M4 Max, as well as a faster Neural Engine and increased unified memory bandwidth.
The new MacBook Pro with M5 Pro now comes standard with 1TB of storage, while the new MacBook Pro with M5 Max now comes standard with 2TB. Read/write performance has increased across the board by up to 2x, when compared to the previous generation.
The new MacBook Pro with M5 and M5 Max comes in silver and space black. Pricing for the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro starts at US$2,099, while the 16-inch M5 Pro model starts at US$2,699. The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max starts at US$3,599, while the 16-inch M5 Max model starts at US$3,899. Discounts are available for education customers, with the exact amount varying by model selected. Preorders begin on March 4, 2026, with in-store availability and delivery to customers starting March 11.
Other Announcements
In addition the new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models, Apple also today announced a new Studio Display and an all-new Studio Display XDR.
What do you think of the products Apple announced today? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
I won’t be purchasing any of these
I won’t be purchasing any of these as I don’t have money too, and I’ve also never owned a Mac before. I’m just going to stick with my two iPhones. I still love to read about the new products that Apple is announcing, even if it’s something I would never purchase myself. I’ll be curious to see how it actually performs her voice over years or though people have a better experience with these newer Max.
Mac Studio
I am excited for the M5 Mac Studio to come out. Especially since from the statistics they give, it seems like the M5 Max is much more powerful than the M4 Max. The M5 Ultra should be way beyond any CPU we have now.
Mac Studio M3 ultra is the best available
But, smiling, you can pre-order the Mac Studio M5 ultra this March4, tomorrow!
Excellent specifications - expect even better to come
My MacBook Pro isn't ready for an upgrade yet, and it won't be for at least another few years. If Apple continues to produce better hardware, I'll be making a purchase then. From this perspective, the latest devices are encouraging in that Apple continues to improve CPU and machine learning performance.
I'm firmly in the "wait until there's a compelling case before upgrading" crowd.