![Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2026, M5) - Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2026, M5) [Review]](https://sm.pcmag.com/t/pcmag_uk/review/a/apple-macb/apple-macbook-air-13-inch-2026-m5_su48.1920.jpg "Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2026, M5) - Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2026, M5) [Review]")
Pros & Cons
-
- M5 CPU whizzes through productivity and graphics tasks
- Still a standout thin, all-metal design
- Boosted SSD speed and capacity justifies bump up in starting price
- Quiet, fanless performance
-
- Battery life down a bit versus M4 model, but still competitive
- No external design changes
- Display still lacks OLED option
Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (2026, M5) [Review] Specs
| Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested) | 1 |
| Boot Drive Type | SSD |
| Class | Ultraportable |
| Dimensions (HWD) | 0.44 by 12 by 8.5 inches |
| Graphics Processor | Apple M5 (10-core) |
| Native Display Resolution | 2560 by 1664 |
| Operating System | Apple macOS Tahoe |
| Panel Technology | LED |
| Processor | Apple M5 (10-core) |
| RAM (as Tested) | 16 |
| Screen Refresh Rate | 60 |
| Screen Size | 13.6 |
| Tested Battery Life (Hours:Minutes) | 18:04 |
| Variable Refresh Support | None |
| Weight | 2.7 |
| Wireless Networking | Bluetooth |
| Wireless Networking | Wi-Fi 7 |
Alongside releasing the exciting, budget-friendly MacBook Neo and top-end M5 Pro and Max versions of the MacBook Pro 16-Inch, Apple updated its beloved MacBook Air with some sizable performance booster shots. The refreshed MacBook (starts at $1,099; $1,299 as tested) is much the same laptop as the M4 version in design and features, but it’s quicker and more capable than ever. A starting-price increase of $100 versus last year's $999 fetches you faster and doubled-up storage (to 512GB) for the base model in addition to the M5 processor. (We reviewed an upticked configuration with better graphics silicon and a 1TB solid-state drive.) Simply put, the MacBook Air continues to serve as a benchmark for other ultraportable laptops to beat, earning our Editors’ Choice award once again. The Air is outright fast (not just relatively so), remains exceptionally well-built, has a long-lasting battery, and is packed with premium software and cross-device continuity—all for a fair price.
Configurations: A Modest Price Bump for More, Better Storage
With no major design changes hitting this version of the MacBook Air, it’s all about the internals. The M5 processor is the major upgrade, of course, but you'll find at least one other consideration to take into account. (Note that this review focuses on the 13-inch model of the Air, as the 15-inch Air has its own starting price and, very likely, a different performance profile since it's bigger and more thermally advantaged.)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)The new starting price for the 13-inch MacBook Air—which I opined on following its announcement—is $1,099. Many enjoyed the short-lived drop to $999 for the M4 MacBook Air, but, as covered in that piece, the new model is back above $1,000 for a likely host of reasons.
Apple sells three preconfigured models of the M5 MacBook Air, with four color options available: Silver, Sky Blue (light blue), Starlight (pale gold), and Midnight (gray-black). The three models share the same 13.6-inch Liquid Retina LED display with a native resolution of 2,560 by 1,664 pixels. All other ports and features (which I'll cover in the next sections) are the same between the models, so all differences relate to the following specs.
The $1,099 starting model includes the basic M5 chip, 16GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. That’s up from the 256GB drive in the base-level $999 M4 model, explaining much of the $100 increase. This version of the M5 comes with 10 CPU cores (four "super cores" and six efficiency cores) and eight graphics cores. This configuration, and all models, come with a 40-watt (40W) dynamic power adapter with a 60W maximum, plus a USB-C-to-MagSafe 3 cable.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Apple sent PCMag the middle of the three models for this review, a $1,299 configuration that includes a slightly upgraded M5 chip (with 10 GPU cores), 16GB of memory, and a 1TB SSD. For $200 more than the base model, you get faster GPU performance and double the storage, a pretty fair value; just note that not everyone needs those features.
The top-end $1,499 model takes the Air to 24GB of memory, but the rest of the specs remain the same. Note that while these are the three preset configurations, you can upgrade each model piecemeal with more memory and storage, up to 32GB and 4TB, respectively. Apple also notes that the new SSDs in all models are faster, with up to two-times-quicker read and write speeds than those in the Apple M4 MacBook Airs.
Design: Same Slick Build, With an Aging Display
Like on last year’s model, Apple provided a Sky Blue MacBook Air for review. It’s a welcome, subtle change from the traditional silver—it looks similar, at a glance, and still fits a professional setting. The color is more evident at certain angles, making it difficult to capture in photos. I’m personally more drawn to the Starlight or Midnight options, but this is a fun, chic color that fits with the MacBook Air’s totable design.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)On that note, the Air measures 0.44 by 12 by 8.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 2.7 pounds, identical to the M4 model. It’s as slick and portable as ever, living up to the iconic Air name for those seeking a slim and lightweight laptop to take on the road. The aluminum build is a step above many Windows alternatives in this price band, though you will find more all-metal PCs than you used to—no doubt in an effort to compete with this exact laptop.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)You’ll indeed find this common thread across the design: This system is identical to last year’s model. The keyboard remains unchanged, with its comfortable and quick feedback. If you’re a heavy-handed typist, the keys will bottom out sometimes. Without much vertical travel on these keys, I can feel the keys hit the bottom of the housing fairly often. This experience is expected on a super-thin laptop.
Touch ID is still on the power button, while the haptic trackpad remains the industry standard thanks to its smooth, responsive input and intuitive gesture controls.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)An unchanged design also means the display is the same. In addition to the roughly 1600p resolution, the screen features a 60Hz refresh rate and a 500-nit brightness rating. Apple has run the Air with the same display for a while now, while the market has advanced. The divisive camera “notch” returns, though I don’t find it too obtrusive. It sticks out at first, but since the macOS menu bar runs along the top of the screen, that space is already occupied, anyway. The notch is not much of an intrusion in practice.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Even last year, we noted that the Air's panel was getting a little long in the tooth. There’s nothing wrong with the display—it’s still bright and sharp enough, and pleasant to use—but an OLED option or other upgrade increasingly feels like a missed opportunity as the years progress. You can find fairly affordable PCs with OLED screens in 2026, and some with refresh rates above 60Hz. The HP OmniBook 5 14, for example, has an OLED display despite its $879.99 starting price. A lot of factors go into the MacBook Air’s higher cost, of course, but OLED technology has generally reached the MacBook Air's market segment by now. The vibrancy of an OLED screen would really sing on this device.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)On the other hand, I also understand the decision to hold firm for now. Rising computer prices (driven most notably by the memory crisis) make this a difficult time to upgrade core parts of a laptop—especially since the Air’s price already increased this year due to other factors. While the MacBook Neo has entered the fray as Apple’s "true" budget laptop, the Air still needs to be approachable, and the conditions are not right to add pricier components. The lack of OLED might mean one less reason to upgrade to the M5 version for some, beyond the chip. Maybe next year.
Connectivity and Features: Potent and Premium
The MacBook Air features two USB Type-C ports on the left side, alongside the MagSafe charging port, while the right side has only a headphone jack. Both USB-C ports support Thunderbolt 4, enabling up to 40Gbps peak data-transfer rates, as well as charging and DisplayPort video output to two screens at 6K/60Hz (or 4K/144Hz), or to one display at 8K/60Hz (or 4K/240Hz). Having only USB Type-C ports can be limiting for some users who need certain peripherals, but this is far from a new development. Indeed, this has become the expectation among late-model ultraportables.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)The 12-megapixel Center Stage webcam was new to the MacBook Air last year, and it remains on this model, while it's missing on the MacBook Neo. This difference is another example of the slightly more premium features that separate the Air from Apple's true budget option.
Apple's webcam delivers crisp, clear video quality, which, given the prevalence of FaceTime on Mac laptops, is even more important than for the average casual Windows user. The quad speakers, meanwhile, won’t blow you away, but they do provide plenty of loud, clear sound for most normal use cases.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Given the 2026 Air's design and feature parity with last year’s model, I’ll spare you a usability blow-by-blow breakdown. Suffice it to say, the MacBook Air is a treat to carry with you for everyday productivity work or entertainment. It’s light and responsive, making it as easy to sit with on the couch for a few hours as it is to pop open for a quick task on the go. Useful inclusions like Touch ID and snappy Wi-Fi 7 enhance the experience.
Similar Products
Our Current Picks for The Best Laptops for 2026
At the same time, Continuity for iPhone and iPad users is a clear plus, making it seamless to hop between work and play among various Apple devices. The MacBook Air is among the closest devices to the no-fuss laptop many of us seek, and despite the quality and variety of features, it’s attainable at a reasonable price.
Performance Testing: The M5 Shines Among Ultraportables
Since the M5 chip is the star of this update, I was excited to see how it fared inside this 13-inch chassis. I put the Air through its paces on our usual benchmark suite and compared the results with the following systems' output.
The other Mac systems here are the obvious inclusions, ranging across the Apple lineup. The new MacBook Neo ($599 as tested) shows the gap between the A18 Pro and the M5, while, on the flip side, the M5-based 14-inch $2,349 MacBook Pro is here to demonstrate how the M5 performs in a larger, more capable system. The 2025 M4 13-inch MacBook Air model ($1,199 as tested) shows the generational jump.
Finally, I included two relevant Windows laptops. The Intel “Lunar Lake”-based Dell 14 Plus ($1,099.99 as tested) is a similarly priced alternative, while the $899.99 HP OmniBook 5 14 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus-based laptop. The latter is comfortably the least expensive in the group (despite its OLED screen), so judge accordingly when viewing the results. Note that in cross-platform comparisons, you'll see some gaps in results because some systems couldn't run certain tests.
Productivity and Content Creation Tests
Because macOS does not support our usual PCMark tests, we'll dive right into our CPU-centric benchmarks. First, Maxon's Cinebench 2024 renders a complex scene using the company's Cinema 4D engine. Following that, Primate Labs' Geekbench 6.3 Pro simulates popular apps ranging from PDF rendering and speech recognition to machine learning. Finally, we see how long it takes the video transcoder HandBrake 1.8 to convert a 12-minute clip from 4K to 1080p resolution.
To measure a laptop's mainstream content-creation chops, we use workstation maker Puget Systems' PugetBench for Creators to gauge a laptop’s image-editing prowess by running various automated operations in the super-popular editor Adobe Photoshop 2024.
Across the board, the M5 in the MacBook Air came out of these tests looking sharp. It was, understandably, usually a touch behind the M5 inside the MacBook Pro, but ahead of the rest of the pack. These results demonstrate how fast the M5—never mind the Pro or Max—can drive relative to other entry-level and ultraportable-class chips.
The Air has been efficient for years, but the M5 upgrade has again proven that this can be your go-to laptop for everyday productivity, multitasking, and light-to-moderate work. Looking directly at the M4 results, the generational upgrade is more modest, but notable. If you recently bought an M4-based MacBook, it’s hardly necessary to upgrade already, but this is a no-brainer option if you’re looking to replace a MacBook that's any older.
Graphics and Gaming Tests
Our graphics performance testing starts with four of UL's macOS-ready 3DMark benchmarks. Steel Nomad Light is a 1440p test without ray tracing, focusing on raw graphics rasterization, while Steel Nomad (no “Light” in its title) is more advanced. Solar Bay is where ray-tracing testing comes in, and the Wild Life Extreme test pushes Macs to their limits at 4K resolution.
We also measure gaming performance using the 2022 strategy game Total War: Warhammer 3 via Steam, which we run exclusively on Macs. In the game's Battle benchmark, we run the test at Ultra and Low settings at 1080p resolution, recording the average frames per second (fps).
Finally, we’ve adopted our Cyberpunk 2077 test, which we run on Windows gaming PCs, for Macs. Our Cyberpunk 2077 test settings aim to push systems to the limit without frame generation or resolution upscaling, using the Ultra and all-out Ray Tracing Overdrive graphics presets at 1200p and 1440p. We reserve the Overdrive preset for the particularly high-end Macs because it is incredibly demanding, but we run Cyberpunk 2077 on Ultra settings at both resolutions on all Macs.
The story is extremely similar on these tests: The M5 Air trailed only the MacBook Pro, demonstrated noteworthy improvement over the M4 model, and comfortably outperformed the less expensive systems. Most people aren't buying the MacBook Air for its graphics performance, but it's capable of more graphically intensive tasks than ever, and you’d rather have the muscle when called upon.
The extra two GPU cores compared with the base-flavor M5 help push this system just a bit further, enabling faster performance in some media workloads and better gaming than most in this tier. The games you'll comfortably play are still somewhat limited based on those numbers, but these are more intensive titles. Macs have access to hundreds of mid-level games (think World of Warcraft) and casual games (think Royal Match) that you can fire up on this system and play without issue.
Battery Life and Display Tests
We test each laptop's battery life by playing a locally stored 720p video file (the open-source Blender movie Tears of Steel) with display brightness set to 50% and audio volume set to 100%. We make sure the battery is fully charged before the test, with Wi-Fi and any keyboard backlighting turned off.
To gauge display performance, we use a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and its software to measure a laptop screen's color saturation—what percentage of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the display can show—and its 50% and peak brightness in nits (candelas per square meter).
Apple’s original M-series laptops posted some seriously impressive battery life results, but the line's reputation for longevity has somewhat diminished in some areas. The M5 MacBook Air's time was still competitive, but the line has consistently posted shrinking results over the past three generations. The M5 Air's 18-hour result is more than enough to get you through a work or school day, and it meets Apple's own promise. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips have posted head-turning times on this test, uplifting HP's new OmniBook as our new battery champion, but the Air still qualifies as a highly efficient computer.
As for the display, the Air scored well on both color and brightness tests, though it fell a bit short in the Adobe RGB range, as did the other Macs. (The Neo’s screen is clearly the downgraded version among the Macs' Liquid Retina displays.) The Air posted a high maximum brightness, coming in just above Apple’s 500-nit rating and matching my eye test; this display is really bright at the highest setting.