Apple unveils new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with M5

Apple announced its new laptops on Tuesday morning, including some new ones MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models that use Apple’s M5 chips. The Pro version was unveiled alongside the new one M5 Pro and M5 Max chipswhich Apple describes as the most advanced CPUs yet.

The company said the updated M5 chips were specifically designed to enable the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops to run better AI functions, which are becoming an important part of Apple’s new devices. The new Air and Pro laptops can perform AI tasks up to 4x faster than their M4 predecessors, according to Apple.

These AI-centric upgrades may not be immediately apparent to casual users who aren’t trying to drive seriously. network of AI assistants or create 3D renderings quickly. But these advances also affect other aspects of the laptop.

MacBook Air users get good things like 18 hours of battery life (an improvement of six hours compared to the latest Intel-based Apple laptops from 2020), as well as a 12MP Center Stage camera for video recording, three mic arrays, and a sound system that supports Spatial Audio and Dolby Atmos. The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe charging port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The new MacBook Air line includes a 13-inch (starting at $1099) and a 15-inch model (starting at $1299), with color options of sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver. The Air also now comes with a base storage of 512 GB, double the base model’s storage capacity.

As usual, the MacBook Pro is aimed at technology users, especially developers who work with AI. The M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are up to 4x faster in LLM processing than the M4 Pro and M4 Max, and up to 8x faster in AI image processing than the M1 Pro and M1 Max.

Apple says this enables AI researchers and developers to train behavioral models on their devices, and creative users can benefit from faster 3D rendering, video processing, and music production.

The MacBook Pro also has read/write performance up to 2x faster than the last generation, and will start at 1TB of storage for the MacBook Pro with the M5 Pro, and 2TB for the MacBook Pro with the M5 Max. Apple says these laptops have a battery life of up to 24 hours, and with a 96W or higher USB-C adapter, users can charge up to 50% battery within thirty minutes. The laptops support Thunderbolt 5 and have six speakers.

The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro chips start at $2,199 and $2,699, respectively, while the models with the M5 Max chips start at $3,599 and $3,899, available in black or silver.

Both laptops will be available for pre-order on Tuesday, March 4, and will be available from Wednesday, March 11.