The Apple MacBook Air 15-inch with M5 chip is the larger-screen version of Apple’s mainstream consumer laptop, the model aimed at users who want a bigger display than the 13-inch Air but don’t need the higher brightness, ProMotion refresh rate, or extra ports of the MacBook Pro line. You get a 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display, Apple’s new M5 chip with significant AI performance gains over the M4, a fanless design that runs completely silent under load, and up to 18 hours of battery life per charge. Base configuration ships with 16 GB of unified memory and a 256 GB SSD, both of which are double the previous-generation Air models’ starting amounts.
A powerful MacBook perfect for both casual and hardcore users
Apple has greatly improved the Neural Engine in the M5, enabling on-device AI functions to run about 3.5 times faster than on the M4. On-device AI-related functionality, such as image generation in Pixelmator Pro, responses from Apple-intelligence AI-based applications, and AI-assisted photo editing in Photos, is now much faster than before. In addition, CPU and GPU performance have been improved by 15-20% over the M4, resulting in faster video export and less lag while playing games built specifically for macOS.
The 15-inch screen features the same 2880 x 1864 native resolution as its predecessor and provides a full 500 nits of continuous brightness and a full P3 wide color gamut. With the larger display, you can multitask with two or three windows open side by side, read lengthy documents without constantly scrolling, and watch videos without feeling too confined.
Battery life remains one of the strongest reasons to choose the Air. Apple rates the 15-inch M5 model at up to 18 hours of video playback or roughly 15 hours of mixed productivity per charge, which holds up across long flights, full workdays, or all-day classroom use without needing to find an outlet.
The Air is fanless, so it runs silently under load. The M5 generates little enough heat at typical workloads that passive cooling handles the thermal load, though sustained heavy work like long video exports will eventually throttle slightly compared to the actively cooled MacBook Pro.
At 3.3 pounds and 11.5mm thick, the 15-inch Air remains the thinnest and lightest 15-inch laptop Apple has ever made. The unibody aluminum chassis comes in Silver, Starlight, Midnight, and Sky Blue, with macOS Sequoia preinstalled and Apple’s standard commitment to major OS updates lasting at least 7 years.
At $1,149, the 15-inch MacBook Air with M5 is $151 below Apple’s $1,300 sticker price. You’re getting a current-generation 15-inch laptop with double the RAM and storage of older Airs at a price that previously bought only the smaller 13-inch model from Apple.