MacBook Air now gets M5 chip and double the base storage, from RM4,699
We’re into Day 2 of The Week of Apple, as Cupertino continues to announce its latest products for the year. This time around, it’s a refresh of the world’s most popular laptop, as the MacBook Air now comes with M5 silicon, double the starting storage and improved wireless connectivity.
MacBook Air M5 Malaysia pricing and availability
Those looking to upgrade their MacBook Air to the new model will have to wait for a bit, as Apple has only listed their new laptop as ‘coming soon’, with no confirmed date on availability just yet. Nevertheless, we at least know how much it’ll cost:
- 13″ MacBook Air M5, 8-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage – RM4,699
- 13″ MacBook Air M5, 10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage – RM5,124
- 15″ MacBook Air M5, 10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage – RM5,499
As usual, you’ll be able to customise your MacBook Air with more RAM or storage if needed; it should be noted though that only the 10-core GPU versions can be customised.
Going from 16GB to 24GB of memory will cost you RM850, while going from 16GB to 32GB will set you back an extra RM1,700. If you need more space, going from 512GB to 1TB costs RM850, from 512GB to 2TB costs RM2,550, and from 512GB to 4TB you’ll need to fork out RM5,100.
Another upgrade you can make is your power adapter. The default 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max is included by default, but for RM70 you can opt for either the 35W Dual USB-C port to charge both your laptop and your iPhone at the same time, or the 70W USB-C power adapter for fast charging.
We should also point out that while the starting price of the new MacBook Air is technically higher at RM4,699 compared to the MacBook Air M4’s RM4,499 starting price, the MacBook Air M5 is actually the better value here thanks to the 512GB starting storage. For example, the 512GB 13-inch MacBook Air M4 went for RM5,349, while the 256GB 15-inch MacBook Air M4 was RM5,499, the same as the 512GB 15-inch MacBook Air M5.
MacBook Air M5 specs
The main upgrade to this year’s MacBook Air is of course the Apple M5 silicon under the hood. Featuring a 10-core CPU with up to a 10-core GPU, Apple claims that the MacBook Air M5 will be 4x faster than the Macbook Air M4 in AI tasks, and up to 9.5x faster than the original MacBook Air M1.
On top of that, you’ll find faster unified memory with 153GB/s of bandwidth, 28% faster than the M4’s unified memory. And not only will you find double the starting storage with a 512GB SSD, you’ll also be able to configure up to 4TB of SSD storage on the MacBook Air for the first time. The SSDs themselves are faster too, with Apple claiming that they’re twice as fast in read/write performance compared to the previous generation.
Another hardware upgrade on the new MacBook Air is the inclusion of the N1 wireless chip. This gives the MacBook Air support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6 wireless connectivity, compared to the WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 in the MacBook Air M4.
Other than that though, you are looking at mostly the same laptop as before. You’re still getting a sleek and lightweight machine at just 1.23kg on the 13-inch and 1.51kg on the 15-inch, built out of over 50% recycled aluminum. There’s also the same Liquid Retina IPS display with 500nits of brightness and P3 colour, pushing a 2560×1664 resolution on the 13.6-inch screen and 2880×1864 on the 15.3-inch panel.
The MacBook Air M5 will get you up to 18 hours of video streaming thanks to its 53.8Wh battery on the 13-inch and 66.5Wh battery on the 15-inch. I/O is the same as before too, with a MagSafe 3 charging port and two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left, while a 3.5mm headphone jack resides on the right.
Other features of note include a 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View, a four-speaker setup on the 13-incher and a six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers on the 15-inch. One last minor upgrade by the way is the included charger being the 40W Dynamic Power Adapter with 60W Max, rather than the old 30W USB-C adapter on its predecessor.
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