CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple on Tuesday introduced a new lineup of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops powered by its latest M5 family of chips, touting major gains in performance and artificial intelligence capabilities across its consumer and professional devices.
The new MacBook Air, now equipped with the M5 chip, features a faster CPU and a next-generation GPU with a Neural Accelerator built into each core, designed to handle everything from everyday productivity to advanced AI-driven workflows. Apple said the updates bring expanded AI performance to what it calls the world’s most popular laptop.
The MacBook Air now starts with 512GB of storage — double the previous base configuration — using faster SSD technology. Customers can configure the device with up to 4TB of storage. The laptop also incorporates Apple’s new N1 wireless chip, enabling support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6.
Available in 13-inch and 15-inch models, the redesigned MacBook Air retains its thin aluminum build and features a Liquid Retina display, a 12MP Center Stage camera, up to 18 hours of battery life, Spatial Audio support, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports capable of driving up to two external displays. Color options include sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver.
“The new MacBook Air with M5 brings incredible performance and even more capability to the world’s most popular laptop,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering. “With M5, MacBook Air powers through a wide range of tasks, from everyday productivity to creative workloads, and is even faster for AI.”
Pre-orders for the MacBook Air begin March 4, with availability starting March 11.
Alongside the Air refresh, Apple also unveiled updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models featuring the new M5 Pro and M5 Max chips. The company said the upgraded processors deliver what it described as “game-changing” performance improvements for professional users.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max include a redesigned CPU with what Apple called the world’s fastest CPU core, as well as a next-generation GPU with integrated Neural Accelerators. According to the company, the new chips provide up to four times faster AI performance compared with the previous generation and up to eight times faster AI performance compared with systems powered by the M1 chip.
The MacBook Pro models now offer up to twice the SSD speeds of their predecessors. Base storage starts at 1TB for systems with the M5 Pro and 2TB for those with the M5 Max. Like the MacBook Air, the new MacBook Pro includes Apple’s N1 wireless chip with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 support.
The updated MacBook Pro is available in space black and silver, with pre-orders beginning March 4 and retail availability starting March 11.
Apple also introduced a new family of displays designed to pair with its Mac lineup. The updated Studio Display features a 12MP Center Stage camera with improved image quality and Desk View support, a three-microphone array, and a six-speaker sound system with Spatial Audio. It now includes Thunderbolt 5 connectivity to support high-speed accessories and daisy-chained displays.
The announcements mark Apple’s latest push to integrate more advanced AI performance directly into its hardware, as competition intensifies among major tech companies to deliver on-device artificial intelligence capabilities. (Source: IANS)
