[0:00] Oh, it's citrus. Is it 599? Is it?
[0:02] Everyone's talking about the MacBook
[0:03] Neo. And you know, fair enough. It's
[0:05] actually really cool. And review for
[0:06] that coming very soon. But what about
[0:08] this guy, the MacBook Air? This has also
[0:11] had some love with an M5 chip. We've got
[0:13] Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6. They've doubled
[0:16] the base storage to 512. Although it is
[0:18] 100 quid more expensive than last year,
[0:20] but when you factor in the cost of the
[0:21] storage upgrade, actually it's cheaper
[0:23] than before if you were going to do
[0:24] that. 16 gigs of RAM, 512 storage, and
[0:27] M5 chip for $1099. This is probably the
[0:30] laptop that most of us are going to want
[0:32] to buy.
[0:37] To be fair though, this new MacBook Neo
[0:39] at $599, $499 for student teacher
[0:41] discounts, which does by the way apply
[0:43] to this as well, that is very tempting.
[0:45] It's almost half the price of a MacBook
[0:48] Air. The downsides, I mean there's
[0:50] actually quite a few. The main ones are
[0:51] you're stuck with a iPhone chip, the A18
[0:53] Pro. Also, you have chunkier bezels, a
[0:56] slightly smaller screen. You don't have
[0:57] a back lit for the keyboard, back lit,
[0:58] back light for the keyboard. The ports
[1:00] are USB 3 and USB 2, and there's no Mag
[1:03] Safe. This has two Thunderbolt 4, so you
[1:05] can output two much higher resolution,
[1:07] high refresh monitors, and two of them,
[1:09] only one on the Neo, and you have Mag
[1:11] Safe, so that's not taking up one of the
[1:12] ports for charging. You also get Wi-Fi 7
[1:14] with this, which is not that important,
[1:15] although you do also need a Wi-Fi 7
[1:17] router to take advantage of it. Router
[1:19] for my American friends. Higher quality
[1:20] webcam. More importantly though, you get
[1:22] the force haptic. I was going to say
[1:25] force sensitive. The proper force
[1:27] feedback touchpad on the Neo. It is
[1:29] actually a traditional design where like
[1:31] the corners go into the chassis a little
[1:33] bit. Still feels good, but not as nice
[1:34] as this. Also, the Air comes with 16
[1:37] gigs of memory, 512 storage as standard
[1:40] rather than 8 and 256. Also, the storage
[1:42] is much faster. The M5 chip, which we'll
[1:44] come to in a second, is significantly
[1:46] more powerful. Obviously, if you're
[1:47] doing any kind of proper video editing,
[1:49] any kind of gaming rendering, and of
[1:51] course, we'll make this a lot more
[1:52] future proof as well. You can probably
[1:53] use this for the next 10 years,
[1:55] honestly, and it'll be absolutely fine.
[1:57] You also have Touch ID uh in the power
[1:59] button here. You have to pay an extra
[2:01] 100 quid on the Neo. So, it goes from
[2:03] 599 to $699 to get Touch ID. That also
[2:06] doubles as storage and an extra 2 hours
[2:07] of battery. Apple say you'll get 16
[2:09] hours on the Neo, you'll get 18 on the
[2:11] Air. 6 in larger screen because we have
[2:14] the thinner bezels versus the Neo. Oh,
[2:16] also you've got the larger 15.4 in
[2:18] option if you do fancy a bigger screen.
[2:20] I think that's it. There's probably
[2:22] something else. There are a lot of
[2:23] reasons to go for an Air over a Neo.
[2:25] Whether it's worth paying an extra 500
[2:27] quid going from $599 to $1099 subject to
[2:31] discounts and blah blah blah, I'm not
[2:33] sure. But certainly this is a much
[2:35] better all round laptop.
[2:42] Since Apple refreshed the MacBook Air
[2:44] and in fact the entire Mac lineup with
[2:47] their M series of chips, starting with
[2:49] the M1 back in 2020, they've had a
[2:51] problem, a really big problem. They've
[2:53] been too bloody good. And so anyone who
[2:55] bought an M1 Air, this one, this lovely
[2:58] little copper color, the design was
[3:00] updated with the M2 Air, so the year
[3:02] after this, uh, which got rid of that
[3:04] sort of tapered design, which I actually
[3:05] really quite like. Also, you've got
[3:07] these chunkier bezels, but this is still
[3:09] a fantastic laptop, very, very usable.
[3:12] And I think one of the big questions
[3:13] coming out of the MacBook Neo is, should
[3:15] I spend 599 on that or should I get an
[3:18] M1 Air that might offer similar
[3:20] performance in some ways? So, the
[3:23] problem Apple have had is that their
[3:24] laptops have been so good for so long,
[3:26] there really just hasn't been much
[3:28] reason to upgrade. So, here we are
[3:29] again, 2026 new MacBook Air. And the
[3:32] main reason, honestly, to consider
[3:35] upgrading is the fact that you're
[3:36] getting 16 gigs of memory, 512 storage
[3:39] as standard. Now, because in every
[3:41] previous MacBook Air review, I've said
[3:43] this is a great laptop, really good
[3:44] value for money if you want, you know,
[3:45] Mac OS, but you're going to have to
[3:47] spend an extra 200, whether it's
[3:49] upgrading the storage or upgrading the
[3:50] RAM. Now, I would not spend another
[3:52] penny on this. Just get the cheapest
[3:54] version. If you need more storage, just
[3:56] buy an external SSD. If you need more
[3:58] memory because you think you're going to
[3:59] use it, then you're probably best off
[4:01] going with a MacBook Pro instead if you
[4:03] really need that higher performance.
[4:05] This base entry- level MacBook Air M5 is
[4:08] exactly the one you should buy and don't
[4:10] spend anymore, except for maybe buying a
[4:12] power adapter because it doesn't come in
[4:13] the box here in the UK and Europe and
[4:16] some other places. What hasn't been
[4:18] upgraded again is the screen. still 60
[4:21] Hz IPS LCD, 500 nits of brightness. It
[4:24] is a nice screen, especially with True
[4:26] Tone, which you don't have on the
[4:27] MacBook Neo. Uh the color accuracy is
[4:29] really nice. It's the best one of these
[4:32] screens you can get, but for similar
[4:33] money on a Windows rival, you'll get
[4:36] OLED 120 Hz. This screen needs updating
[4:39] next, and it's a little bit frustrating
[4:41] that we've not had any change this year.
[4:43] So, how much faster is this new M5?
[4:45] Well, it's not just the chip, because
[4:46] the storage is also faster. they've
[4:48] doubled the read and write speeds of the
[4:50] SSD. I think that's largely because they
[4:52] have just discontinued that lower 256
[4:54] gig capacity and it was the case before.
[4:56] If you're upgraded from 256 to 512, then
[4:58] you'd get the faster speeds. So, that's
[5:00] mainly because they've got rid of the
[5:01] 256. So, faster storage, but the M5
[5:04] chip. Bear in mind though, there are a
[5:05] couple different versions of this new M5
[5:07] Air. The base model has an 8 core GPU,
[5:10] but if you pay an extra 200, you not
[5:12] only get double the storage, the
[5:13] terabyte, but also it bumps the GPU up
[5:15] to 10 cores. So naturally that will have
[5:17] an effect on the graphics performance as
[5:19] well. But the big headline upgrade with
[5:21] the M5 is the AI performance mostly
[5:24] because each GPU core has its own neural
[5:28] accelerator. This is the same case as
[5:30] the M5 that we get in the MacBook Pro.
[5:32] But how will we know unless we put it to
[5:33] the test? This is the Draw Things app.
[5:35] I've got the M4. I've got the M5. We've
[5:37] downloaded a fairly simple uh Quen image
[5:40] one uh local image generation AI model
[5:43] uh sixbit. The exact same prompt. and
[5:46] we're gonna see how much quicker the M5
[5:49] is. Go.
[5:52] And even just 30 seconds in, this is
[5:54] estimating 31 minutes. This is
[5:56] estimating 11 minutes. If this kind of
[5:59] thing is part of your workflow, then
[6:01] that is a heck of an upgrade.
[6:12] But I think realistically most people
[6:14] who are working with local large
[6:15] language models and developing with AI
[6:17] want a for lack of better word ton more
[6:20] memory and a lot more performance. So
[6:22] they probably go for a MacBook Pro uh
[6:24] with the newly updated M5 Pro, M5 Max
[6:26] chips. So this extra performance is
[6:28] obviously nice, future proof, great, but
[6:31] maybe not that useful to most people
[6:33] buying a MacBook Air. Well, let's put
[6:36] them to the test. M1 versus M4 versus
[6:39] M5. All updated to the latest Mac OS
[6:41] Tahoe. And in terms of the processor
[6:44] speeds, this is Geekbench 6. It's
[6:45] between 60 and 75% faster on the M4 and
[6:48] upwards of twice as fast in terms of
[6:50] multi-core on the M5. But going from the
[6:52] M4 to the M5, it's a modest 10% bump.
[6:55] However, jumping over to the graphics
[6:57] test, this is where we see some of the
[6:58] biggest gains, and that is impressive.
[7:00] The M5 is still 34% faster than last
[7:03] year's M4.
[7:06] And it's a similar story when we run the
[7:08] metal version of the test. 38% faster
[7:10] this year. But it gets better, although
[7:12] not straight away. This is Geekbench AI,
[7:14] but both the M4 and M5 are significantly
[7:17] faster than the M1. And while the M5's
[7:19] neural engine is a bit faster, it's not
[7:22] groundbreaking. What is groundbreaking
[7:24] is when we use the graphics, the GPU, to
[7:27] run this same AI test. And because we
[7:29] now have those neural accelerators on
[7:31] each GPU core, but look at those M5
[7:33] numbers compared to last year, 31, 99,
[7:37] 149% faster. If you're running
[7:39] graphically intensive programs that can
[7:41] take advantage of AI acceleration, then
[7:43] the M5 is significantly faster than even
[7:46] last year. Although, even without AI,
[7:48] just a raw graphics test, the M5 is
[7:50] still a good 24% faster than last year.
[7:52] To be fair, most of us aren't really
[7:54] buying a MacBook for gaming, but they
[7:56] have got a lot more capable and we are
[7:58] seeing more games now supported on Mac.
[8:00] And in Cyberpunk at full HD plus with
[8:02] medium settings, I'm getting a
[8:04] borderline unplayable 28 FPS on the M1.
[8:07] A solid 47 fps on the M4 and a very
[8:11] smooth 62 FPS on the M5. Even just from
[8:15] last year, which no one realistically is
[8:17] actually upgrading from, it's still a
[8:18] good deal faster.
[8:23] I also ran a quick Wi-Fi test because we
[8:25] have gone from Wi-Fi 6 to 6E [music] to
[8:28] seven now with the M5. Also, I had all
[8:31] these at 100% when I started the test
[8:32] and we're down to 85% on the M1, 94% on
[8:36] the M4, and also 94% on the M5. This is
[8:41] still a very capable laptop, but it is
[8:42] showing its age. And what I think will
[8:44] be really interesting is how the MacBook
[8:46] Neo with its A18 Pro chip compares to
[8:50] these. So, um, we'll have to come back
[8:52] to that [music] in a different video. I
[8:54] think for a lot of us though, it's that
[8:55] question of, oh, is the Air going to be
[8:57] powerful enough going forward? Should I
[8:58] pay quite a bit more and get a Pro for
[9:01] better long-term use? Well, I can tell
[9:04] you with this M5 here, I am currently um
[9:06] generating a image, the same one from
[9:08] the previous test. Again, I have my uh
[9:11] 4K Premiere Pro running here. We've also
[9:13] got a YouTube video playing here mostly
[9:16] smoothly. I am I think finding the upper
[9:18] limit of the Mac. Although if we stop
[9:21] the AI generation now everything is
[9:24] pretty much flawless. Yeah, absolutely.
[9:26] So there is an upper limit. Obviously
[9:28] one of the downsides, one of the
[9:29] compromises of the MacBook Air is that
[9:31] it doesn't have a fan. And I can tell
[9:32] you now actually it's it's actually
[9:35] pretty hot underneath. So you are going
[9:37] to experience throttling depending on
[9:39] how you use it. particularly for
[9:40] sustained performance, like if you're
[9:42] playing games for long periods of time,
[9:43] if you're exporting video, because it
[9:45] doesn't have a fan to cool the chip
[9:46] down, it's going to have to throttle
[9:48] more quickly versus a MacBook Pro, which
[9:49] of course does have a fan. So, yeah,
[9:51] absolutely, you can slow this down if
[9:53] you really uh throw some, you know,
[9:55] local AI generation, 4K video, and a
[9:57] bunch of Chrome tabs at the same time.
[9:59] But realistically, for most of us, this
[10:01] is going to be more than powerful
[10:03] enough. The M5 is an incredibly capable
[10:05] chip, and you really should not spend
[10:07] more on a MacBook Pro. Which brings me
[10:09] to kind of the last bit of the video
[10:11] really. Who should spend the extra 500
[10:14] pounds to go from a new MacBook Air M5
[10:16] to a MacBook Pro M5, the base model?
[10:18] Well, what are you getting? You're
[10:19] getting a terabyte of storage as
[10:21] standard now. Apple quietly updated the
[10:22] base storage when they have revealed the
[10:24] M5 Pro and M5 Max versions of the
[10:26] MacBook Pro. So, you're getting double
[10:27] the storage. You're getting a much nicer
[10:29] screen with their 120 Hz promotion. It's
[10:31] miniLEDD. It's much brighter up to 1600
[10:34] nits, and it's more color accurate. can
[10:36] spend a little bit extra to get the
[10:37] nanoexture option, which I have on that
[10:39] MacBook Pro right there, which I love.
[10:41] You're getting an extra Thunderbolt 4
[10:42] port as well as an HDMI 2.1 and a
[10:44] full-size SD card reader, so much better
[10:47] connectivity. And of course, the Pros do
[10:48] have a fan. So, as I say, for
[10:49] potentially sustained performance, that
[10:51] will help cool the chip and you'll get
[10:52] slightly better performance. And
[10:54] crucially, you can just spec the Pros
[10:56] ridiculously. You can spend up to 7 and
[10:58] a half grand on an M5 Max, 16in, 128 GB
[11:02] memory, 8 terbte setup. The downside is
[11:06] you're paying a lot more, at least £500
[11:08] more to go from the Air to the Base Pro.
[11:10] It's thicker and it's heavier. That's
[11:12] basically the three downsides. But
[11:14] realistically, the biggest competitor to
[11:16] the MacBook Air is the MacBook Neo. It's
[11:18] smaller, cheaper brother. While this is
[11:21] a lot more capable for students, for
[11:23] your kids' first MacBook, for your
[11:26] parents, maybe the MacBook Neo is going
[11:28] to be the one you want to buy because
[11:29] it's, as I say, almost half the price of
[11:31] this. So, that is the new M5 MacBook
[11:34] Air. What do you think? Are you tempted
[11:35] to buy one? Are you going to upgrade? Do
[11:37] you think finally we've come far enough
[11:38] since the incredible M1 that it's
[11:40] actually worth buying a new Mac? Or
[11:43] should we maybe wait another year? Let
[11:44] me know what you make of this in the
[11:45] comments. And if you've got any
[11:46] questions, drop a comment below. Just as
[11:48] a little thank you for watching to the
[11:49] end of the video. Can I show you
[11:52] this
[11:54] 2015 MacBook Air? The first MacBook Air
[11:58] was, I think, 2008. So, this is far from
[12:01] the first one, but look at that. You got
[12:03] the glowing Apple logo on the back. This
[12:05] is uh what have we got here? We've got
[12:07] 1.6 GHz dual core Intel Core i5, [music]
[12:10] 8 GB of memory, early 2015. And look at
[12:14] those viewing angles, those chunky
[12:16] bezels. Still kind of like it though.
[12:19] Look at that tapered design. [music]
[12:21] Feels like this is only 2015, but it
[12:23] feels like it should be in a museum.
[12:26] 2015
[12:27] versus MacBook Air M5
[12:31] 2026.
[12:33] Let's put those side by side. Thanks for
[12:36] watching.