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Should I upgrade my MacBook Air (15-inch, M5)?

under a year old · Runs macOS 27 Golden Gate, the current macOS

Quick look

Price
£1,4992Apple UK store
Chip
M5chip
CPU
10-coreCPU
GPU
10-coreGPU
Memory
16GBunified memory, base
Storage
512GBstorage, base
Display
15.3-inchdisplay
Battery life
Up to18 hrsvideo playback, claimed
Released
11 March 20263ReleasedIn Apple Stores; pre-order from 4 March 2026.
Security updates
Not available4Security updates

Each figure is from the source marked1 unless it carries its own number.

Software support

Security updates
Not available4
macOS
macOS 27 Golden Gate, the current macOS

Nothing newer in the line yet

We hold no Apple UK store price for a newer Mac in the MacBook Air M5 (15-inch)’s line and tier. When we read one it appears here beside the MacBook Air M5 (15-inch).

Specifications

Body

Dimensions
11.5 x 340.4 x 237.6 mm
Weight
1.51 kg
Colours
Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight
Ports
Two Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5mm headphone jack
Thunderbolt ports
2
Thunderbolt version
Thunderbolt 4
USB-A ports
No USB-A ports.5
HDMI
No HDMI port.6
SD card slot
No SD card slot.6
Headphone jack
Yes
MagSafe
Yes
Keyboard
Backlit Magic Keyboard with Touch ID
Touch ID
Yes

Display

Display size
15.3 in
Resolution
2880 x 1864
Pixel density
224 ppi
Display type
Liquid Retina display
Brightness
500 nits
Wide colour (P3)
Yes
Nano-texture option
No nano-texture display option.6

Chip and memory

Chip
Apple M5 chip
Apple silicon
Yes
CPU cores
10
Super cores
47
Efficiency cores
67
GPU cores
10
Neural Engine cores
16
Chip options
M5 with 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU
Memory (base)
16GB
Memory (maximum)
32GB
Memory options
16GB, 24GB or 32GB
Memory upgradeable by user
No, as Apple documents8
Memory bandwidth
153 GB/s
Storage (base)
512GB
Storage (maximum)
4TB
Storage options
512GB, 1TB, 2TB or 4TB
Media engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAWvideo decode enginevideo encode engineProRes encode and decode engineAV1 decode

Battery and power

Battery capacity
66.5 Wh
Rated charge cycles
1,000 cycles9
Video playback (claimed)
18 h
Wireless web (claimed)
15 h
Included power adapter
No power adapter in the box.6
Fast charging
Yes

Connectivity

Wi-Fi
Wi‑Fi 7 (802.11be)
Bluetooth
6
Ethernet
No Ethernet port.6
External displays (base)
2

Camera and audio

Camera
12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View
Camera resolution
12 MP
Speakers
Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers
Microphones
Three-mic array with directional beamforming

Platform

Newest macOS
macOS 27 Golden Gate10
Model identifier
Mac17,411
Part numbers
MDV94xx/A, MDVA4xx/A, MDVC4xx/A, MDVD4xx/A, MDVE4xx/A, MDVF4xx/A, MDVH4xx/A, MDVK4xx/A, MDVN4xx/A, MDVQ4xx/A, MDVT4xx/A, MDVU4xx/A12
Model year
2026

Benchmarks

Geekbench 7 (CPU, single-core)
3,58513
Geekbench 7 (CPU, multi-core)
17,16913
Geekbench 7 (Metal)
71,20713

Software support

Feature updates until
Not available4
Security updates until
Not available4
Basis
our inference from history14

The rest of the range at the price

Macs from other lines with a price read from Apple’s UK store, released within a year of the MacBook Air M5 (15-inch) and priced within a quarter of its £1,499 at Apple’s UK price as read on 22 September 2026, nearest price first. Each links to its side-by-side table.

Trade-in and used prices

CeX pays, grade A
£778 cash / £903 voucher15Base configuration
CeX sells, grade A
£1,255–£1,35015Base configuration, cheapest of 4 listings linked

More

Sources

  1. Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M5) - Tech Specs · Default for MacBook Air (15-inch, M5) · Apple’s figure · read 14 Sep 2026

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  2. Apple UK store — 15-inch MacBook Air M5, 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU — From £1,499 · Apple’s figure · read 22 Sep 2026

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  3. Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with M5 · Apple’s figure · read 14 Sep 2026

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  4. Apple publishes no date for the end of updates, and this site does not guess one. Checked: endoflife.date. Read 22 Sep 2026

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  5. No USB-A ports. Checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M5) - Tech Specs. Read 14 Sep 2026

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  6. No HDMI port. No SD card slot. No nano-texture display option. No power adapter in the box. No Ethernet port. Checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M5) - Tech Specs. Read 9 Oct 2026

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  7. Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M5) - Tech Specs · Apple’s figure · read 2 Oct 2026

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  8. Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Pro: how to remove or install memory · Apple’s figure · read 18 Oct 2026

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  9. Apple Support (UK) — Determine battery cycle count for Mac laptops · Apple’s figure · read 15 Oct 2026

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  10. Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers · Apple’s figure · read 22 Sep 2026

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  11. Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model · Apple’s figure · read 14 Sep 2026

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  12. Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model · Apple’s figure · read 18 Oct 2026

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  13. Geekbench Browser (Primate Labs) · third-party figure · read 11 Oct 2026

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  14. Apple’s macOS 27 Golden Gate compatibility list names this Mac. endoflife.date says Apple usually provides security updates for the latest three macOS releases, but that this isn’t consistently applied; Apple publishes no end date. Source: endoflife.date. Read 22 Sep 2026

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  15. CeX — Trade-in, Grade A, cash · third-party figure · read 3 Nov 2026

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Not published by Apple

MacBook Air (15-inch, M5). Apple doesn’t publish for this Mac: refresh rate, storage upgradeable by user, the macOS it shipped with. Pages checked: Apple Support (UK) — MacBook Air (15-inch, M5) - Tech Specs; Apple Support (UK) — macOS 27 Golden Gate is compatible with these computers; Apple Support (UK) — Identify your MacBook Air model; Apple Newsroom (UK) — Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with M5, read 9 Oct 2026.

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