Expanding its Mac line-up, Apple has unveiled refreshed MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models powered by its new M5 family of chips. The updated laptops bring stronger performance, improved on-device AI capabilities, faster storage and support for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. Pre-orders begin March 4, with sales starting March 11 in India and other markets.
The new MacBook Air is available in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes and runs on the M5 chip with a 10-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU, featuring a Neural Accelerator in each core. Apple says it delivers up to 4x faster AI performance than M4 models and up to 9.5x faster performance than M1-based versions. The base storage is now 512GB, double the earlier configuration and can be expanded up to 4TB. The updated SSD offers up to 2x faster read and write speeds. The M5 chip provides 153GB/s unified memory bandwidth, a 28% increase over M4. It retains its slim, fanless aluminium design and features a 13.6-inch or 15.3-inch Liquid Retina display with up to 500 nits brightness and support for 1 billion colours. It comes in 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. India pricing starts at ₹1,19,900 for the 13-inch model and ₹1,44,900 for the 15-inch variant, with education pricing lower.
The refreshed MacBook Pro models in 14-inch and 16-inch sizes now feature M5 Pro and M5 Max chips built on a Fusion Architecture that combines 2 dies into a single system on chip. They offer up to an 18-core CPU and next-generation GPU with Neural Accelerators. Apple claims up to 4x AI gains over the previous generation and up to 8x over M1-based models. M5 Pro supports up to 64GB unified memory with up to 307GB/s bandwidth, while M5 Max supports up to 128GB unified memory with up to 614GB/s bandwidth. The laptops include a 12MP Center Stage camera, studio-quality microphones, a 6-speaker system with Spatial Audio, and ship with macOS Tahoe and Apple Intelligence features like Live Translation and enhanced Spotlight. “MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max redefines what’s possible on a pro laptop, now up to 4x faster than the previous generation,” Ternus said. India prices start at ₹2,49,900 for the 14-inch M5 Pro and go up to ₹4,29,900 for the 16-inch M5 Max variant.
Apple also introduced an updated Studio Display and the new Studio Display XDR. The 27-inch 5K Studio Display offers 600 nits brightness, a 12MP Centre Stage camera with Desk View, Thunderbolt 5 with up to 96W charging and Spatial Audio. The Studio Display XDR features a 27-inch 5K Retina XDR panel with over 2,000 local dimming zones, up to 1000 nits SDR brightness, 2000 nits peak HDR brightness, 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 120Hz Adaptive Sync, and Thunderbolt 5 with up to 140W charging. Studio Display starts at ₹1,89,900, while Studio Display XDR starts at ₹3,99,900. Both support standard and nano-texture glass options, with pre-orders from March 4 and availability from March 11.
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