As of Tuesday, Apple has refreshed its entire MacBook lineup with M5 silicon. And while the new machines bring meaningful upgrades across the board, buyers should brace for higher prices than last year.
Whether you’re eyeing the new MacBook Air or the pro-grade MacBook Pro, here’s a breakdown of what to expect at every price point.
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What new M5 MacBooks will cost you
Apple’s website cites $1,600 as the entry point for an M5 MacBook Pro, but that’s not in reference to the models that just came out Tuesday. That’s the base M5 MacBook Pro that came out in October 2025. The new models with unbelievably hot M5 Pro and M5 Max chips bring higher specs and higher prices. And new M5 MacBook Air is no slouch, either, but it’s obviously more affordable.
MacBook Pro: from $1,600 to $7,349
The M5 chip is Apple’s latest and greatest. This model from October 2025 comes with upgraded storage and memory, ideal for creative professionals and hobbyists.
- 24GB unified memory
- 1TB SSD storage
- 24-hour battery life
The MacBook Pro with M5 starts at $1,699 for the base model, a 14-inch machine with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. That’s already a $100 increase over last year’s entry price. But once you start configuring up to the M5 Pro or M5 Max chips, costs climb quickly.
The M5 Pro and M5 Max versions now start at $2,200 for the 14-inch and $2,700 for the 16-inch — both up $200 from their M4 Pro predecessors. At the very top of the lineup, the fully loaded 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max tops out at $7,349 (or $612.41/month). That configuration gets you a nano-texture anti-reflective display coating, the 18-core CPU and 40-core GPU M5 Max chip, a massive 128GB of unified memory and 8TB of SSD storage.
For context on the chip options: the M5 Pro comes with a 15 or 18-core CPU and 16 or 20 GPU cores, while the M5 Max steps up to an 18-core CPU alongside a choice of 32 or 40 GPU cores. Base RAM on the M5 Pro starts at 24GB or 48GB, and storage begins at 1TB across Pro and Max configurations — an increase from the 512GB that started the M4 Pro lineup.
MacBook Air: from $1,099
Photo: Apple
The M5 MacBook Air is the machine most buyers will consider, and its starting price has nudged up $100 to $1,099 for the 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch — matching a price point last seen on earlier Air generations.
That $100 bump does come with a meaningful trade-off in your favor: base storage has doubled from 256GB to 512GB, and Apple says the new SSD delivers twice the read/write performance of the previous generation. All configurations include 16GB of RAM to start, with options to step up to 24GB or 32GB. On the storage side, the M5 Air becomes the first in the lineup to offer up to 4TB — double the 2TB ceiling of the M4 model.
The base 13-inch Air ships with a 10-core CPU and 8-core GPU. Upgrading any spec — more RAM, more storage — moves you to the more powerful 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU configuration, which is also standard across all 15-inch models. Both sizes support up to two external displays via a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports.
New this year is Apple’s N1 wireless chip, which brings Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6 to the Air for the first time. Battery life remains rated at up to 18 hours, and the design is unchanged from the slim aluminum chassis Apple has used since 2022. Color options — sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver — are also carried over from last year.
When can you buy the 2026 models?
Pre-orders for both the M5 MacBook Air and M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pro open Wednesday (March 4), with in-store and online availability beginning March 11.
David Snow, an expert on Apple hardware and software, writes on a variety of technological and cultural topics for Cult of Mac. They include Apple news, technology buying guides, and features about computer setups and Apple TV shows and movies.
With 30 years of experience covering technology and other subjects, he has written and edited for numerous print and online publications, including CMP Media, TechTV.com, CNET, Wired News, Red Herring magazine, Law.com, The National Law Journal and Law Technology News magazine. Among other roles, he served as executive editor of the Law.com network of websites and editorial director, technology, for ALM Media.
Snow graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University with majors in magazine journalism and psychology. While there, he worked as a reporter for The Daily Orange newspaper and associate editor of Equal Time magazine.
Founder of the blog At the Waterline, he can be reached on X (formerly Twitter) via @atthewaterline and on Mastodon via @dsnow.
