If you’ve been waiting for the price of Apple’s M5 MacBook Air to come back down to earth, Prime Day just delivered. The 13-inch M5 MacBook Air is $1,099 at Amazon, marking the first time it’s dropped back to that price since Apple hiked the laptop’s price in June.
That’s $200 off its current $1,299 price — and effectively wipes out Apple’s steep recent price increase. If you want a MacBook that can handle more than the basics but don’t want to spend MacBook Pro money, this is the one I’d zero in on.
According to our friends over at Macworld, Apple didn’t exactly reinvent the wheel here… but honestly? It didn’t need to.
The M5 chip delivers impressive performance, with Macworld finding it performed similarly to the pricier M5 MacBook Pro in many tests, especially single-core CPU workloads (think tasks like opening programs and general responsiveness). The Air is fanless, though. While that means quieter operation, the MacBook Pro still has the edge as far as demanding tasks go.
The 13.6-inch 2880×1864 Liquid Retina display is another reason why the Air works well as an everyday laptop. Macworld praised its color accuracy, so it should be great for everything from documents and browsing to watching movies.
And then there’s the battery life. Macworld managed 18 hours and 24 minutes in its battery test, while noting that the Air could comfortably make it through an eight-hour workday without needing a plug.
The MacBook Pro is probably overkill for most people, and this Prime Day deal makes the M5 Air an even easier choice. For the first time since Apple raised its price, you can get it for $1,099 again — with plenty of performance for everyday work and then some.
