MacBook Air M5 vs M4 — that’s the choice UK buyers face today, with Apple’s new M5 model landing at £1,099 while the MacBook Air M4 now sits at £899 at Currys and Amazon UK. Both are 13-inch laptops with the same Liquid Retina display, the same fanless aluminium chassis, and the same 18-hour battery claim. So what do you actually get for the extra £200?
At a Glance — Key Differences
| MacBook Air M4 (2025) | MacBook Air M5 (2026) | |
|---|---|---|
| Chip | Apple M4 | Apple M5 |
| CPU | 10-core | 10-core |
| GPU | 10-core | 10-core |
| RAM (base) | 16GB | 16GB |
| Storage (base) | 256GB | 256GB |
| Display | 13.6″ Liquid Retina | 13.6″ Liquid Retina |
| Battery | Up to 18 hours | Up to 18 hours |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6E, Thunderbolt 4 | Wi-Fi 6E, Thunderbolt 4 |
| UK base price | £899 | £1,099 |
On paper, these two laptops look nearly identical. Same core counts. Same display. Same battery life. The difference lives inside the chip itself.
Performance — What the M5 Actually Adds
When comparing MacBook Air M5 vs M4, the difference comes down to the chip itself. The M5 is built on TSMC’s 3nm second-generation process, the same node that underpins the M4 Pro used in the MacBook Pro. Apple claims the M5 delivers around 20% faster CPU performance and up to 30% faster GPU throughput compared to the M4. For most tasks — web browsing, documents, video calls — you will not feel that gap in daily use. Both chips are fast enough that the bottleneck is usually the software, not the silicon.
Where the M5 pulls ahead is sustained workloads. Video editing timelines, batch photo exports, and running local AI models will complete noticeably faster on the M5. The Neural Engine upgrade also matters if you are leaning into Apple Intelligence features, which are now considerably more capable on M5 hardware.
For anyone upgrading from an M1 or M2 MacBook Air, either chip will feel like a significant step forward. The M5 advantage is marginal in everyday use but becomes meaningful if you push the machine hard.
Display and Design — No Change
Both laptops use the same 13.6-inch Liquid Retina panel at 2560×1664 resolution, with 500 nits brightness, P3 wide colour, and True Tone. The M5 model ships in a new Sky Blue colourway alongside the existing Midnight, Starlight, and Space Grey options — but the physical dimensions, weight (1.24kg), and MagSafe 3 charging setup are unchanged.
If you were hoping for a ProMotion display or a thinner chassis, neither arrives with this generation. The Air remains the Air.
UK Price and Value
| Config | M4 Price (Currys) | M5 Price |
|---|---|---|
| 13″ / 16GB / 256GB | £899 | £1,099 |
| 13″ / 16GB / 512GB | £999 | £1,299 |
| 13″ / 24GB / 512GB | £1,199 | £1,499 |
The M4 at £899 represents strong value — it is a well-established chip with over a year of real-world reliability behind it. Currys currently lists it with a £30 saving off its original £929 price, and stock is widely available.
The M5 at £1,099 is a £200 premium for a chip that is roughly 20% faster in synthetic benchmarks. In practice, that headroom matters most for users who will keep this laptop for four or five years. If longevity is the priority, the M5 is the smarter long-term buy. For value right now, the M4 is hard to argue with — particularly for premium Windows laptops like the Galaxy Book6 Ultra which start at £2,999, making either MacBook Air look like exceptional value at its price point.
MacBook Air M5 vs M4 — Which Should You Buy?
Buy the MacBook Air M4 if: you want the best value Mac available right now, your workload is everyday productivity and web use, or you are on a tighter budget and £200 makes a meaningful difference.
Buy the MacBook Air M5 if: you plan to keep the laptop for four or more years, you regularly edit video or run demanding creative software, you want the newest Apple Intelligence capabilities, or you simply want the latest chip.
For most UK buyers, the M4 at £899 is the practical choice. The M5 is the better machine — but the gap in real-world performance does not match the gap in price at everyday tasks.
You can order the MacBook Air M5 at the best UK price on AMAZON.
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