MacBook Air M5 arrives, costs $100 more - is this a bad sign for the rumored budget MacBook?

Apple has announced a new MacBook Air with the M5 chip running the show inside the laptop.

2

As well as the M5 here, the other notable move is that the entry-level model costs $100 more than previously - but there's a reason for that. Namely that the amount of base storage has been doubled to 512GB. You still get 16GB of unified RAM on-board.

Another upgrade that stands out is that there's Wi-Fi 7 support here, which is great to see, along with Bluetooth 6 courtesy of Apple's new N1 wireless networking chip.

For wired connectivity, you get a pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports with the ability to hook up two external monitors should you wish. There's also a MagSafe charging connector.

Apple's claiming up to 18 hours of battery life with the MacBook Air M5.

With the new pricing scheme, the base MacBook Air 13-inch with M5 starts at $1,099 in the US, and if you want the 15-inch laptop, that starts at $1,299. The notebooks are available in four colors: sky blue, midnight, starlight, and silver.

While paying an extra $100 for the entry-level model isn't ideal, as mentioned, you are getting a leap from 256GB storage - a configuration that feels tight these days - to 512GB which is considerably roomier.

A hidden motive?

Given the RAM pricing crisis - and SSDs getting considerably more expensive, too - it's not really a surprise to see the price bumped up like this. There may be another reason here, too - and that's the rumored and supposedly imminent new affordable MacBook.

This is the budget model - based on an iPhone processor - that's going to be pitched below the MacBook Air, and with the Air M5 having got this price hike, it begs the question: is Apple making some room here for the price tag it'll pin on this lower-tier laptop?

In other words, when the new affordable MacBook is revealed, it might come in at the pricier end of the grapevine's expectations. So, that could mean a starting price of $799, or some are guessing maybe even a bit more - though in my book (MacBook, even), going higher than that is making a mockery of the idea that it's a 'budget' product.

Clearly, this move to $1,099 with the MacBook Air M5 does undeniably give Apple more room to maneuver in terms of making the affordable MacBook a bit more costly.

We shall see, of course, and we may not have long to wait, as it's possible we may witness the launch of this budget MacBook tomorrow.