The MacBook Air M5 is still the laptop I would point most people towards, but in October 2026 the question is not really whether it is good. It is what you should pay for it. Apple added £200 to the price in June, half of page one still quotes the launch price, and the cheapest place to buy one new is not Apple.
So this is the UK buying guide I wanted when I went looking: what the MacBook Air M5 actually costs today, where it is cheaper, what is missing from the box, and whether it is worth holding out for the M6.
MacBook Air M5 UK price: £1,299 now, not £1,099
When Apple announced the MacBook Air with M5 on 4 March, the 13-inch started at £1,099 and the 15-inch at £1,299, both with 16GB of memory and a 512GB SSD. It went on sale on 11 March. Those are the numbers most of the reviews you will find were written around.
On 25 June Apple put the prices up across the Mac and iPad range, and the Air went up by £200 at both sizes, as MacFinder's write-up of the UK rise set out the following day. The 13-inch is now £1,299 and the 15-inch is £1,499. By my arithmetic that is an 18.2 per cent rise on the 13-inch and 15.4 per cent on the 15-inch, for exactly the same hardware.
The reason is memory. AI data centre buildouts are buying RAM and SSD chips at a scale that has pushed component prices up for everyone, and the Air, as Apple's highest-volume Mac, is the most exposed to it. I covered the stock side of that story when the MacBook Air shortage was at its worst in August.
Why page one is still quoting £1,099
Search for the MacBook Air M5 and most of what ranks is reviews written in March and April. Expert Reviews' review, published on 23 March, quotes £1,099 and £1,299. Idealo's comparison page still says the 13-inch is available from £1,099. None of that is wrong for the day it was written. It is just not what you will pay this week.
That matters because a lot of the "it's only £1,099, buy it" advice was built on the launch price. At £1,299 the value case shifts, especially against the MacBook Neo, which went up by £100 to £699 in the same June round.
Where the MacBook Air M5 is cheaper than Apple
The good news is that retailers have not all followed Apple's new price. On the morning I wrote this, PriceSpy's listing for the 13-inch M5 with 16GB and 512GB had Amazon at £1,187.97, with ao.com and Boots both at £1,189.00. Argos and Currys were at the full £1,299.
That is £111.03 off Apple's price at Amazon, or 8.5 per cent by my maths, on the identical machine with the same Apple warranty. ao.com and Boots save you £110. PriceSpy's history marks the trend as rising, so I would not count on that gap being there in a month.
Here is how the main routes stack up for the base 13-inch, as of 4 October 2026:
- Apple, standard store: £1,299
- Currys and Argos: £1,299
- Amazon: £1,187.97
- ao.com and Boots: £1,189.00
- Apple Education Store: £1,199, plus an £80 Apple Gift Card until 22 October
The education store is the one exception
If you are a student, a parent buying for one, or you work in education, Apple's own store is competitive again. When I lined up both Apple stores for my Apple student discount guide, the MacBook Air was £1,299 standard and £1,199 with education pricing, and Apple's Back to School offer adds an £80 gift card until 22 October.
That is £180 of value on a £1,299 laptop, or 13.9 per cent by my arithmetic. It also happens to solve the charger problem below, which none of the retailer deals do.
The charger the MacBook Air M5 doesn't come with
This is the bit almost nobody mentions in the reviews. In the UK and EU, the MacBook Air M5 ships with a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable and no power adapter. MacRumors confirmed in March that none of the new Neo, Air or Pro models include one here. Currys' own listing spells it out: you need a USB-C adapter of at least 30W to charge it.
If you already have a decent USB-C charger from an iPad or a recent phone, that is fine. If you do not, budget for one. Apple sells the 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter for £59, and John Lewis lists Apple's 40W Dynamic Power Adapter for £39.
So the real comparison is £1,187.97 plus £39 at Amazon, which is £1,226.97, against £1,299 plus £39 at Apple, which is £1,338. If you buy through the education store, the £80 gift card covers the £39 adapter with £41 left over.
Refurbished MacBook Air M5: often not the bargain you'd expect
Refurbished is usually my first suggestion for a Mac, and it is still the right call for older generations. For the M5 Air right now, the numbers are odd. Refurb.me's comparison for the 13-inch M5 with 16GB and 512GB showed Back Market listings in Excellent condition at £1,296 and £1,299, and MusicMagpie at £1,189.
Put that next to Amazon's new price and the problem is obvious. Those two Back Market listings cost £108.03 and £111.03 more than a brand new one, and the MusicMagpie unit is £1.03 more than new. I would not pay new money for a used machine when the new one is the same price or less.
There are real refurb savings at the lower grades. Hoxton Macs lists the 13-inch M5 from £945 in Fair condition up to £1,095 in Premium, though most of those listings showed as sold out when I checked. A Fair unit at £945 would be £242.97 under Amazon, about 20.5 per cent, if you can catch one and do not mind marks on the case.
Is the MacBook Air M5 worth it at £1,299?
The hardware has not changed since March, so the case for it has not either. It has the M5 with a 10-core CPU, an 8-core GPU on the base 13-inch and a 10-core GPU on the 15-inch, 16GB of memory as standard, and 512GB of storage, double what the M4 Air started with. Apple quotes up to 18 hours of battery, and Expert Reviews measured just under 15 hours on the 15-inch in its own video test.
What has changed is the gap to the next machine down. The MacBook Neo is £699, which leaves £600 between it and the Air. I have spent proper time with the MacBook Neo, and for browsing, writing, email and streaming it does the job. The Air earns its extra money on battery, the extra memory and storage headroom, and anything heavier like photo editing, light video work or a lot of browser tabs at once.
My rough rule: if your laptop lives in a browser and a word processor, the Neo is now the better buy. If you edit photos or video, keep a lot open at once, or want this machine to last five years, the Air is still the one, just not at £1,299 unless you get the education price.
13-inch or 15-inch?
The 15-inch costs £200 more at Apple and adds the bigger screen, the 10-core GPU and better speakers. If you mostly work at a desk with an external display, the 13-inch is the better value. If the laptop is your only screen, the 15-inch is worth stretching for, and the same retailer discounts tend to apply to it.
Should you wait for the M6 MacBook Air?
According to Mark Gurman's reporting, summarised by 9to5Mac's M6 Mac release schedule, the M6 MacBook Air is expected in early 2027, most likely around March. It is reported to keep the same design and display as the M5 model, with OLED not expected until 2028 at the earliest. That is a rumour, not a confirmed date.
I would not wait for it to save money. The June rise was driven by memory costs, and nothing about that market suggests it is easing by March. The most likely outcome is that the M6 launches at £1,299 too, with a faster chip and the same chassis. If you need a laptop before Christmas, the M5 is the right machine, and the price you pay matters more than the chip generation.
Paying monthly costs more than it looks
Apple's store offers the MacBook Air from £39.92 a month over 36 months at 6.9 per cent interest. Multiply that out and it is £1,437.12, which is £138.12 more than paying cash, about 10.6 per cent on top by my arithmetic.
Currys' product page quotes from £52.64 a month over 36 months. If that is the full repayment schedule, it works out at £1,895.04, which is £596.04 more than the cash price. Read the APR before you click, because the monthly figure on its own tells you very little.
MacBook Air M5 FAQ
How much is the MacBook Air M5 in the UK?
Apple charges £1,299 for the 13-inch with 16GB and 512GB, and £1,499 for the 15-inch, after a £200 rise on 25 June 2026. At the start of October, Amazon had the 13-inch at £1,187.97 and ao.com and Boots at £1,189. Students pay £1,199 at Apple's Education Store.
Does the MacBook Air M5 come with a charger in the UK?
No. UK and EU models ship with a USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable but no power adapter. You need a USB-C charger of at least 30W. Apple's 40W Dynamic Power Adapter is £39 at John Lewis and the 35W Dual USB-C adapter is £59 from Apple.
Is the M5 MacBook Air worth upgrading to from an M1?
If your M1 Air still does what you need, there is no rush. If you are hitting the limit of 8GB of memory or 256GB of storage, the M5's 16GB and 512GB base is a big step, and Wi-Fi 7 and the faster SSD are nice extras. Just buy it at a retailer price rather than £1,299.
My take
The MacBook Air M5 is the same excellent laptop it was in March. What changed is the price, and that changes how you buy it. Do not pay £1,299 at Apple unless you qualify for education pricing, in which case £1,199 plus an £80 gift card before 22 October is the best deal going.
Everyone else should buy from Amazon, ao.com or Boots at around £1,188 while the old pricing lasts, budget £39 for a charger if you do not have one, and skip refurbished listings that cost the same as new. And if all you do is browse and write, save £600 and buy the Neo instead.
Source: Apple introduces the new MacBook Air with M5, Apple Newsroom
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