Best M5 MacBook Air deal: First deal at Amazon

SAVE $49: As of March 12, the brand new Apple MacBook Air (M5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) is on sale for the first time in both the 13-inch and 15-inch models. Get the 13-inch for $1,049.99 (reg. $1,099) and the 15-inch for $1,249.99 (reg. $1,299).

The brand new Apple M5 MacBook Air officially has its first discount. It made its formal debut just yesterday, March 11, and is already on sale in both the 13-inch and 15-inch varieties.

The starting price for the M5 MacBook Air is $1,099 for the 13-inch model and $1,299 for the 15-inch model. Both base models feature 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. As of March 12, you can knock $49.01 off each laptop, bringing the starting price down to just $1,049.99 or $1,249.99. Sure, that's not a huge discount. But considering the base models are already technically $100 cheaper than their predecessors, that's pretty sweet value.

So what's new about these laptops? Honestly, not a whole lot. Obviously, the M5 chip is a step up from the previous generation's M4 chip. They now have the same wildly fast processor as the 14-inch MacBook Pro from last fall. They also start with more base storage, are configurable with up to 4TB (up from 2TB) for the first time, and have added Apple's N1 wireless chip to bring support for WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6.

Otherwise, the new M5 MacBook Air is largely the same as the M4 MacBook Air — same 60Hz Liquid Retina display, 12MP Center Stage webcam, dual Thunderbolt 4 ports, and 18-hour battery life. While that's not necessarily a bad thing (we loved the M4 Air), it certainly makes it a non-essential upgrade unless you're rocking a MacBook that's a few generations old. Still, there's no denying what a great value the laptop is, particularly now that it's $49 cheaper in both sizes.