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Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Worth the move from the 13-inch Air M4, 512GB
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
We chose the 15-inch MacBook Air M5 with the 1TB SSD for our aerial mapping business, and we love it. This laptop has become our mobile office platform in the field and has been a great fit from day one.
We actually moved to this from a smaller 13-inch MacBook Air M4, and our decision was not because the M4 was lacking. It was a very good machine. The real reason for the upgrade was that we wanted more screen space for field use without giving up portability. That turned out to be exactly the right call. The 15-inch display is noticeably better for reviewing maps, documents, project visuals, email, and multitasking when working away from the office.
The 1TB storage upgrade from 512gb was also worth it. It gives us more room for daily images in the field and eliminated the need to carry a portable USB drive to do field images review. That extra space matters when this is a machine you depend on for real work.
As for performance, the M5 is by far plenty of processor for 99% of what most people do every day. It is fast, responsive, and handles everything we throw at it without ever feeling strained. For email, Microsoft Office, web apps, cloud storage, multitasking, and reviewing project visuals, it has been excellent.
This is our 4th MacBook Air and one thing we have really appreciate is the fanless design. No fan noise, no extra heat management concerns, and totally silent operation. That is a bigger advantage than it sounds like on paper, especially when using it as a portable work machine in the field.
We stayed with the same color so our favorite accessory the port adapter shown in the picture also was useable with the M5 15. Again, if your hesitation on Air vs. Pro is due to the lack of ports, this solves it. Plug and play. FYI - it's the Satechi 7 in 1 USB C Hub Multiport Adapter Pro Slim, USB C Dongle and is available at Best Buy. See image. And, no..... we didn't get a dime for saying that.
Overall, this has been one of the best laptop purchases we’ve made. Light, quiet, fast, dependable, and easy to use. It has more than enough processing power and speed for large QGIS files, and the 15-inch size makes it even better. One of the best business decisions we've made this year.
BTW, we did trade in our M4 to Best Buy and were pleased with that process too - easy and they gave us more for it than we could have sold it for ourselves.