Hello, this is Kitle.

It’s been a while since my last IT hardware review.

On March 11, 2026, Apple released the upgraded MacBook Air with the M5 chip in Korea, bringing noticeable performance improvements. So of course, it deserves a closer look.

Let’s go through the design changes, key features, and some basic MacBook setup tips.

Design Overview

Please excuse the quick photos — I didn’t have proper lighting at home.

This is the 15-inch MacBook Air, and the side profile highlights the signature ultra-thin Air design.

On the left side you’ll find the MagSafe charging port and two USB-C (Thunderbolt) ports.

It’s obviously lighter than a MacBook Pro, though it still feels solid and well-built.

If you use USB-C for both charging and an external display, cable management stays relatively clean. That said, if you connect several peripherals, the limited port selection can feel restrictive. But portability is really the main focus of the MacBook Air.

On the opposite side there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack. There’s no HDMI port, so if you frequently connect to external displays, you’ll want a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter.

Base Specifications

As mentioned in a previous blog post, the base model now includes 16GB of unified memory and 512GB of storage. That’s a significant upgrade compared to previous entry configurations.

A common question is how much storage remains after the default macOS installation.

Let’s take a look.

Out of the box, about 49.06GB is used by macOS and system files, leaving roughly 445GB of available storage.

This is before installing anything. Developers will likely add tools such as Xcode and related packages, which can easily consume tens of gigabytes. Still, a 512GB base configuration is much more practical than older base models.

Color Option (Blue)

I picked the new blue color option this time. Because of the lighting in the photo, it almost looks silver.

Some people worry that blue might feel too flashy or become tiring over time, but in reality it’s fairly subtle. In many lighting conditions it’s close to silver, so I expect it will be a fairly popular choice.

Accessories

The adapter on top is the 35W MacBook Air charger, and the one below is a 140W MacBook Pro charger for comparison.

The 35W charger is slower, but the MacBook Air doesn’t really require aggressive fast charging like smartphones do. In some ways the smaller charger is actually more convenient.

The fact that it now includes two USB-C ports on the charger is also a welcome improvement. Larger power adapters can sometimes be bulky when plugged into power strips.

The only downside is that the Apple logo engraving is gone, which some people might miss. Overall though, the charger is compact and practical.

First Boot Screen

This is the screen after the first boot.

The familiar notch design remains unchanged from previous MacBook models. The default wallpaper automatically applied by macOS looks clean and spacious.

The display quality is technically lower than the MacBook Pro lineup, but even for someone who normally works on a Pro, the difference doesn’t feel dramatic in everyday use.

The keyboard typing experience remains classic MacBook — responsive and balanced, with a comfortable tactile feel.

Touch ID is located in the top-right corner, making authentication fast and convenient.

That covers the external overview. Next, let’s move on to performance impressions and essential software setup.

Boot Time

Even though this was a fresh system with nothing installed, the full reboot — from the Apple logo and progress bar to the login screen — took roughly 5 seconds.

Most MacBook users rely on sleep mode instead of rebooting frequently, but this still gives a good idea of the system’s responsiveness.

Default OS Information and Display Resolution

The system ships with macOS 26.3 Tahoe, which is already close to the latest version. As of March 11, the newest update available is 26.3.1, a minor version upgrade.

The update requires an additional download of about 3GB.

Since the device already comes with a nearly up-to-date OS, it might not be necessary to update immediately. It's probably better to start using the system first and update later.

The maximum display resolution is 2880 × 1864.

The default resolution is set lower than that, and in the standard display settings you can increase it up to 1920 × 1243.

If you want to go higher, you can enter the advanced display settings and enable the option to show all available resolutions. After that, you'll be able to select the full 2880 × 1864 resolution.

For the built-in 15-inch display, most people will likely increase scaling rather than reduce it, since lowering the scaling makes text quite small.

Now let's quickly move on to some basic optimization steps.

Removing Desktop Widgets / Cleaning Up and Auto-Hiding the Dock

You may notice that widgets suddenly appear on the desktop.

To remove them, go to Settings → Desktop & Dock → Widgets, then disable the “Show Widgets” option.

Next, clean up the dock at the bottom of the screen. Right-click on any unnecessary icons and remove the apps you don't plan to use.

Trackpad Settings

Setting the trackpad to tap-to-click instead of requiring a firm press is something most users already know, so I’ll skip the details here.

However, enabling three-finger drag can also be very convenient.

To enable it, go to the Accessibility settings and activate the option there.

Additional Essential Software

This part varies depending on personal preference, but I generally recommend installing the Chrome browser as a baseline.

For developers or IT engineers, you’ll also want to install and update Xcode. The base installation is around 3GB, but additional components and packages will increase the total storage usage.

You may also want to install:

• Homebrew for package management
• Ghostty (a modern terminal application)
• AI tools such as Codex or Claude

Once those are installed, your basic development setup should be ready.

This is my first time using the new MacBook Air, and I really like how clean and minimal the experience feels.

Hope you enjoy your Mac life as well!