M5 MacBook Air Review: Is It Worth It for Video Editors?

M5 MacBook Air Review: Is It Worth It for Video Editors?

If you need an ultra portable laptop that can edit 4K, 6K, even 8K raw video with phenomenal battery life, the M5 MacBook Air is a surprisingly great choice. But you could also save your money and get 90% of the performance for a much cheaper price. I’m Matt Johnson, and in this post I’m reviewing the M5 MacBook Air from the perspective of a video editor.

For the sake of full transparency, this video is not paid or sponsored by Apple. I bought this laptop with my own money.

My Background: From PC to MacBook Air

Historically, I’ve been a PC guy. I still use a custom built desktop as my main computer for day to day editing, and that’s still true today. I’m on Windows 11 most days.

But there are plenty of times when I’m traveling and can’t bring my desktop with me. That’s when I need a laptop, and I used PC laptops for many years. Last year I changed things up and bought an M4 MacBook Air, because I wanted an ultra compact, lightweight laptop that was still powerful enough to edit video on the road.

That decision paid off. The M4 Air surprised me with how capable it was, especially considering it doesn’t even have a fan. Editing on this laptop over the past year has been quick and smooth, with phenomenal battery life. The only time I noticed it slow down was during rendering, mostly due to the lack of a fan for cooling. If you want the full breakdown of how that laptop held up, I covered it in my M4 MacBook Air long term review for video editing.

Why Upgrade to the M5?

So why upgrade? For me, it really comes down to storage. I’ve been extremely happy with the M4, but I only chose 500 gigs of storage when I bought it, and I constantly found myself juggling external SSDs while copying footage to and from the laptop. It was, in a word, inconvenient.

My fix was taking advantage of Apple’s trade in program. I purchased a brand new M5 MacBook Air with one terabyte of storage and got paid $755 for my M4. Not bad at all.

Build Quality and Design

From an overall build quality and construction standpoint, this laptop is stellar. It’s extremely well put together, the trackpad is fantastic, and the keyboard is a joy to type on. Apple has really dialed in all of the physical controls.

My only real complaint, and it’s one I can look past, is the port selection. Just like the M4 Air, the M5 has two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left side. I can’t help but wish it had three, because as a video editor I’m constantly copying files from one hard drive to another, and more ports are always better.

SSD Upgrades: Bigger and Faster

One real upgrade the M5 MacBook Air has over the M4 is the SSD situation. The base price went up by $100, but with that extra hundred bucks, the minimum SSD size jumped from 256GB to 512GB. As someone who also owns a base MacBook Neo with only 256 gigs of storage, I can tell you that’s barely enough to get by. You will really appreciate having at least 512 gigs of space.

Another improvement is the addition of a PCIe5 SSD, which is much faster than the M4’s drive. If you copy a lot of files regularly, you’ll notice they transfer twice as fast, which is a genuinely great quality of life upgrade.

Display Quality for Color Work

The screen is a very color accurate panel, capable of hitting the full Rec709 and P3 color spaces by my testing, which makes it great for color grading. While the screen is a step down in quality from the higher end MacBook Pros, I’ve color graded dozens of videos on this screen over the past year and it can still easily get the job done without issue. If you want to take your color grades even further, check out my LUTs for a quick, professional starting point on any project.

Performance: CPU, GPU, and Memory Bandwidth

I really didn’t have any complaints about the speed and performance of the M4 MacBook Air for video editing, aside from slightly longer render times. From a software standpoint, importing footage into DaVinci Resolve, making cuts, and rearranging clips, the M4 was extremely good. But the M5 is a sizable jump in specs over the M4.

In Apple’s marketing materials, the CPU is about 10% faster, the GPU is 30% faster, and memory bandwidth is up to 153 gigabits per second, compared to 120 on the M4.

More importantly, and this isn’t something Apple advertises directly, the biggest factor affecting your editing and render speeds on an M series MacBook is the hardware encoder and decoder. In my testing, these encoders and decoders are noticeably faster on the M5.

That means less lag and smoother timeline performance while editing. When I tested DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, and Final Cut, I found the M5 MacBook Air easily handles 4K, 6K, and even 8K H.265 footage. Throw RED RAW and ProRes RAW at it, and it scrubs through footage just as smoothly as the M4 did, especially in Resolve and Final Cut.

Unfortunately, the base model MacBook Air is hard for me to recommend if you edit in Premiere Pro. I’d look at upgrading the memory to 24 gigs, which may help, or just look at a MacBook Pro instead, since that will run Premiere much more smoothly. I cover this exact tradeoff in more detail in my M5 MacBook buyer’s guide for video editing, which will help you land on the right model for your workflow and budget.

Export Speed Comparisons: M5 vs M4

This is where the numbers get genuinely impressive. Exporting the same 10 minute project on both laptops:

Final Cut Pro: The M5 was 17% faster than the M4, finishing in 3 minutes 33 seconds versus 4 minutes 10 seconds.

I put together Lifetime PC Guy Reviews M4 Macbook Air For Video Editing!, $8000 Windows Laptop VS $1200 M4 Macbook Air: Video Editing Showdown, and This Lens Is Worth Your Attention Sigma 28-105 F2.8 Review as well, which cover the part I skipped over here.

DaVinci Resolve: The M5 was 25% faster, taking just 4 minutes 15 seconds versus 5 minutes 18 seconds on the M4.

Premiere Pro: Slower than the other two programs overall, but still 40% faster on the M5 at 8 minutes 4 seconds, compared to 11 minutes 18 seconds on the M4. Premiere really likes a lot of GPU power and RAM.

Across the board, that’s anywhere from 17% to 40% faster on the M5 compared to the M4 when it comes to rendering.

AI Performance and Neural Accelerators

Apple focused heavily on AI in their marketing for the M5, since they’ve now included neural accelerators in every GPU core, which helps with AI workloads.

You might think that only applies to running a local LLM, and that’s true, but more importantly for video editors, a lot of editing software is incorporating AI powered tools and effects that run locally on your machine.

I tested this by loading the latest version of DaVinci Resolve 21 and trying its new AI powered face age transformer tool. The M5 scrubbed through clips with the effect applied significantly faster than the M4. There wasn’t quite enough of a speed increase to get fully smooth playback, but it’s a nice improvement and shows those AI neural accelerators are doing real work.

Final Verdict: Should You Buy the M5 MacBook Air?

Here’s my overall take. In my opinion, this is simultaneously the best ultra compact laptop Apple makes, but it’s also not a revolutionary upgrade over the M4.

If you’re coming from an M1 through M3 series laptop, you’ll be very happy with the M5 Air. But if you can find an M4 Air refurbished or on sale for cheap, that will give you a pretty similar experience for a much cheaper price.

If you’re still weighing your options across the whole M5 lineup, including the Pro models, take a look at my M5 MacBook Pro buyer’s guide for video editing for the full breakdown.

And if you want to level up your editing skills no matter which laptop you choose, grab my free guide, Edit Videos Like a Pro. It walks through the biggest rules I follow as a video editor to create better videos, and it’s completely free to download.

Best 4K Export Settings For DaVinci Resolve 2026

Best 4K Export Settings For DaVinci Resolve 2026

I’m going to show you how to export 4K videos in DaVinci Resolve in very high quality for YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, your clients, and more. And to save you a ton of time, I’ve created a set of free export presets you can download at the link below. They’ll give you all of these high-quality 4K export settings immediately, without you needing to dial everything in manually. They even come with instructions showing you how to import them into DaVinci Resolve!

Download the Free 4K Export Presets for DaVinci Resolve here!

Now let’s get into it.

Getting Started: Setting Up the Deliver Page

Open up DaVinci Resolve and create a new project. Once your 4K footage is imported and edited on the timeline and your video is ready to export, click on the rocket ship icon at the bottom of the screen to open the Deliver page.

Over on the left in your render settings, give your file a name, something like my4kvideo. Then select a location where you want to save your video so you can find it after it renders. For format, select MP4, and for codec, select H.264.

Mac Settings

If you’re editing on a Mac, you’ll see a checkbox that says Use hardware acceleration if available. Check that box. This tells Resolve to use your computer’s GPU to export the video, which means it will render significantly faster.

For resolution, make sure it is set to 3840×2160 and your frame rate is set to 23.976.

Now for the most important setting: Quality. This setting directly affects the quality of your exported video. Choose Restrict to, and type in the following bitrates:

  • 50,000 kilobits per second for a 24fps or 30fps video
  • 80,000 kilobits per second for a 60fps video

This gives you the highest quality video possible on YouTube while keeping the file size at the smallest I’d recommend. It’s the sweet spot.

Why You Should Always Upload to YouTube in 4K

Here’s something a lot of people don’t know: even if you didn’t film in 4K, I still recommend using these 4K export settings for basically everything you upload to YouTube.

If you upscale your 1080p footage to 4K before uploading, YouTube will use a significantly higher bitrate during playback, and the quality will be dramatically better than if you had uploaded in HD. This also applies to Facebook, Vimeo, and pretty much any other platform. Always upload in 4K. It will almost always help you.

PC Settings

On a PC, you’ve already set Format to MP4 and Codec to H.264. You may see different settings depending on the type of graphics card installed in your computer. You’ll have an Encoder dropdown that may say Auto, Native, Intel Quicksync, or Nvidia.

You can leave this set to Auto most of the time, but if you see an Nvidia option, select it because your GPU will likely render your video the fastest.

Leave your resolution at 3840×2160 and frame rate at 23.976.

For Quality, if you have an Nvidia or AMD graphics card, you should see the Quality setting with a Restrict to option. Use the same bitrates as above:

  • 50,000 kilobits per second for 24fps or 30fps
  • 80,000 kilobits per second for 60fps

What If I Don’t See a “Restrict To” Setting?

Don’t worry! If you only have a Native Encoder option, your export settings will look a little different. You’ll see a Preset and a Rate Control option instead.

For Rate Control, select Variable Bitrate. A Bitrate option will then appear. Set it to:

  • 50,000 for 24fps or 30fps video
  • 80,000 for 60fps video

And you’re good to go!

Rendering Your Video

Regardless of whether you’re on Mac or PC, once your settings are dialed in, click Add to Render Queue at the bottom, then press Render on the right side to export your video in the highest quality.

Save Time with Export Presets

Want to avoid having to dial in all of these settings every single time? You have two options.

First, you can download my free presets, which give you all of the settings we just covered ready to use as a preset every time you export.

Second, you can save your own custom preset inside Resolve. To do that, go to the top right of the Deliver page, click the three dots menu, and select Save as new preset. Name it something like 4K 24fps WhoIsMatt. From then on, anytime you want to use these settings, just select your preset from the menu at the top and you’re ready to export instantly.

If you’re looking to level up your overall video editing workflow, check out my Edit Videos Like A Pro Guide for more tips on working faster and smarter. And if you want to compare these DaVinci Resolve export settings against Premiere Pro’s, check out my guide on the Best 4K Export Settings for Premiere Pro 2026. For Instagram-specific exports in Resolve, I’ve also put together a full guide on the Best Export Settings for Instagram Reels in DaVinci Resolve 2026.

DaVinci Resolve Has a SECRET AI Tool That Removes Wrinkles (Full Tutorial)

DaVinci Resolve Has a SECRET AI Tool That Removes Wrinkles (Full Tutorial)

I am about to show you how to de-age anyone and make them look 10 years younger in DaVinci Resolve in just one minute. If you have a client that you’re making a video for and they want you to airbrush them a bit and make them look younger, that used to require a ton of work. Now, you can do it with a single effect in DaVinci Resolve.

Before we dive in, if you want to master your editing workflow, make sure to check out my Edit Videos Like A Pro Guide. It’s a free resource that will help you level up your videos fast.

The New Face Age Transformer

First, open up DaVinci Resolve. You’ll want to be finished with the editing phase of your video before applying this because it requires a significant amount of computer processing power. Applying it to the exact clips you need at the end of your workflow will keep your playback from slowing down too much.

Head over to the Color Page and create a new node. Open the Effects panel in the top right and search for “face.” This will bring up the Face Age transformer. Drag that onto your node. To get started, click Detect Faces in Frame. This will place a tracking box around any faces in the shot. If you have multiple people, you can simply click the specific face you want to work on.

Once the face is selected, click the Double Arrow icon to track the face forward and backward. This ensures the effect stays locked on your subject as they move around the frame.

De-Aging Your Subject

Under the Age Shift settings, you’ll see an Age Offset slider. This is where the magic happens. By default, it might set the age to 30, but you can adjust the base age to match your subject. To make someone look younger, move the offset to a negative number like -10 or -20. Just like that, wrinkles are softened and the skin looks much younger. It’s honestly wild how well this works.

You can even go the other way and make someone look older if the story requires it. You can even keyframe this effect. If you want a shot like in Lord of the Rings where a character transforms in real-time, you can now do that with a few clicks.

While this tool is incredible for touch-ups, keep in mind that if you are doing heavy color grading or using LUTs, you’ll want to make sure your node structure is organized so your skin tones stay natural.

Limitations to Watch Out For

There are two main things to keep in mind. First, don’t go too extreme. If you try to make a 60-year-old look like a 20-year-old, the AI will over-soften the face and make them look a bit like a weird baby. It’s best to keep the adjustments subtle for the most realistic results.

Second, this effect only applies to the face, not the hair. If your subject has gray or thinning hair, the AI won’t change that. It only removes wrinkles and smooths skin textures.

Smoothing Out Your Playback

Because this is a heavy AI effect, your playback might stutter. To fix this, go to the Playback menu at the top, select Render Cache, and set it to Smart. Wait for the red bar on your timeline to turn blue, and you’ll be able to watch your results in real-time without any lag.

If you feel the effect is a little too “digital,” use the Global Blend slider. This acts as a master opacity for the effect, allowing you to dial it back until it looks perfectly natural.

For more tips on how to use the latest tools in Resolve, check out my other DaVinci Resolve tutorials on the blog!

Sony FX3 II Predictions That Will Actually Come True

Sony FX3 II Predictions That Will Actually Come True

Sony just announced the a7R6, and honestly? It tells us a lot. An 8K filmmaking powerhouse, 32-bit float audio, and the first new battery technology from Sony in eight years. But beyond being a great camera on its own, the a7R6 is basically Sony showing us a preview of where things are headed, and that has some very exciting implications for the FX3 Mark II and a7S4.

I want to go through what Sony has already revealed and make some educated guesses about what is coming next, because these future cameras are shaping up to be really exciting. We’re going to divide this into three categories: things I believe are guaranteed to be coming (well, as guaranteed as speculation can be), things I’m probably right about but can’t say for sure, and lastly, some wishful thinking that would make these cameras truly special.

Just to be clear upfront: this is all speculation. I don’t have any inside information. Let’s get into it.

Part 1: The Guaranteed Upgrades

The Articulating EVF from the FX2

Starting with the body of the FX3 Mark II, this is one I would be absolutely shocked if Sony didn’t include: the articulating EVF from the FX2. A lot of filmmakers weren’t thrilled with the FX2, mostly because it was a great camera body paired with a rather mediocre sensor that cropped in when recording 4K at 60fps. But one genuinely great thing about that camera was the EVF that could tilt up. It was a joy to use, and I would not be surprised at all if Sony carried that forward into future compact cinema cameras like the FX3 Mark II.

Sadly, I doubt we’ll see this EVF make it to the a7S4. Sony has shown that with their photography-focused cameras, they tend not to go that route. However, there is good news on the body front. Sony did add a front tally light to the a7R6 that lights up when you’re recording, and I would bet that also comes to the a7S4.

The Flip-Out Tilting Monitor

This one almost feels too obvious to even mention at this point. The flip-out and tilting monitor that was introduced on the a7R V has essentially become the new Sony standard. We’ve seen it on the a7V and now the a7R6. In my review of the a7V, I called it the best screen design Sony has ever put on a camera, and I have no doubt it’ll be on both the FX3 Mark II and the a7S4.

The New BIONZ XR2 Chip and NP-SA100 Battery

This one I would truly be shocked to not see. The new BIONZ XR2 processor and the NP-SA100 battery system that debuted with the a7R6 are almost certainly going to make their way into both cameras. The new batteries offer 17% longer battery life, but more importantly, they run at a higher voltage, 7.82 volts versus 7.2 on the older NP-FZ100 batteries.

Here’s my theory on why this actually matters: I believe that this more efficient processor paired with the higher voltage is what unlocks some of the more exciting capabilities we’re seeing on the a7R6, and will unlock those same capabilities on future cameras. Look at the accessories the a7R6 supports versus the a7V, which is only about six months older but uses the older battery tech. With the a7R6, Sony introduced the new XLRA4 handle with 32-bit float audio recording internally to the camera. My theory is the older batteries simply couldn’t power the camera and that XLR handle at the same time, so Sony bumped the battery tech to compensate.

And I would be absolutely shocked if the a7S4, a video-focused camera, didn’t support that XLR adapter. I’d be even more shocked if the FX3 Mark II didn’t have a locking, cinema-specific version of it with 32-bit float audio. I’ve talked before about the features I consider non-negotiable for these cameras, and 32-bit float audio is definitely on that list.

Part 2: Things That Are Probably Coming (But Who Knows)

Open Gate Recording

Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way: open gate. Every time I talk to Sony employees, whether that’s at Sony Kando events or any camera reveal, open gate comes up. Filmmakers want it for everything from shooting horizontal and vertical video in one take to using anamorphic lenses. Sony is very aware that we want it. And while the a7R6 doesn’t include it, what better camera to finally introduce open gate than a filmmaker-focused body like the a7S4 or FX3 Mark II? I’m still putting this in the speculation category, but I think filmmakers might riot if Sony doesn’t include it. It’s coming.

Internal RAW Video

The one feature that Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, and even Apple with the iPhone offer that Sony still does not: internal RAW video recording. The form it takes could vary quite a bit. Panasonic just licenses ProRes RAW from Apple. Canon makes their own flavor. Nikon basically supports everything. At a bare minimum, Sony could license ProRes RAW as an option. But they also have their own professional RAW format called XOCN that’s currently only available on very high-end cinema cameras like the Venice and Burano. Maybe they bring a version of that down to the FX3 Mark II and a7S4. Personally, I love Nikon’s approach of offering as many RAW flavors as possible. I’d love to see Sony do the same.

Higher Frame Rate Video

When the a7S III came out, filmmakers were genuinely shocked that it could shoot 4K at 120 frames per second. That was a jaw-dropping spec at the time. The sensor platform that powers the a7S III and FX3 is now several years old, so there is a lot of room to improve. I can’t help but feel that Sony could shock filmmakers again if the FX3 Mark II were capable of 4K at 240 frames per second. That would be wild. I still remember the Sony FS700 from over a decade ago, which could shoot 240fps for about 9 seconds before it had to buffer to the card. And now we could be talking about that kind of slow motion in a small, portable cinema camera with no buffer. So cool.

Better Low Light and More Base ISOs

The “S” in a7S has always stood for sensitivity. These cameras are still some of the best in the world for low-light shooting, but the competition from Panasonic and Nikon has caught up significantly. At a bare minimum, I’d expect Sony to maintain their current low-light performance, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they pushed further.

Here’s a fun thought: Canon now offers a camera with three base ISOs. What if Sony did that? Imagine a base ISO at 800, one at 12,800, and then a third at something truly ridiculous like 51,200. That would blow a lot of filmmaker’s minds, mine included. The dual native ISO system Sony uses is already really powerful, so taking it even further with a third base ISO would be a massive win.

Part 3: Wishful Thinking (The Fun Part)

A Fully Unlocked Quad Bayer Sensor

Okay, here’s where things get truly exciting. I know I just said these cameras will probably continue using low megapixel sensors, but what if they didn’t have to?

There’s sensor technology that’s been around for a while, very common in smartphones, called Quad Bayer. Basically, it allows a sensor to be very high megapixel while still combining four pixels together into groups to create larger pixels when needed. This is how the iPhone can offer a 48-megapixel sensor but shoot 12-megapixel photos by default, giving better low-light performance through pixel binning.

Here’s what might surprise you: the a7S III and FX3 sensor already uses a form of Quad Bayer technology. When people did teardowns of the a7S III sensor, they discovered it actually has a 48-megapixel sensor under the hood, but it’s locked to output only 12 megapixels by combining four pixels together for better low-light sensitivity. So what if Sony created a new sensor with fully unlocked Quad Bayer? You could have an a7S4 or FX3 Mark II with a 48-megapixel sensor capable of shooting 8K, that could also bin down to 12 megapixels for incredible low-light 4K performance. The technology already exists to do this. I’m dreaming, but it could be incredible.

Global Shutter

Alternatively, what if Sony brought global shutter technology to the a7S4 and FX3 Mark II? It’s currently only available in the Sony lineup on the a9 III. Most high-end Red cameras use a global shutter because it completely eliminates rolling shutter and flickering light issues. That could be genuinely game-changing for filmmakers, especially those shooting under mixed or artificial lighting.

Dynamic Range Boost

Here’s one I haven’t seen many people talking about: dynamic range boost. Panasonic has had a sensor technology by this name for years now, where enabling it causes the sensor to lower its refresh rate but significantly boost dynamic range, often by a full stop. I would love to see Sony implement something similar. Their sensors have been sitting in the 15 to 16 stop dynamic range range for a while now, and any technology that could push that further would be a real win.

A Bigger Screen

I already think the a7R6 screen is great, and I expect Sony will use it on both cameras. But if they wanted to go bigger, like the 4-inch screen on the Nikon ZR or the new Kinefinity Vista, I wouldn’t complain at all. The question is whether that screen could still support the flip-out and tilt functionality. Leave me a comment and let me know: would you be okay with a bigger screen if it meant it only flipped out but didn’t tilt?

Internal ND Filters

I know I’m going to get in trouble if I don’t mention this. Internal ND filters. People have been asking for this forever, and I’ve heard from reps at multiple camera companies that the laws of physics are basically working against them, since the filter mechanism would make the camera significantly larger. But I don’t care about the laws of physics. I want Sony to figure it out. It would be an absolute dream, and I know I’m not alone on this one. Someday, maybe.

What About Price?

Historically, the a7S III launched at $3,500 and now costs $4,000. The FX3 launched at $3,900 and now costs $4,300. Looking at where newer cameras like the a7R6 are landing (around $4,500 to $4,700), I could see the a7S4 coming in at a similar price point. The FX3 Mark II is a different story, since it comes with an XLR handle that Sony currently charges around $500 for separately. My guess is Sony tries to keep the FX3 Mark II under $5,000, something like $4,998. They love that kind of pricing. But I hope I’m wrong and it’s cheaper. Given where electronics prices have gone these days, though, I’m not holding my breath.

What Do You Think?

The a7R6 really does feel like Sony showing their hand a little. The new battery, the new chip, the 32-bit float audio pipeline, it all points toward some exciting future cameras. I’d love to hear what you think Sony will include with the FX3 Mark II and a7S4, and whether I missed anything you’re hoping for. Drop it in the comments!

And if you’re currently shooting on a Sony camera and want to get the most out of your autofocus settings, check out my post on the best autofocus settings for the FX3 and a7S III. Out of the box, Sony cameras don’t come with the best autofocus settings for video, and a few quick changes make a big difference. I also have a free Sony autofocus cheat sheet you can grab there.

If you want to go even further and really level up your editing game with all that great Sony footage you’re going to be shooting, grab my free Edit Videos Like a Pro guide. It’ll help you take your footage and turn it into something you’re really proud of.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!