Best Buy is immediately sweetening pre-orders for Apple's new M5 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro with $50 and $100 e-gift cards, respectively. The retailer's promotion requires a valid email at checkout, with the digital card issued after the laptop ships or is picked up in-store. This represents the first major retail incentive for Apple's newest silicon generation.

The MacBook Air upgrades include the M5 chip and Apple's custom N1 wireless chip enabling Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6. The MacBook Pro lineup features the more powerful M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, which Apple states are up to 30 percent faster than the M4 generation and up to 2.5x faster than the M1 Pro and M1 Max. Both models retain their predecessor's physical designs.

Pre-order configurations start at $1,099 for the 13-inch M5 MacBook Air and $2,199 for the 14-inch M5 Pro MacBook Pro. The gift card deal effectively discounts the purchase for future Best Buy shopping. This early promotion signals competitive retail maneuvering as Apple's latest laptops enter the market, providing immediate tangible value beyond the internal hardware generational leap.