Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026) vs Air 13 M4 (2025)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
CPU
Apple M4 (10-Core)
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026) and Air 13 M4 (2025) important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Portability
Design, materials, durability and usability
Pick the usage scenario that best matches your needs
Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Please input up-to-date prices for the selected laptop configurations to get an accurate value-for-money index.
Currency
VS
110.3
(Excellent)
Value Index
120.9
(Excellent)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
  • Around 18% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 M4 (2025)
  • Can run popular games at about 8-11% higher FPS

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.23 kg (2.71 lbs) 1.24 kg (2.73 lbs)
Dimensions 304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
Area 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2) 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~82% ~82%
Side bezels 5.6 mm 5.6 mm
Colors Black, Silver, Gold, Blue Black, Silver, Gold, Blue
Material Aluminum Aluminum
Transformer No No
Opening angle 130° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Passive Passive
Vapor chamber No No
Liquid metal No No

Display

Size 13.6 inches 13.6 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
PPI 225 ppi 225 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
Resolution 2560 x 1664 pixels 2560 x 1664 pixels
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen No No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor Yes Yes
Display tests
Contrast 1437:1 1494:1
sRGB color space 100% 99.9%
Adobe RGB profile 86.8% 93.4%
DCI-P3 color gamut 98.1% 99.4%
Response time 20 ms -
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time - 2:40 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes Yes, 70 W
Charging port position Left Left
Charge power 35 / 40 / 70 W 30 / 35 / 70 W
Cable length 2 meters 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter 116 / 80 / 167 grams 170 / 183 / 207 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 4.61 GHz 4.46 GHz
Cores 10 (4P + 6E) 10 (4P + 6E)
Threads 10 10
Integrated GPU Apple M5 GPU (8-core) Apple M4 GPU (10-core)
Fabrication process 3 nm 3 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP - 18 W
Type Integrated Integrated
Fabrication process 3 nm 3 nm
GPU base clock - 500 MHz
GPU boost clock 1620 MHz 1470 MHz
FLOPS 3.3 TFLOPS 3.8 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared System Shared
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory bus 128 bit 128 bit
Memory speed 9.6 Gbps 7.5 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1024 1280
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 64 80
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 40
GPU performance 3.3 TFLOPS 3.8 TFLOPS
Blender GPU 1744 972
Solar Bay 17484 14646

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x8 GB 2x8 GB
Clock 9600 MHz 7500 MHz
Type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Upgradable No No

Storage

Storage size
Bus Custom Custom
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 2x256 GB 1x256 GB
Upgradable No No
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers) 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness ~82.1 dB ~77 dB
Microphones 3 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v7 v6E
Bluetooth v6.0 v5.3
Fingerprint Yes Yes
Infrared sensor No No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A No No
USB Type-C 2x USB 4.0 2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 4
HDMI No No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No No
SD card reader No No
Proprietary charging port Yes Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1 mm 1 mm
Touchpad
Surface Glass Glass
Windows Precision No No
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
84 (38.4%)
135 (61.6%)
Total votes: 219

Comments

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