Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) vs Acer Aspire 5 (A515-56)
55
out of 100
VS
36
out of 100
Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Review
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
Value for money (Beta)
Key Differences
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)
- Easier to carry: weighs 360 grams less (around 0.79 lbs)
- Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 2 versus 1
- MacBook with the Apple M1 chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
- Thinner bezels and 3% higher screen-to-body ratio
- 127% sharper screen – 227 versus 100 pixels per inch (PPI)
- Much smaller footprint: 25% more compact case (100.1 vs 134.4 square inches)
- Provides 33% higher max. screen brightness: 400 vs 300 nits
Advantages of the Acer Aspire 5 (A515-56)
- Includes an old-school USB-A port
- User-upgradable RAM (up to 16GB) and an SSD
Tests and Specifications
Comparison table of test results and technical specsCase
| Weight | 1.29 kg (2.84 lbs) | 1.65 kg (3.64 lbs) |
| Dimensions | 304.1 x 212.4 x 16.1 mm 11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63 inches |
363.4 x 238.5 x 17.9 mm 14.31 x 9.39 x 0.7 inches |
| Area | 646 cm2 (100.1 inches2) | 867 cm2 (134.4 inches2) |
| Screen-to-body ratio | ~79.4% | ~77.4% |
| Side bezels | 8.8 mm | 9 mm |
| Colors | Silver, Gold, Gray | Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Pink |
| Material | Aluminum | Top: Aluminum Middle: Plastic Bottom: Plastic |
| Transformer | No | No |
| Opening angle | 130° | 140° |
Size comparison
| Cooling system | Passive | Active |
| Vapor chamber | No | No |
| Liquid metal | No | - |
| Number of fans | - | 1 |
| Noise level (max. load) | - | 39 dB |
Display
| Size | 13.3 inches | 15.6 inches |
| Type | IPS LCD | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | - |
| PPI | 227 ppi | 100 ppi |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 16:9 |
| Resolution | 2560 x 1600 pixels | 1366 x 768 pixels |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | No |
| Sync technology | No | No |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Coating | Glossy (Antireflective) | Matte |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes | No |
Screen space comparison
Aspire 5 (A515-56)
15.6″ (16:9 ratio) = 104 in2
MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020)
13.3″ (16:10 ratio) = 79.5 in2
~30% more screen space
| Contrast | 1069:1 | - |
| sRGB color space | 99.8% | - |
| Adobe RGB profile | 85.9% | - |
| DCI-P3 color gamut | 98.6% | - |
| Response time | 35 ms | - |
Max. brightness
Battery
Capacity
| Voltage | 11.4 V | - |
| Full charging time | 2:23 hr | 2:00 hr |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes |
| Charging via USB (Power Delivery) | Yes, 65 W | No |
| Charging port position | Left | Left |
| Charge power | 30 W | 45 W |
| Cable length | 2 meters | - |
| Weight of AC adapter | 172 grams | 260 grams |
CPU
CPU name
| Base frequency | 3.2 GHz | 2.0 GHz |
| Turbo frequency | - | 3.5 GHz |
| Cores | 8 (4P + 4E) | 2 |
| Threads | 8 | 4 |
| L3 Cache | - | 4 MB |
| Integrated GPU | Apple M1 GPU | Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4 48 EUs |
| Fabrication process | 5 nm | 10 nm |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)
Graphics Card
GPU name
| TGP | 15 W | - |
| Type | Integrated | Dedicated |
| Fabrication process | 5 nm | 12 nm |
| GPU base clock | 450 MHz | - |
| GPU boost clock | 1278 MHz | - |
| FLOPS | 2.6 TFLOPS | 1.7-2.8 TFLOPS |
| Memory size | System Shared | 2 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | GDDR6 |
| Memory bus | 128 bit | 64 bit |
| Memory speed | 4.27 Gbps | ~10 Gbps |
| Shading units (cores) | 1024 | 896 |
| Texture mapping units (TMUs) | 64 | 56 |
| Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) | 32 | 32 |
| GPU performance | 2.6 TFLOPS | 1.7-2.8 TFLOPS |
GPU Benchmarks
Steel Nomad Lite Score
| Blender GPU | 235 | 140 |
| Solar Bay | 6004 | - |
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details
RAM
RAM size
| Channels | 2x4 GB | 2x4 GB |
| Clock | 4266 MHz | 3200 MHz |
| Type | LPDDR4X | DDR4 |
| Upgradable | No | Yes |
| Total slots | - | 1 |
| Max. ram size | - | 16 GB |
Storage
Storage size
| Bus | Custom | PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) |
| Storage type | SSD (M2) | SSD (M2) |
| Channels | 2x128 GB | 1x128 GB |
| Upgradable | No | Yes |
| Total slots | - | 1 |
| NVMe | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Audio chip | - | Intel Tiger Lake-U/Y PCH-LP |
| Speakers | 2.0 | 2.0 |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | No |
| Loudness | ~79.6 dB | ~68.7 dB |
| Microphones | 3 | 2 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | v6 | v6 |
| Bluetooth | v5 | v5 |
| Fingerprint | Yes | No |
| Infrared sensor | No | No |
| Optical drive | No | No |
| Webcam | Above the display | Above the display |
| Webcam resolution | 1280 x 720 | 1280 x 720 |
| USB-A | No | 3x USB 3.2 |
| USB Type-C | 2x USB 3.1 | 1x USB 3.2 |
| Thunderbolt | Thunderbolt 3 | No |
| HDMI | No | 1x HDMI 1.4 |
| DisplayPort | No | No |
| VGA | No | No |
| Audio jack (3.5 mm) | Yes | Yes |
| Ethernet (RJ45) | No | Yes |
| SD card reader | No | No |
| Proprietary charging port | No | Yes |
Input
| Keyboard type | Island | Island |
| Numpad | No | No |
| Backlight | Yes | Yes |
| Key travel | 1 mm | - |
| Size | 12.1 x 8.1 cm | 10.6 x 7.8 cm |
| Surface | Glass | Plastic |
| Windows Precision | No | Yes |
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.
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Total votes: 31