Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020) vs Acer Aspire 5 (A515-56)

You can select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display 2560 x 1600
CPU Apple M1
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020) and Acer Aspire 5 (A515-56) 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
Case
Design, materials, durability and usability

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Apple Macbook Air (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
  • 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
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Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

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
Transformer No No
Opening angle 130° 140°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Passive Active
Vapor chamber Yes 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
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
Touchscreen No No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Matte
Display tests
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
USB Power Delivery Yes No
Charging port position Left Left
Charge power 30 W 45 W
Cable length 2 meters -
Weigh 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 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (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 2.822 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared 2 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X GDDR6
Memory bus 128 bit 64 bit
Memory speed 4.27 Gbps ~8-10 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1024 896
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 64 56
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 32
GPU performance
2.822 TFLOPS

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 1x256 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
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1280 x 720 1280 x 720
Ports
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
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1 mm -
Touchpad
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.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
12 (63.2%)
7 (36.8%)
Total votes: 19

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