Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022) vs Acer Aspire 5 (A515-56)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display 2560 x 1664
CPU Apple M2
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022) 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
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
55.9
(Average)
Value Index
50.9
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022)
  • Significantly easier to carry: weighs 410 grams less (around 0.9 lbs)
  • Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 2 versus 1
  • MacBook with the Apple M2 chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
  • Thinner bezels and 6% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Features a a little bigger (~10%) battery – 52.6 against 48 watt-hours
  • 125% sharper screen – 225 versus 100 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Better webcam recording quality
  • Provides 67% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 300 nits
  • Much smaller footprint: 25% more compact case (101.4 vs 134.4 square inches)
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 specs

Case

Weight 1.24 kg (2.73 lbs) 1.65 kg (3.64 lbs)
Dimensions 304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
363.4 x 238.5 x 17.9 mm
14.31 x 9.39 x 0.7 inches
Area 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2) 867 cm2 (134.4 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~82% ~77.4%
Side bezels 5.6 mm 9 mm
Colors Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue Black, Silver, Gold, Blue, Pink
Material Aluminum Top: Aluminum
Middle: Plastic
Bottom: Plastic
Transformer No No
Opening angle 130° 140°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Passive Active
Vapor chamber - No
Liquid metal No -
Number of fans - 1
Noise level (max. load) - 39 dB

Display

Size 13.6 inches 15.6 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No -
PPI 225 ppi 100 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:9
Resolution 2560 x 1664 pixels 1366 x 768 pixels
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision 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 (M2, 2022)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
~25% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 1384:1 -
sRGB color space 99.9% -
Adobe RGB profile 87.6% -
DCI-P3 color gamut 98.4% -
Response time 29 ms -
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time 2:30 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 / 35 / 67 W 45 W
Cable length 2 meters -
Weight of AC adapter 174 / 189 / 250 grams 260 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 3.5 GHz 2.0 GHz
Turbo frequency - 3.5 GHz
Cores 8 (4P + 4E) 2
Threads 8 4
L3 Cache - 4 MB
Integrated GPU Apple M2 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 500 MHz -
GPU boost clock 1398 MHz -
FLOPS 2.9 TFLOPS 1.7-2.8 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared 2 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 GDDR6
Memory bus 128 bit 64 bit
Memory speed 6.4 Gbps ~10 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1024 896
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 64 56
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 32 32
GPU performance 2.9 TFLOPS 1.7-2.8 TFLOPS

GPU Benchmarks

Steel Nomad Lite Score
Blender GPU 270 145
Solar Bay 6237 -
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x4 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 6400 MHz 3200 MHz
Type LPDDR5 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 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers) 2.0
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Loudness ~82.7 dB ~68.7 dB
Microphones 3 2

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6
Bluetooth v5.3 v5
Fingerprint Yes No
Infrared sensor No No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1920 x 1080 1280 x 720
Ports
USB-A No 3x USB 3.2
USB Type-C 2x USB 4.0 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 Yes Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1 mm -
Touchpad
Size - 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

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1 (50%)
1 (50%)
Total votes: 2

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