Dell 14S vs Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
54
out of 100
VS
65
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 Dell 14S
- Includes an old-school USB-A port
- Features a much bigger (~30%) battery – 70 against 53.8 watt-hours
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
- Easier to carry: weighs 260 grams less (around 0.57 lbs)
- Around 2x better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
- MacBook with the Apple M5 (8-сore GPU) chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
- Provides 67% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 300 nits
- 39% sharper screen – 225 versus 162 pixels per inch (PPI)
- Smaller footprint: 7% more compact case (101.4 vs 109 square inches)
Tests and Specifications
Comparison table of test results and technical specsCase
| Weight | 1.49 kg (3.29 lbs) | 1.23 kg (2.71 lbs) |
| Dimensions | 313.7 x 224 x 15.4 mm 12.35 x 8.82 x 0.61 inches |
304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches |
| Area | 703 cm2 (108.9 inches2) | 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2) |
| Screen-to-body ratio | ~80.9% | ~82% |
| Side bezels | 6.1 mm | 5.6 mm |
| Colors | Blue | Black, Silver, Gold, Blue |
| Material | Top: Aluminum |
Aluminum |
| Transformer | No | No |
| Opening angle | - | 130° |
Size comparison
| Cooling system | Active | Passive |
| Vapor chamber | No | No |
| Liquid metal | No | No |
| Number of fans | 1 | - |
| Noise level (max. load) | 47.4 dB | - |
Display
| Size | 14 inches | 13.6 inches |
| Type | OLED | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| PPI | 162 ppi | 225 ppi |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 16:10 |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1200 pixels | 2560 x 1664 pixels |
| HDR support | No | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Sync technology | No | No |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Coating | Matte | Glossy (Antireflective) |
| Ambient light sensor | Yes | Yes |
Screen space comparison
Dell 14S
14″ (16:10 ratio) = 88.1 in2
MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
~5% more screen space
| Contrast | 1000000:1 | 1437:1 |
| sRGB color space | - | 100% |
| Adobe RGB profile | - | 86.8% |
| DCI-P3 color gamut | 100% | 98.1% |
| Response time | 1 ms | 20 ms |
Max. brightness
Battery
Capacity
| Voltage | 15.6 V | - |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes |
| Charging via USB (Power Delivery) | Yes | Yes |
| Charging port position | Left | Left |
| Charge power | 65 W | 35 / 40 / 70 W |
| Cable length | - | 2 meters |
| Weight of AC adapter | 327 grams | 116 / 80 / 167 grams |
CPU
CPU name
| Base frequency | 2.5 GHz | 4.61 GHz |
| Turbo frequency | 4.4 GHz | - |
| Cores | 6 (2P + 4E) | 10 (4P + 6E) |
| Threads | 6 | 10 |
| L3 Cache | 12 MB | - |
| Integrated GPU | Intel Xe3 Graphics (2-Core) | Apple M5 GPU (8-core) |
| Fabrication process | 2 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 | 25 W | - |
| Type | Integrated | Integrated |
| Fabrication process | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| GPU base clock | 300 MHz | - |
| GPU boost clock | 2300 MHz | 1620 MHz |
| FLOPS | 1.2 TFLOPS | 3.3 TFLOPS |
| Memory size | System Shared | System Shared |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Memory bus | - | 128 bit |
| Memory speed | 8.53 Gbps | 9.6 Gbps |
| Shading units (cores) | 256 | 1024 |
| Texture mapping units (TMUs) | 16 | 64 |
| Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) | 8 | 32 |
| GPU performance | 1.2 TFLOPS | 3.3 TFLOPS |
| Blender GPU | - | 1744 |
| Solar Bay | - | 17484 |
RAM
RAM size
| Channels | 2x8 GB | 2x8 GB |
| Clock | 8533 MHz | 9600 MHz |
| Type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5X |
| Upgradable | No | No |
Storage
Storage size
| Bus | PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x) | Custom |
| Storage type | SSD (M2) | SSD (M2) |
| Channels | 1x512 GB | 2x256 GB |
| Upgradable | Yes | No |
| Total slots | 1 | - |
| NVMe | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Audio chip | Cirrus Logic SmartAmps | - |
| Speakers | 2.0 | 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers) |
| Power | 2x2W | - |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
| Loudness | ~83.1 dB | ~82.1 dB |
| Microphones | 2 | 3 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | v7 | v7 |
| Bluetooth | v6.0 | v6.0 |
| Fingerprint | No | Yes |
| Infrared sensor | Yes | No |
| Optical drive | No | No |
| Webcam | Above the display | Above the display |
| Webcam resolution | 1920 x 1080 | 1920 x 1080 |
| USB-A | 2x USB 3.2 | No |
| USB Type-C | 2x USB 4.0 | 2x USB 4.0 |
| Thunderbolt | Thunderbolt 4 | Thunderbolt 4 |
| HDMI | 1x HDMI 2.1 | 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 | No | Yes |
Input
| Keyboard type | Island | Island |
| Numpad | No | No |
| Backlight | Yes | Yes |
| Key travel | - | 1 mm |
| Size | 12.8 x 7.8 cm | - |
| Surface | Glass | Glass |
| Windows Precision | Yes | No |
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.
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Total votes: 6