Dell 16S vs Apple MacBook Air 15 M5 (2026)
50
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 16S
- Includes an old-school USB-A port
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 15 M5 (2026)
- Easier to carry: weighs 260 grams less (around 0.57 lbs)
- Around 2.1x better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
- MacBook with the Apple M5 (10-Core) chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
- 58% sharper screen – 224 versus 142 pixels per inch (PPI)
- Provides 25% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 400 nits
- Smaller footprint: 10% more compact case (125.4 vs 139 square inches)
Tests and Specifications
Comparison table of test results and technical specsCase
| Weight | 1.77 kg (3.9 lbs) | 1.51 kg (3.33 lbs) |
| Dimensions | 356.8 x 251.4 x 11.37-15.4 mm 14.05 x 9.9 x 0.45-0.61 inches |
340.4 x 237.6 x 11.5 mm 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches |
| Area | 897 cm2 (139.1 inches2) | 809 cm2 (125.3 inches2) |
| Screen-to-body ratio | ~82.8% | ~83.9% |
| Side bezels | 6.1 mm | 5.4 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 | - |
Display
| Size | 16 inches | 15.3 inches |
| Type | IPS LCD | IPS LCD |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (48-60 Hz) | No |
| PPI | 142 ppi | 224 ppi |
| Aspect ratio | 16:10 | 16:10 |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1200 pixels | 2880 x 1864 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 16S
16″ (16:10 ratio) = 115.1 in2
MacBook Air 15 M5 (2026)
15.3″ (16:10 ratio) = 105.2 in2
~9% more screen space
| Contrast | 1000:1 | 1223:1 |
| sRGB color space | - | 100% |
| Adobe RGB profile | - | 86.3% |
| DCI-P3 color gamut | - | 97.5% |
| Response time | 35 ms | 27 ms |
Max. brightness
Battery
Capacity
| Voltage | 11.7 V | - |
| 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 | 65 W | 35 / 40 / 70 W |
| Cable length | - | 2 meters |
| Weight of AC adapter | 325 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 (10-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 | 4.1 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 | 1280 |
| Texture mapping units (TMUs) | 16 | 80 |
| Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) | 8 | 40 |
| GPU performance | 1.2 TFLOPS | 4.1 TFLOPS |
| Blender GPU | - | 1964 |
| Solar Bay | - | 22390 |
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 | 2.4 (2 tweeters and 4 woofers) |
| Power | 2x2W | - |
| Dolby Atmos | No | Yes |
| Loudness | - | ~84.8 dB |
| Microphones | 2 | 3 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | v7 | v7 |
| Bluetooth | v5.4 | 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 | Yes | No |
| Backlight | Yes | Yes |
| Key travel | - | 1 mm |
| Size | 13.0 x 9.0 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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