Apple MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) vs Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M5)

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Only show differences

Better figure, where one is clearly better

Share comparison

MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008) compared with MacBook Air 13″ (M5)

	AppleMacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)	AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M5)
Overview
Released
Released	October 2008	March 2026
Display
Screen size
Screen size	13.3″	13.6″
Resolution
Resolution	1280 × 800	2560 × 1664 (better)
Panel
Panel	–	IPS LCD
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	–	60 Hz
Brightness
Brightness	–	500 nits
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Glossy LED-backlit widescreen display with millions of colours; exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished by Apple.	Liquid Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology
Pixel density
Pixel density	–	224 ppi
Colour range
Colour range	–	Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours
Display features
Display features	–	True Tone
Performance
Processor
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 or Intel Core 2 Duo P8600	Apple M5
CPU cores
CPU cores	2	10
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (256 MB shared DDR3)	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU
Memory
Memory	2 GB or 4 GB	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	128 GB to 320 GB	512 GB to 4 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo P8600, with 3 MB shared L2 cache and 1066 MHz front-side bus. Exact chip identities are confirmed by Geekbench’s contemporary tested-machine configurations and Notebookcheck.	10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores
GPU
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (256 MB shared DDR3)	Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode
AI engine
AI engine	–	16-core Neural Engine
Memory type
Memory type	Two SO-DIMM slots for 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (PC3-8500); 2 GB standard, configurable to 4 GB.	Unified memory
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	153 GB/s
Storage type
Storage type	5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive: 160 GB standard at 2.0 GHz or 250 GB at 2.4 GHz, with 250 GB or 320 GB hard drives and a 128 GB solid-state drive available to order. 8x SuperDrive; the 160 GB base drive is not included for the higher-clocked model.	SSD, configurable up to 4 TB
Cooling
Cooling	–	Fanless
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	–	Up to 18 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	45 Wh	53.8 Wh (better)
Weight
Weight	2.04 kg	1.23 kg (better)
Thickness
Thickness	24.1 mm	11.3 mm (better)
Width × depth
Width × depth	325 × 227 mm	304.1 × 215 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Removable 45 Wh lithium-polymer battery. Maker reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. Battery-life hours omitted because the archived maker specification does not publish them.	Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery
Charger
Charger	60 W MagSafe Power Adapter	Sold separately in the UK (30 W, 35 W dual-port or 70 W Apple USB-C adapters offered); needs at least 30 W over USB PD
Fast charging
Fast charging	–	With a 70 W or higher USB PD power source
Materials
Materials	Aluminium unibody enclosure	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 55% recycled content overall
Colours
Colours	Aluminium	Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack, MagSafe	2 × Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	AirPort Extreme draft 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g	Wi-Fi 7
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	2.1 + EDR	6
Webcam
Webcam	iSight camera	12MP Center Stage
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
Port detail	Two USB 2.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini DisplayPort, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output. No FireWire; display adapters sold separately.	2 × Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) with charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 4 and USB 4 (up to 40 Gb/s); MagSafe 3; 3.5 mm headphone jack with high-impedance headphone support
External displays
External displays	One external display up to 2560 × 1600 alongside the built-in screen; Mini DisplayPort adapters sold separately.	Up to two at 6K 60 Hz or 4K 144 Hz, or one at up to 8K 60 Hz, 5K 120 Hz or 4K 240 Hz, alongside the built-in display
Keyboard
Keyboard	Full-size keyboard with 78 US or 79 ISO keys, 12 function/media keys and four arrow keys; backlit at 2.4 GHz, unlit at 2.0 GHz	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys
Trackpad
Trackpad	Glass Multi-Touch trackpad with integrated button; supports scrolling, pinch, rotate, swipe, three-finger swipe and four-finger swipe.	Force Touch trackpad
Speakers
Speakers	Built-in stereo speakers	Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos
Microphones
Microphones	Built-in omnidirectional microphone	Three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes
Biometrics
Biometrics	–	Touch ID
In the box
In the box	MacBook, display cleaning cloth, removable battery, 60 W MagSafe Power Adapter with AC wall plug and power cord, install/restore DVDs and documentation. Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and iLife ’08 at launch.	13-inch MacBook Air, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m); power adapter sold separately