Apple MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009) vs Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M5)

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MacBook (13-inch, Early 2009) compared with MacBook Air 13″ (M5)

	AppleMacBook (13-inch, Early 2009)	AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M5)
Overview
Released
Released	January 2009	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Display type	Glossy TFT widescreen display with millions of colours; exact panel technology and refresh rate unpublished by Apple.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	Apple M5
CPU cores
CPU cores	2	10
Graphics
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (256 MB shared DDR2)	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU
Memory
Memory	2 GB or 4 GB	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	120 GB to 320 GB	512 GB to 4 TB (better)
CPU
CPU	2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo P7350 with 3 MB shared L2 cache and 1066 MHz front-side bus. Notebookcheck’s aluminium MacBook review identifies the P7350 and explicitly notes that this white MacBook uses the same processor and graphics combination.	10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores
GPU
GPU	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M (256 MB shared DDR2)	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 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM (PC2-5300); 2 GB standard, configurable to 4 GB.	Unified memory
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	–	153 GB/s
Storage type
Storage type	120 GB 5400 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, configurable to 160 GB, 250 GB or 320 GB; slot-loading 8x SuperDrive.	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	55 Wh (better)	53.8 Wh
Weight
Weight	2.27 kg	1.23 kg (better)
Thickness
Thickness	27.5 mm	11.3 mm (better)
Width × depth
Width × depth	325 × 227 mm	304.1 × 215 mm
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Removable 55 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	Polycarbonate enclosure	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 55% recycled content overall
Colours
Colours	White	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, one FireWire 400 port, Gigabit Ethernet, MagSafe, Mini-DVI, separate combined optical digital audio input/line input and combined optical digital audio output/headphone output. 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 1920 × 1200 alongside the built-in screen; Mini-DVI adapters support DVI and VGA.	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 Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys
Trackpad
Trackpad	Scrolling trackpad with a separate button; supports two-finger scrolling, tap, double-tap and drag.	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. Archived specification lists Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and iLife ’09; this describes the archived bundle rather than confirming software shipped on the first sale day. January 2009 availability is confirmed by contemporary Macworld and The Register reviews; an exact maker first-sale date was not found..	13-inch MacBook Air, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m); power adapter sold separately