Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M5) vs Apple MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011)
Better figure, where one is clearly better
| AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M5) | AppleMacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2011) | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Released | March 2026 | July 2011 |
| Display | ||
| Screen size | 13.6″ | 13.3″ |
| Resolution | 2560 × 1664 (better) | 1440 × 900 |
| Panel | IPS LCD | TN LCD |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | – |
| Brightness | 500 nits | – |
| Touchscreen | No | No |
| Display type | Liquid Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology | Glossy LED-backlit widescreen LCD, millions of colours; TN panel confirmed by AppleInsider's exact-model review. Refresh rate and brightness unpublished by Apple. |
| Pixel density | 224 ppi | – |
| Colour range | Wide colour (P3); 1 billion colours | – |
| Display features | True Tone | – |
| Performance | ||
| Processor | Apple M5 | Intel Core i5-2557M or Intel Core i7-2677M |
| CPU cores | 10 | 2 |
| CPU threads | – | 4 |
| Graphics | 8-core GPU or 10-core GPU | Intel HD Graphics 3000 |
| Memory | 16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better) | 4 GB |
| Storage | 512 GB to 4 TB (better) | 128 GB to 256 GB |
| CPU | 10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores | Dual-core Intel Core i5-2557M at 1.7 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 2.7 GHz with 3 MB shared L3 cache; the higher storage base is configurable to Core i7-2677M at 1.8 GHz, Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz and 4 MB cache. Exact identities confirmed by Notebookcheck; Macworld documents the base-specific upgrades. |
| GPU | Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode | Intel HD Graphics 3000; 384 MB shared with main memory |
| AI engine | 16-core Neural Engine | – |
| Memory type | Unified memory | 4 GB of 1333 MHz DDR3 onboard memory |
| Memory bandwidth | 153 GB/s | – |
| Storage type | SSD, configurable up to 4 TB | 128 GB flash storage with Core i5; 256 GB base supports Core i5 or Core i7. Configurations preserve the base-specific upgrade restrictions; memory cannot be upgraded after purchase. |
| Cooling | Fanless | – |
| Battery and size | ||
| Battery life (maker's claim) | Up to 18 hours | Up to 7 hours |
| Battery capacity | 53.8 Wh (better) | 50 Wh |
| Weight | 1.23 kg (better) | 1.35 kg |
| Thickness | 11.3 mm (better) | 17 mm |
| Width × depth | 304.1 × 215 mm | 325 × 227 mm |
| Battery life detail | Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery | Built-in 50 Wh lithium-polymer battery; up to 7 hours wireless web or 30 days standby under Apple's test conditions. Reference weight varies by configuration and manufacturing process. |
| Charger | 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 | 45 W MagSafe Power Adapter with cable management |
| Fast charging | With a 70 W or higher USB PD power source | – |
| Materials | 100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 55% recycled content overall | Aluminium enclosure; tapered thickness from 3 to 17 mm |
| Colours | Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight | Silver |
| Connections | ||
| Ports | 2 × Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack | 2 × USB-A, Thunderbolt, MagSafe, headphone jack, SD card slot |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 7 | 802.11n; compatible with 802.11a/b/g |
| Bluetooth | 6 | 4.0 |
| Webcam | 12MP Center Stage | FaceTime camera |
| Operating system | macOS | macOS |
| Port detail | 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 | Two USB 2.0 ports up to 480 Mb/s, Thunderbolt up to 10 Gb/s with native Mini DisplayPort output, MagSafe, SD card slot and headphone jack supporting the Apple iPhone headset remote and microphone. DVI, VGA and dual-link DVI require separate adapters. |
| External displays | 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 | Built-in screen plus one external display up to 2560 × 1600, both with millions of colours; dual display and video mirroring |
| Keyboard | Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys | Full-size backlit keyboard |
| Trackpad | Force Touch trackpad | Multi-Touch trackpad |
| Speakers | Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos | Stereo speakers |
| Microphones | Three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes | Omnidirectional microphone |
| Biometrics | Touch ID | – |
| In the box | 13-inch MacBook Air, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m); power adapter sold separately | MacBook Air, power adapter, AC wall plug and power cord; OS X Lion, iLife and documentation; Lion Recovery |
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