Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M5) vs Apple PowerBook G3 Series (September 1998)

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MacBook Air 13″ (M5) compared with PowerBook G3 Series (September 1998)

	AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M5)	ApplePowerBook G3 Series (September 1998)
Overview
Released
Released	March 2026	September 1998
Display
Screen size
Screen size	13.6″	14.1″
Resolution
Resolution	2560 × 1664 (better)	1024 × 768 or 800 × 600
Panel
Panel	IPS LCD	–
Refresh rate
Refresh rate	60 Hz	–
Brightness
Brightness	500 nits	–
Touchscreen
Touchscreen	No	No
Display type
Display type	Liquid Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology	Active-matrix TFT; 14.1-inch XGA 1024 × 768 or later 12.1-inch SVGA 800 × 600; resolution scaling supports lower resolutions
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	Apple M5	PowerPC G3 233 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series September 1998), PowerPC G3 266 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series September 1998) or PowerPC G3 300 MHz (PowerBook G3 Series September 1998)
CPU cores
CPU cores	10	1
Graphics
Graphics	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU	–
Memory
Memory	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)	32 MB or 64 MB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 4 TB (better)	2 GB to 8 GB
CPU
CPU	10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores	PowerPC G3 at 233, 266 or 300 MHz, 66 MHz system bus; 512 KB backside cache on 233 MHz or 1 MB on 266/300 MHz. Dedicated backside buses 117, 133 or 150 MHz; integrated FPU and 64 KB L1 cache
GPU
GPU	Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode	ATI RAGE LT PRO with 4 MB SGRAM on 14.1-inch or 2 MB on 12.1-inch TFT; earlier passive-matrix models remain in the original May entry
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory	32 MB or 64 MB factory SDRAM in two 144-pin SO-DIMM slots; original maker expansion limit 192 MB
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	153 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD, configurable up to 4 TB	Removable 2 GB, 4 GB or 8 GB internal IDE drive. Expansion bays accept CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, optional floppy, battery and third-party modules; 20× CD-ROM or 1.5× DVD-ROM with up to 12× CD reading
Cooling
Cooling	Fanless	–
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 18 hours	Up to 3.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	53.8 Wh (better)	49 Wh
Weight
Weight	1.23 kg (better)	3.5 kg
Thickness
Thickness	11.3 mm	–
Width × depth
Width × depth	304.1 × 215 mm	–
Battery life detail
Battery life detail	Up to 15 hours wireless web; lithium-polymer battery	Removable 49 Wh lithium-ion battery; up to 3.5 hours with one or seven hours with two under maker normal-use conditions. Reference 3.5 kg includes modem, battery and CD-ROM; 12.1-inch reference is 3.3 kg. Maker sources give rounded dimensions and conflicting axis labels, so no unqualified dimensions adopted
Charger
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 AC adapter
Fast charging
Fast charging	With a 70 W or higher USB PD power source	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 55% recycled content overall	–
Colours
Colours	Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight	–
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 7	–
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	6	–
Webcam
Webcam	12MP Center Stage	–
Operating system
Operating system	macOS	macOS
Port detail
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	ADB, HDI-30 SCSI, RS-422 serial, 10BASE-T Ethernet, RJ-11 K56flex/V.90 modem, 4 Mbps infrared, VGA-style video, S-video and stereo audio input/output. Two Type I/II or one Type III PC Card slots with CardBus; lower slot supports Zoomed Video. No built-in USB or FireWire
External displays
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	VGA-style and S-video output; DVD-Video requires the decoder PC Card supplied with DVD-ROM configurations or optional DVD-Video kit
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	Full-size keyboard with 76 US or 77 ISO keys, twelve function keys, inverted-T arrows and embedded keypad
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Solid-state trackpad supports tap, double-tap and drag
Speakers
Speakers	Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	Two built-in stereo speakers
Microphones
Microphones	Three-mic array with directional beamforming; Voice Isolation and Wide Spectrum modes	Internal omnidirectional microphone
Biometrics
Biometrics	Touch ID	–
In the box
In the box	13-inch MacBook Air, USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable (2 m); power adapter sold separately	Mac OS 8.1, AC adapter and regional cables/adapters. AppleCare article 30895 retrospectively confirms September 1998 release; revised service manual introduces M7229 12.1-inch TFT on 1 October. October brochure lists both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM 300 MHz choices; optical-drive variants share the same CPU/RAM/disk configuration below