Apple MacBook Air 13″ (M5) vs Apple PowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD)

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MacBook Air 13″ (M5) compared with PowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD)

	AppleMacBook Air 13″ (M5)	ApplePowerBook G4 (15-inch, Double-Layer SD)
Overview
Released
Released	March 2026	October 2005
Display
Screen size
Screen size	13.6″	15.2″
Resolution
Resolution	2560 × 1664 (better)	1440 × 960
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Retina display; LED-backlit with IPS technology	15.2-inch TFT widescreen, 1440 × 960; panel technology and refresh unpublished.
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 G4 1.67 GHz (PowerBook 15-inch Late 2005)
CPU cores
CPU cores	10	1
Graphics
Graphics	8-core GPU or 10-core GPU	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 (128 MB DDR)
Memory
Memory	16 GB, 24 GB or 32 GB (better)	512 MB or 2 GB
Storage
Storage	512 GB to 4 TB (better)	80 GB to 120 GB
CPU
CPU	10-core CPU with 4 super cores and 6 efficiency cores	1.67 GHz PowerPC G4 with 512 KB on-chip L2 and 167 MHz system bus. Exact silicon supplier omitted.
GPU
GPU	Neural Accelerators; hardware-accelerated ray tracing; Media Engine with H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW acceleration and AV1 decode	ATI Mobility Radeon 9700 with 128 MB DDR and dual-link DVI standard
AI engine
AI engine	16-core Neural Engine	–
Memory type
Memory type	Unified memory	512 MB PC2-4200 DDR2 running at 333 MHz; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 2 GB.
Memory bandwidth
Memory bandwidth	153 GB/s	–
Storage type
Storage type	SSD, configurable up to 4 TB	80 GB 5400 rpm Ultra ATA/100 standard with Sudden Motion Sensor. Build-to-order: 100 GB 5400 or 7200 rpm, or 120 GB 5400 rpm. 8× SuperDrive with 2.4× double-layer DVD+R support; optional Combo drive. Speed/optical alternatives retained here rather than duplicate capacity rows.
Cooling
Cooling	Fanless	–
Battery and size
Battery life (maker's claim)
Battery life (maker's claim)	Up to 18 hours	Up to 5.5 hours
Battery capacity
Battery capacity	53.8 Wh	–
Weight
Weight	1.23 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	Up to 5.5 hours, dependent on configuration and use. Retained maker family sheet publishes 15-inch reference weight 5.6 pounds, footprint 13.7 × 9.5 inches and thickness 1.1 inches; no calculated metric main values. Its detailed 58 Wh battery section is explicitly 17-inch and is not borrowed.
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	Power adapter included; wattage not established for this exact generation in the read family sheet.
Fast charging
Fast charging	With a 70 W or higher USB PD power source	–
Materials
Materials	100% recycled aluminium enclosure; 55% recycled content overall	Aluminium enclosure
Colours
Colours	Sky Blue, Silver, Starlight, Midnight	–
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × Thunderbolt 4, MagSafe 3, headphone jack	2 × USB-A, Ethernet, headphone jack
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 7	AirPort Extreme 802.11g/b
Bluetooth
Bluetooth	6	2.0 + EDR
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	Two USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 400 and 800, Gigabit Ethernet, 56K V.92 modem, DVI, S-video and Type I/II PC Card slot. Combined analogue/optical digital input and output.
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	Dual-link DVI supports 30-inch Cinema HD display; DVI-to-VGA and S-video-to-composite adapters included.
Keyboard
Keyboard	Backlit Magic Keyboard, 78 (ANSI) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 full-height function keys	Full-size illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor
Trackpad
Trackpad	Force Touch trackpad	Two-finger scrolling/panning, tap, double-tap and drag support
Speakers
Speakers	Four-speaker sound system; Spatial Audio with Dolby Atmos	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	Apple UK confirms immediate availability on 19 October 2005. Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger and iLife ’05 supplied. The retained sheet’s configuration table covers all sizes but its detailed specification section describes the 17-inch; only the 15-inch table and explicit build-to-order fields are used here.