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Here's How Much Faster MacBook Air Gets With M5 Chip vs. M4 Chip
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Elohim369
macrumors regular
Here's the deal: Neo, slowest, Air, faster, M5 Pro faster, M5 Max 16" fastest
That's really all. Apple already did all the math for you.
More detail below but that's only to show why... normal people buying a laptop can't be expected to know all this, it gets pretty complicated.
I thought I was smarter than Apple, got an M4 air based on geekbench sctores - it's as fast single core as an M4 Max!
However...
This was a mistake
Thermal throttling sets in and then the M4 air was actually overall slower than my M1 Pro MacBook Pro!
It was supposed to be nearly 2x as fast based on geekbench
But this is not how it works
First of all, M chips have different numbers of performance and efficiency cores (now also super cores)
Secondly, thermal management decides real world speed
My M1 Pro has 8 performance cores, and 2 efficiency cores! It never gets hot, so the performance cores keep running at 3Ghz all day long if need be. It always runs at optimum performance.
The M4 chip has 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores - these 6 cores always run at 2Ghz. The performance cores run at 4.5Ghz! 50% faster than the M1 Pro performance cores at 3Ghz - however, they only do so for a few seconds and they will throttle down all the way to 1.5Ghz within about 30 seconds of full load.
Real world performance in the M4 air is therefore much worse than an M1 Pro, even though on paper the M4 chip looks faster and is faster on geekbench scores.
So now you know. The M4 Air is a fantastic computer. Normal people will never know any of this - it just works, it's fast, it's sleek, it's great. But if you have heavy workloads, get a MacBook Pro
Which is what Apple was telling you to begin with!
That's really all. Apple already did all the math for you.
More detail below but that's only to show why... normal people buying a laptop can't be expected to know all this, it gets pretty complicated.
I thought I was smarter than Apple, got an M4 air based on geekbench sctores - it's as fast single core as an M4 Max!
However...
This was a mistake
Thermal throttling sets in and then the M4 air was actually overall slower than my M1 Pro MacBook Pro!
It was supposed to be nearly 2x as fast based on geekbench
But this is not how it works
First of all, M chips have different numbers of performance and efficiency cores (now also super cores)
Secondly, thermal management decides real world speed
My M1 Pro has 8 performance cores, and 2 efficiency cores! It never gets hot, so the performance cores keep running at 3Ghz all day long if need be. It always runs at optimum performance.
The M4 chip has 4 performance cores, and 6 efficiency cores - these 6 cores always run at 2Ghz. The performance cores run at 4.5Ghz! 50% faster than the M1 Pro performance cores at 3Ghz - however, they only do so for a few seconds and they will throttle down all the way to 1.5Ghz within about 30 seconds of full load.
Real world performance in the M4 air is therefore much worse than an M1 Pro, even though on paper the M4 chip looks faster and is faster on geekbench scores.
So now you know. The M4 Air is a fantastic computer. Normal people will never know any of this - it just works, it's fast, it's sleek, it's great. But if you have heavy workloads, get a MacBook Pro
Which is what Apple was telling you to begin with!
Elohim369
macrumors regular
Lol!
I think I said as much above but yeah... depending on the work you're doing you might want to get a pro, and the M3 Pro will be a lot faster than any Macbook Air even M5 in real world, see above.
macfacts
macrumors 603
MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2025)
Apple M5 @ 4.6 GHz (10 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores)
Multi-core CPU 17459
https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks
Apple M5 @ 4.6 GHz (10 CPU cores, 10 GPU cores)
Multi-core CPU 17459
https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks
code-m
macrumors 601
M6 MBP/A will probably relocate that headphone jack to the front edge where the lid opens similar to Neo. Side speaker grills will probably be added to the front as well like Neo for the M6 MBA. Presently the MBA 4 or 6 speaker system feels obstructed, M1 MBA speakers sounded much clearer compared to the M2 MBA redesign.
joshwithachance
macrumors 68030
The best thing about the M5 Air is how much of a better value a discounted or refurbished M4 Air is by comparison.
The Air has no active cooling system, so giving it more power is effectively meaningless because the machine cannot sustain that added performance. Apple SHOULD be focusing on giving it better battery life imo, as we haven't seen any improvement in this regard since the M1.
The Air has no active cooling system, so giving it more power is effectively meaningless because the machine cannot sustain that added performance. Apple SHOULD be focusing on giving it better battery life imo, as we haven't seen any improvement in this regard since the M1.
mrbaze
macrumors newbie
DownUnderDan
macrumors 6502a
Let’s be honest. Until version 26 reaches its final feature-complete build and has a few stability updates after that, you’re essentially running software that is still in a late development phase. Early builds in Apple’s beta cycle often behave more like what used to be called an alpha — a codebase that is still changing and not fully stabilised — even if Apple labels it as a beta or even better as a dot release for public release. By encouraging millions of users to install effectively early builds, Apple effectively turns its beta program into large-scale testing of software that may still be evolving. Apple users seem these days perfectly happy with regression bugs and weird behaviours in their software because it’s a dot release.
Granted it's a clever marketing approach and a practical way to demonstrate new features each year before the development cycle is fully finished, but I would never even bother benchmarking the software until its feature complete. I doubt the dev teams privately think its a great way to write software, but I'm equally certain the executive and the marketing team think its brilliant and the publicity and column inches writen for every dot release is no doubt well received at Apple.
Last edited:
Nicky G
macrumors 65816
only pro/s can find themselves in a situation where it’s inconvenient to charge or connect your laptop from the right hand side
would it kill the writer of this article to make bar charts?
looking at a column of numbers is annoying
looking at a column of numbers is annoying
Hey Guys what u think better do to upgrade my air m1 8gb 256gb to new one air m5 or used MacBook Pro M1 Pro? I’m use mostly for Ableton live with some plugins from uad, ik multimedia.
P.s. I know about better display, better ssd speed, active cooling, more usb. But need check display for dead pixels, check battery life, maybe need change thermal paste on cpu. Plus check every keys on keyboard and track pads, camera, microphone, sound and etc. what it’s better way to me? I can buy little bit cheaper a used one MacBook Pro M1 Pro than a new air m5.
P.s. I know about better display, better ssd speed, active cooling, more usb. But need check display for dead pixels, check battery life, maybe need change thermal paste on cpu. Plus check every keys on keyboard and track pads, camera, microphone, sound and etc. what it’s better way to me? I can buy little bit cheaper a used one MacBook Pro M1 Pro than a new air m5.
Interesting.I have MacBook Pro M1 - 16" 16g/512
Thinking about updating soon. Currently no real heavy processes going on (but lots of video DREAMS). Thinking of 15" M5 air - but your post has me wondering if it will be a step down, or?
macfacts
macrumors 603
tomscott1988
macrumors 6502a
M1 is still super capable and if its "dreams" better off trying it out on what you have first
Elohim369
macrumors regular
Depends - trust Apple on the good - better - best stats
It might be video editing doesn't really tax the CPU very much, and in this case it's going to be fine
But if you're editing 4k and exporting / re-compressing and whatnot, check out the many available comparison tests for that!
Anything that runs the CPU at 100% for > 5 seconds makes the MacBook Air slow down like crazy
I've looked into cooling pads, and even a thermal paste mod (very simple) - but they don't substantially change the equation, they give you a few seconds more at best.
I ordered a 16" M5 Pro beast just now...
for anything that taxes the GPU or CPU, I recommend getting a mac with a cooling system, the faster the processors get the more they need it. The 14" MPB has a single fan, the 16" has 2 fans.
Elohim369
macrumors regular
These don't make any difference at all
The CPU itself gets to 99 degrees C in a few seconds, then starts throttling to avoid overheating.
To change this at all you need to make a thermal pad mod (see youtube) and even that is not super effective. Basically put a thermal pad into your Air. External cooling pads cool down the outside of the air and make it cooler to the touch, which is nice, but have almost no effect at all at CPU temperature; the CPU is very small and very hot, it really needs a dedicated cooling system, which is what all laptops with fans have...