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M5 MBA screen quality vs 2015 MBP 15

M

MacNewbie007

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hi all

I currently have a 2015 MBP 15 inch and love the laptop and it can handle most of the things I want to do - mostly office, internet, email. Getting old so don't want 14inch pro M5 (16 is too heavy in current state). My issue is that the display ribbon is going bad and I want to get a new laptop (I could get a ribbon or used display on Ebay and change it out). Specs on M5 MBA 15 screen seem to be close enough with better brightness - just wanted to seee if someone has made similar MBA 15 transition from 2015 and the screen disappointed. I can go to 16 inch but all that power is wasted for me but screen itself with M5 pro may be worth it - money is not an issue but I hate to waste it for something I may not fully utilize. As long as the clarity of the screen (word, images etc) are same or better than 2015 MBP, that will suffice as I am sure M5 can handle whatever I do. Also MBP runs hot at times with fan running (did better for few months after I changed the paste) but again hot even when in sleep mode. Does MBA 15 have similar issues -- My worst case use is safari with 5-10 tabs, Citrix windows (may be 2) to run work software, email, messages, occ WhatsApp. May be word files, excel, or powerpoint. Sometimes YouTube video on safari. Have been thinking able dabbling in some personal photo edits or home videos but nothing major - but no concrete plans yet. I keep everything local so getting 2 TB storage and 32 GB RAM (16 on MBP seems to be good for now) for keeping it somewhat future proof. I usually keep laptops for long time (only thing that may sway me for a newer laptop is newer MBP with better design - lighter/thinner design

SO main wants - cool running laptop for my use case as well as good enough screen res (Comparable or better than MBP 15 2015)

thank you for your input!
 
Your 2015 MacBook Pro 15 is listed as having a "retina display", which seems to be the same tech as the screen on my 2020 M1 MacBook Air 13.

I traded my M1 in last week and for the past few days have been using my new M5 MacBook Air, which has a Liquid Retina display. All I can say is that the screen is lovely. Nice vibrant colours and good brightness. Sure, it's not one of these latest 120Hz screens, but I've haven't yet had that on any of my devices. I'm not worrying about things I've never had.

As for heat, my M5 runs cool the vast majority of the time. The most intensive task I run is transcoding video using HandBrake. That does cause some warmth on the underside of the machine but a) not as hot as my M1, and, b) not for as long as the M1. The processing power of the M5 means the task completes quicker, less heat is generated, and so cooling happens sooner.

The workload you describe seems similar to mine, in which case the M5 Air is a perfect fit.

The other benefit you'll have is moving from Intel to Apple Silicon. The performance boost blew my socks off back in 2020 when I first got my M1.
 
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The 15” M5 air will be a huge upgrade over your 2015 in every way and will be more than enough to handle what you’re doing. You’ll be blown away by the speed and efficiency of it coming from an Intel Mac.

Screen wise, they are close in resolution but the air is sharper, much brighter, better contrast and more colour accurate, also displays way more colours, so overall still a nice step up from your 2015.

The ONLY thing better on your pro is the port selection, but thats easily fixable on the air with a cheap dongle if you even need them
 
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1BadManVan said:
2015 mbp is 300 nits and stanbdard srgb and 900:1 contrast with 220 ppi vs 500 nit, dci-p3 and 1400:1 contrast ratio with 224 ppi and 1 billion colours.

It's a pretty decent step up in quality and brightness
Click to expand...

Thank you for the specs.
That does sound nice.

I'll be commenting more on this when my M4 arrives later this week (on my 2015 as I type this).
 
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Yep looking to do the same thing, and will pull the trigger on MBA 15” m5 any day now. MBP 2015 will be my backup as it works fine, although is slow compared to M class Macs. Im pretty certain the current apple watch 11 has more processing power than the intel Broadwell i5 loooool.
 
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snipr125 said:
Yep looking to do the same thing, and will pull the trigger on MBA 15” m5 any day now. MBP 2015 will be my backup as it works fine, although is slow compared to M class Macs. Im pretty certain the current apple watch 11 has more processing power than the intel Broadwell i5 loooool.
Click to expand...

What spec are you going with on MBA 15 M5?
A base option of some variation? Any speccing it up?

I was conflicted on M4 refurb vs m5 EDU.
It's silly, but I really dislike Tahoe and wanted to avoid that for now and saving some clams is never the worst choice.

My thought was not overspeccing too much (16gb/1TB) so as to hopefully not get super hammered on a resale in a couple years when perhaps the rest of the MBA gets a more substantial upgrade (thinking about screen tech in particular).

Curious what you decided/how/etc.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
What spec are you going with on MBA 15 M5?
A base option of some variation? Any speccing it up?

I was conflicted on M4 refurb vs m5 EDU.
It's silly, but I really dislike Tahoe and wanted to avoid that for now and saving some clams is never the worst choice.

My thought was not overspeccing too much (16gb/1TB) so as to hopefully not get super hammered on a resale in a couple years when perhaps the rest of the MBA gets a more substantial upgrade (thinking about screen tech in particular).

Curious what you decided/how/etc.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t base your choice on the os as many refurbs get the latest os. If you only plan to hold onto it for a couple years then you might as well just go for the M4.
 
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1BadManVan said:
I wouldn’t base your choice on the os as many refurbs get the latest os. If you only plan to hold onto it for a couple years then you might as well just go for the M4.
Click to expand...

Luckily on macOS one can always install a previous OS (as long as that machine was capable of running it).

i.e. an M4 Mac will always be able to install/run Sequoia.

I already my Sequoia USB installer stick created & ready to go in case I need it 🙂 😂
 
turbineseaplane said:
Luckily on macOS one can always install a previous OS (as long as that machine was capable of running it).

i.e. an M4 Mac will always be able to install/run Sequoia.

I already my Sequoia USB installer stick created & ready to go in case I need it 🙂 😂
Click to expand...
Ahh good to know. Never done it myself so never looked into it
 
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turbineseaplane said:
What spec are you going with on MBA 15 M5?
A base option of some variation? Any speccing it up?

I was conflicted on M4 refurb vs m5 EDU.
It's silly, but I really dislike Tahoe and wanted to avoid that for now and saving some clams is never the worst choice.

My thought was not overspeccing too much (16gb/1TB) so as to hopefully not get super hammered on a resale in a couple years when perhaps the rest of the MBA gets a more substantial upgrade (thinking about screen tech in particular).

Curious what you decided/how/etc.
Click to expand...
Probably the base tbh, although the 1tb is tempting when you look at its insane SSD speeds. Amazon UK, base are about £110 off rrp. Should last me a good 7-8 years, maybe more.
 
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