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Where did your M5 MBA come from? China or Vietnam? Was it bto?

Where did your M5 MacBook Air come from?

  • Made in China

  • Product of Vietnam

Results are only viewable after voting.
Populus

Populus

macrumors 604
Original poster
My M5 MacBook Air came from Vietnam (Product of Vietnam) rather than being the usual Made in China.

I’m not complaining, although it’s been an expensive investment and I wouldn’t like it to have defects… for now I just find the keyboard a bit mushier than it used to be on the M4 (made in China) MBA from a family member, and one M5 I tried months ago.

I know I’m possibly overthinking it but… what if there are more differences in the assembly? What if it has less thermal paste on the M5 die? What if the keyboard is higher than it should be and end up with a screen with staingate?

I don’t know, maybe the build quality of the MBP assembled in Vietnam is better than the Chinese one, or the differences are really random…

But just to know it, where’s your M5 MBA from? Was it a pre built model or a built to order one?

And finally, if previously you’ve had an M2, M3 or M4 MacBook Air made in China, and your new M5 MBA is a Product of Vietnam, have you spotted any small differences in thermals, build quality, keyboard feeling, or even the screen?

Thank you.
 
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A related question is whether the specific differences you notice were done at a the component level and shipped to the final assembly location.
 
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13" M5 Air 1TB 24GB Sky Blue, made in Vietnam.

Build quality is stellar. I am coming to the Air from a 14" M4 Pro, and I don't notice any differences in build quality.

Decided to move to the Air for a more lightweight and thin device.
 
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I have a lot of electronics made in China and Vietnam. They are identical. One isn't better than another. China may have the edge due to larger capacity and more experience but it is very close.

As long as it is an Apple product it is made to a certain standard.

I would simply worry if my unit is defective and needs to be returned and then contact Apple on next steps.

Quality control of Apple products can be hit or miss. Once you get a good one you are golden but sometimes it takes a few tries to get a good unit.
 
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dizmonk said:
Same here... although I wish I had gotten Starlight.
Click to expand...

Really loving the starlight pivoting off of being on silver train forever , distinguishes it from the Pro just that little bit. And good synchronicity with Golden Gate

Sky blue id get tired of quick and the midnight is a fingerprint mess

Just my 2 cents
 
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JPack said:
The two keyboard suppliers are Sunrex Technology Corporation and Primax Electronics Limited.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I dont think any way to identify one vs the other especially because they each probably have wide variation / tolerances within the same manufacturer but good to know 🙂 the more you learn

was running it through GPT, is it possible the Primax is the one with wobblier, cheaper feeling keys and more backlight bleed?

I have come across one or two like that when I was trying out M4 models last year.
But I never paid much attention to noise but Im happy with my M5 unit for sure that I have in front of me.

I hate all these lotteries you gotta jump through, so hopefully I keep my laptop for a long while.
 
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thadoggfather said:
Vietnam became primary supplier of MBA starting with the M4 model. Prior it was still mixed, but China dominant.

Tariffs and stuff likely a huge part of that / risk diversification.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's what I'm observing in the poll and comments! Out of 12 MacBook Airs, 10 are assembled in Vietnam.

So I guess this is the new normal. So far, my MacBook Air is feeling great. Great display, great chasis sturdiness, and yeah the keyboard feels a bit different but it works well. At least it is more silent. What worries me is that looking it from the side, some keys seem to protrude a little bit and I'm not sure if they will touch the screen and end up in a "staingated" display...

The Clark said:
I had a starlight MBA, it was nice for a few months but I got tired of it and wish I kept my MBA Midnight or even silver.
Click to expand...
I tried an M4 starlight, and while it was nice, it is true that you could kinda get tired of it.

I chose silver for my MacBook Air as my iPad is also silver and all my previous Macs have been silver. But I kept thinking about the midnight one... Finally decided the silver one because the midnight was almost black and prone to fingerprints. If only the midnight had been a deep navy blue, closer to the Neo's indigo but a bit darker... But the almost black midnight wasn't entirely my cup of tea. I wonder if anyone misses the space grey finish. But not the "almost silver grey", but the space grey they're using on the latest iPad Pros, which is darker.

JPack said:
All of Apple's keyboards are made in China and Taiwan. You can check Apple's supplier list.

Click to expand...
Wow! interesting, I didn't know there was an official supplier list made public by Apple. I thought it was "secret", or at least, not widely available.

thadoggfather said:
But I never paid much attention to noise but Im happy with my M5 unit for sure that I have in front of me.

I hate all these lotteries you gotta jump through, so hopefully I keep my laptop for a long while.
Click to expand...
Yes, I too hate this lotteries, but I guess a huge company like Apple needs to source its components from different suppliers. Otherwise they may not have enough of them... Or to prevent risks: imagine Apple is heavily reliant on one supplier, and that supplier fails to deliver. That could be a catastrophe. Also, having different suppliers makes them compete to offer good product at competitive prices.

But, on the other hand, I completely get where you're coming from. Especially when it comes to displays. Especially, OLED displays. "Oh, this panel is too greenish", "Oh, this panel is too yellowish", "Oh, this panel is too pinkish", "Oh, this panel has a greenish area and a pinkish area, I wish I had kept the uniform yellowish one", "Dammit, this one is perfect, but the PWM is so strong that makes me cry if I stare at it for too long"...

I guess that batteries are also supplied by different manufacturers, and when we see an iPhone generation with lots of complaints about "battery health going down too quickly", that's also affecting users selectively depending on the manufacturer.

At least, for now, all chips are manufactured entirely by TSMC. Remember the A9 days when the Samsung-made chips were performing a little bit worse and consuming more power than those manufactured by TSMC (the good ones)? However, now that Apple Silicon has just one supplier, you can see what's happening: TSMC is facing certain constraints already, and they are rising the prices because they have too much demand. That's why Apple is probably working on having Intel as a second supplier for the 1.6 or 1.4nm generation.
 
Populus said:
At least, for now, all chips are manufactured entirely by TSMC. Remember the A9 days when the Samsung-made chips were performing a little bit worse and consuming more power than those manufactured by TSMC (the good ones)?
Click to expand...
Blast from the past. I do remember that. And mixed NAND: some TLC, some MLC. with iPhone 6 iirc.
 
Populus said:
My M5 MacBook Air came from Vietnam (Product of Vietnam) rather than being the usual Made in China.

I’m not complaining, although it’s been an expensive investment and I wouldn’t like it to have defects… for now I just find the keyboard a bit mushier than it used to be on the M4 (made in China) MBA from a family member, and one M5 I tried months ago.

I know I’m possibly overthinking it but… what if there are more differences in the assembly? What if it has less thermal paste on the M5 die? What if the keyboard is higher than it should be and end up with a screen with staingate?

I don’t know, maybe the build quality of the MBP assembled in Vietnam is better than the Chinese one, or the differences are really random…

But just to know it, where’s your M5 MBA from? Was it a pre built model or a built to order one?

And finally, if previously you’ve had an M2, M3 or M4 MacBook Air made in China, and your new M5 MBA is a Product of Vietnam, have you spotted any small differences in thermals, build quality, keyboard feeling, or even the screen?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
If it's a genuine Apple product, it has met Apple's quality control guidelines and there should be no perceptible differences. If you have a faulty unit, speak to Apple directly.
 
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