M5 MacBook Air vs M5 MacBook Pro - BIG Difference?

MacBook Air versus MacBook Pro is a

decision us MacBook users have been

making for well over a decade. Is the

cheaper, more lightweight, and less

powerful Air all I need? Or should I pay

a bit extra, sacrifice some portability,

but get more performance and other

upgrades like increased port selection,

better screen, and speakers? I thought

the answer for me personally would be

pretty straightforward, but after using

both of these MacBooks side by side,

turns out I was wrong. So, first up,

before I even get to all the other

differences, let's talk about price. The

most important factor, right? $1,099

for the M5 MacBook Air versus $1699

for the M5 MacBook Pro. It does seem

like a huge difference, especially

because both base models have the same

16 GB of RAM. However, the M5 MacBook

Pro has a larger 1 TB SSD versus 512 GB

on the Air. It also gets the non-bin

Apple silicon M5 chip with 10 GPU cores

versus eight GPU cores on the Air with

an optional $100 upgrade to 10. If you

upgrade the Air's SSD to 1 TBTE to match

though, it's an extra $200, but you also

get the 10 GPU core upgrade included in

that. So realistically, once I took that

into consideration, what was originally

a $600 price difference between the two

is more like $400, which don't get me

wrong, is still quite a lot, but I think

it is enough to improve the value

proposition of the Pro. But importantly,

you know, only if those upgrades on the

Air interest you in the first place. You

know, maybe you are perfectly fine with

a 512 GB SSD, for example. Quick side

note here. The MacBook Pro comes with a

70watt charger versus a 40 watt charger

for the Air. Now, not a huge difference

in my opinion because the 40 watt

charger is dynamic and can output up to

60 W if necessary. Uh but bear in mind,

neither of these chargers can output

enough power to fast charge at the

highest possible speeds for either

MacBook. You'll need to upgrade them

either on the Apple purchase page or by

buying a third-p party charger. I can

recommend this one. I'll link it in the

description of this video. It's got

extra ports for charging multiple

devices versus the single port on the

Apple ones. Now, in terms of

portability, I've taken both of these

MacBook chassis on multiple trips. Now,

their physical size is almost identical,

right? There's only roughly about a 0.3

in difference in their chassis when

looking from the top. The MacBook Pro is

slightly thicker than the Air. But I

found there was usually no major

difference to how they both fit into the

laptop sleeve of my bag, but when my bag

was packed super tight, uh, I did notice

the Air seemed to slip in there a little

bit easier. How much they weigh is

really the only major difference in my

opinion. Now, the Pro is heavier by 0.7

lb or 310 g. Now, carrying it around in

my bag all day long, this extra weight

was not noticeable for me personally,

but you know, that does vary from person

to person. For port selection, I found

the benefits of the M5 MacBook Pros

extra ports really depended on what I

was frequently doing on my MacBook. Now,

the MacBook Pro has an extra USBC port.

Note that all the USBC ports are the

same Thunderbolt 4 speeds on both

MacBooks and it also has HDMI and an SD

card slot. Now, some people say that the

extra ports are, you know, not a big

deal. just use a USBC hub on the MacBook

Air instead. And that is true, but if I

was frequently using the SD card slot

with my camera or, you know, connecting

my MacBook via HDMI to my TV to play

movies, uh, not having to use a hub or

adapter every time was just something

that I really appreciated. Like, it was

nice just plugging things straight in

and not having to dig around in my bag

to find an SD card to USBC adapter, for

example. Also, that extra Thunderbolt 4

USBC port on the MacBook Pro is on the

right side, which gave me a bit more

flexibility when it came to connecting

things to my Mac, like plugging into my

monitor. Uh, I can route the cable

around the right side instead of having

it stick out on the left, for example.

Or when charging the MacBook Pro, I had

the option of charging it from the other

side if I wanted. Now, while on the

topic of ports, the M5 MacBook Air, as

well as all the other M5 MacBooks, have

Thunderbolt connectivity. So, if you

frequently use your MacBook at a desk, I

highly recommend some kind of desktop

dock, particularly one with Thunderbolt

connectivity as well, which is where the

sponsor for this section of the video,

Anker, and their new Prime TV 5 docking

station, comes in. Now, the Anker Prime

Thunderbolt 5 docking station delivers

up to 120 Gbit per second bandwidth.

Now, that is an 80 Gbit pers symmetric

with bandwidth boost enabling up to 120

Gbit pers peak performance across

multiple ports, which is up to three

times faster than Thunderbolt 4, which

is enough bandwidth for multiple

highresolution monitors and high-speed

storage devices. And equipped with the

new Thunderbolt 5 technology, the Anker

Prime TB5 docking station can support

high-speed charging of laptops up to 140

W. It also has 14 different ports,

including two Thunderbolt 5 downstream

ports, a 2.5 GB Ethernet port, HDMI and

display port 2.1. It even has an

internal fan and temperature control for

active cooling to help sustain high

performance and efficiency, and has a

built-in power supply using GAN

materials to eliminate bulky power

adapters. And all of this power can be

connected to your MacBook with just a

single cable, simplifying your desk

setup. So, if you want to know more

about this dock, just click the link

down in the description. Okay, moving

on. Now, one advantage of the MacBook

Pro's thicker chassis is there's now

enough room to fit a better speaker

system. So, it's a highfidelity six

speaker sound system with force

cancelling woofers versus the standard

four speaker sound system on the MacBook

Air. Now, there is absolutely no

comparison here, right? Like the MacBook

Air just sounds like a cheap tiny set of

$20 speakers compared to the Pro. The

Pro just has a clearer sound stage. It

has significantly more bass and just

kind of, I suppose, fills the entire

room like a larger dedicated speaker

would. Here is a little audio test to

try and show the difference.

Now, what many people don't realize

about the MacBook Air is that although

it's marketed as a 13-in screen, it's

actually 13.6 6 in versus the MacBook

Pros 14.2 in. So realistically, the

MacBook Pro screen is only 0.6 in

larger, not a full in as the names would

suggest. And using them side by side, I

actually found it quite difficult to

find any meaningful differences in

screen real estate. Like I noticed some

websites and workflows would show a

little bit more on the 14-in. For

example, I'd be able to see slightly

more information in a table without

having to scroll over or, you know, the

beginning of the next section of a text

article down the bottom, but it was

nowhere near as noticeable as, say,

going from the 14-inch MacBook Pro to

the 16-in. The Air is also using the

older liquid retina display panel, which

is LCD, versus miniLEDD on the Pro. Now,

on the Pro, colors just seem to pop a

little bit more and look more vibrant.

And also, darker scenes in particular

look better because the LEDs are able to

switch off completely versus the LCD

display using backlights. HDR is also

better and brighter on the Pro. But

overall, you know, I didn't really find

these things to be a dealbreaker. What I

did notice was the nanoexture display

upgrade is not available on the MacBook

Air. Only the Pro has the option. Now, I

don't typically use my MacBook in super

bright environments, like, you know,