Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 gasps for air as MacBook Pro 14 M5 shows 40% higher gaming performance in Cyberpunk 2077
In our review of the Apple MacBook Air 13 M5, we noted that the Apple M5 is incredibly frugal and makes the MacBook Air 13 M5 the most power-efficient laptop on the market. For instance, the MacBook Air 13 M5 levels off at around 7 W under sustained load. This little power consumption is all the MacBook Air 13 M5 needs to run Cyberpunk 2077 at 1200p resolution using reduced settings with MetalFX upscaling.
However, the MacBook Air 13’s bigger brother, the M5-powered MacBook Pro 14, shows that the Apple M5 is capable of a lot more if properly cooled.
Korean tech reviewer Geekerwan reports that, in Cyberpunk 2077 at 1200p/low with MetalFx upsampling, the MacBook Air 13 M5 only consumed 9 W and managed 54 FPS. However, the MacBook Pro 14 M5 ran the game at 76 FPS while consuming 20 W. This is a giant 40.7% performance difference between the two laptops.
Similarly, the MacBook Pro 14 M5 could sustain a locked 60 FPS in Elden Ring, while the MacBook Air 13 M5 thermal throttled to around 50 FPS.
While the MacBook Pro 14 uses the same Apple M5 chip with 10 CPU and 10 GPU cores, such a big performance difference is because the 13-inch MacBook Air has lower power limits and no active cooling. This is the reason why the MacBook Air 13 can only sustain around 9 W, while the MacBook Pro 14 can sustain 27.5 W.
A simple cooling solution could boost the M6 MacBook Air
While the MacBook Air lacks active cooling by design, there is no debate that the passive cooling solution holds the laptop back. Yes, the MacBook Pro exists for people who need a MacBook with more performance. But Apple should consider improvements to the thermal design of next year's MacBook Air 13 and 15.
A YouTuber recently proved that with just a simple copper plate and no fans, the MacBook Neo, which is also passively cooled, performs much better. So, Apple doesn’t need active cooling in the 2027 MacBook Air to give the laptop a boost in performance.
Source(s)
Geekerwan on YouTube, Teaser image source: Andreas Osthoff for Notebookcheck, Pixabay, edited
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