Which is better for a student?

The 13-inch M5. It costs $1,078.99 at eBay as of November 7, 2026, weighs 2.7 lb, and starts with 512GB of storage. The 15-inch M4 costs about $520 more for a bigger screen and an older chip.

Is the 15-inch worth the extra money?

Only if screen size is your priority. The 15-inch gives you a 15.3-inch display and six speakers, but it runs the older M4 chip and Wi-Fi 6E, and costs $1,599.00 at MelroseMAC as of November 7, 2026.

Which has better battery life?

They are rated the same: up to 18 hours of video streaming on both. Real runtime depends on brightness and workload, and the smaller screen on the 13-inch can stretch a little further at the same settings.

The 13-inch M5. It has a 10-core CPU and a GPU with Neural Accelerators, a generation ahead of the M4 in the 15-inch. For everyday browsing and office work you will barely notice; for video export and AI tasks the M5 pulls ahead.

Can I connect two monitors?

The 13-inch M5 supports up to two external displays. The 15-inch M4 supports one with the lid open, or two with the lid closed.

Both are fanless aluminum laptops with soldered memory and storage, so neither is upgradeable. The M5 is a generation newer, which usually means a longer stretch of macOS support, but Apple has not published end-of-support dates for either.

Apple MacBook Air 15-Inch (M4) vs Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (M5)

Buy the 13-inch M5 if you want the newest chip, Wi-Fi 7, and the lowest price: $1,078.99 at eBay as of November 7, 2026. Buy the 15-inch M4 if screen size matters more than generation: $1,599.00 at MelroseMAC as of November 7, 2026, about $520 more. Both are thin, silent, fanless MacBooks with 18-hour battery ratings, so the real split is display size versus price and silicon generation.

Today the Apple MacBook Air 13-Inch (M5) costs $520.01 less at its best price.

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