SIDE-BY-SIDE HARDWARE AUDITZero Pricing • Objective Specification Advantage Highlighting
Apple MacBook Air (Original Envelope Launch) vs Apple MacBook Pro 15 (2016 Touch Bar)
Compare processor microarchitectures, maximum GPU TGP, display color accuracy, RAM upgradability, and battery Watt-hours with automated win badge analysis.
Slot 1 • Apple2008
Apple MacBook Air (Original Envelope Launch)
13.3" TFT LCD • 1.36 kg • x86_64
Slot 2 • Apple2016
Apple MacBook Pro 15 (2016 Touch Bar)
15.4" IPS LCD • 1.83 kg • x86_64
Reasons to Choose Apple MacBook Air (Original Envelope Launch)
- ✓Lighter Chassis (1.36 kg vs 1.83 kg)
Reasons to Choose Apple MacBook Pro 15 (2016 Touch Bar)
- ✓Thinner Profile (15.5 mm vs 19.3 mm)
- ✓Higher Peak Brightness (500nits vs 300nits)
- ✓Larger Battery Capacity (76Wh vs 37Wh)
- ✓Higher Charger Wattage (87W vs 45W)
- ✓Higher Max GPU TGP (35W vs 15W)
- ✓More Thunderbolt Ports (4ports vs 0ports)
01.Platform & Compute Subsystem
Processor architecture, graphics envelope, and power ceilingProcessor / SoC
Intel Core 2 Duo (Merom 65nm, 4MB L2 cache)
Intel Core i7-6700HQ / i7-6820HQ (Skylake 14nm)
CPU Core Architecture
2-core / 2-thread (1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz)
4-core / 8-thread (2.6 GHz base, 3.5 GHz Turbo)
ISA Architecture
x86_64
x86_64
Graphics Hardware
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator GMA X3100 (144MB shared)
AMD Radeon Pro 450 / 455 (2GB GDDR5) or Radeon Pro 460 (4GB GDDR5)
Maximum Graphics TGP
15 W
35 W+20 W
Operating System
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
macOS Sierra
02.Memory & Storage Upgradability
RAM capacity, SODIMM vs soldered, and NVMe expansionRAM Capacity Options
2 GB (Soldered onboard)
16 GB LPDDR3 (Soldered)
RAM Technology / Speed
DDR2-667 MHz SDRAM
LPDDR3-2133 MHz
RAM Upgradability
Soldered Onboard
Soldered Onboard
RAM Sockets / Form Factor
Soldered Onboard (Non-upgradable)
Soldered Onboard
M.2 SSD Expansion Slots
0 Slots
0 Slots
Storage Bus & Architecture
1.8-inch Parallel ATA (ZIF connector drive bay)
Apple soldered PCIe 3.0 NVMe storage array
03.Display & Color Accuracy
Panel technology, screen resolution, refresh rate, and luminancePanel Technology
TFT LCD
IPS LCD
Screen Diagonal Size
13.3 inches
15.4 inches
Aspect Ratio
16:10
16:10
Resolution
1280 × 800 px (113 ppi)
2880 × 1800 px (220 ppi)
Display Refresh Rate
60 Hz
60 Hz
Color Gamut Coverage
65% sRGB
100% DCI-P3 wide color gamut
Peak Brightness
300 nits
500 nits+200 nits
04.Chassis, Thermals & Battery
Enclosure weight, profile thickness, battery capacity, and chargingChassis Weight
1.36 kg-0.47 kg lighter
1.83 kg
Chassis Thickness
19.3 mm
15.5 mm-3.8 mm lighter
Chassis Materials
Precision CNC-machined aluminum unibody enclosure
All-metal aluminum unibody, Force Touch glass trackpad
Cooling Solution
Single ultra-slim centrifugal blower with copper heatpipe
Split dual-fan system with thin blades
Battery Capacity
37 Wh
76 Wh+39 Wh
Bundled Charger Wattage
45 W
87 W+42 W
USB-C Power Delivery
No
Yes
05.I/O Ports & Connectivity
High-speed buses, external display outs, and media card readersPort Complement
1x USB 2.0 (flip-down door), Micro-DVI video out, 3.5mm analog headphone jack, MagSafe power port
4x Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C 40 Gbps, DisplayPort, Charging), 3.5mm headphone jack, OLED Touch Bar with Touch ID
Thunderbolt Ports
None
4x Thunderbolt+4 ports
HDMI Revision
Micro-DVI to DVI / Micro-DVI to VGA adapter
None (Native DisplayPort over USB-C / HDMI via dongle)
Card Reader
None Reader
None Reader
3.5mm Headphone Jack
✅ Present
✅ Present
Wireless Networking
AirPort Extreme 802.11a/b/g/draft-n, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR
802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2