Asus TUF Gaming F16 (2026) vs Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display
2560 x 1664
CPU
GPU
Apple M5 GPU (8-Core)
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Asus TUF Gaming F16 (2026) and Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026) important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Portability
Design, materials, durability and usability
Pick the usage scenario that best matches your needs
Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Please input up-to-date prices for the selected laptop configurations to get an accurate value-for-money index.
Currency
VS
15.7
(Bad)
Value Index
90.8
(Very good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Asus TUF Gaming F16 (2026)
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • Higher screen refresh rate: 165 versus 60 Hz
  • Features a much bigger (~67%) battery – 90 against 53.8 watt-hours
  • User-upgradable RAM (up to 64GB) and an SSD
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
  • Significantly easier to carry: weighs 970 grams less (around 2.14 lbs)
  • MacBook with the Apple M5 (8-сore GPU) chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
  • Around 84% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • Thinner bezels and 5% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Provides 67% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 300 nits
  • 58% sharper screen – 225 versus 142 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Much smaller footprint: 31% more compact case (101.4 vs 147.6 square inches)

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 2.2 kg (4.85 lbs) 1.23 kg (2.71 lbs)
Dimensions 354 x 269 x 17.9-27.3 mm
13.94 x 10.59 x 0.7-1.07 inches
304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
Area 952 cm2 (147.6 inches2) 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~77.9% ~82%
Side bezels 4.7 mm 5.6 mm
Colors Black Black, Silver, Gold, Blue
Material Top: Aluminum
Middle: Plastic
Bottom: Plastic
Aluminum
Transformer No No
Opening angle - 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber No No
Liquid metal No No
Number of fans 2 -

Display

Size 16 inches 13.6 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 165 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
PPI 142 ppi 225 ppi
Aspect ratio 16:10 16:10
Resolution 1920 x 1200 pixels 2560 x 1664 pixels
HDR support No Yes, Dolby Vision
Sync technology G-Sync No
Touchscreen No No
Coating Matte Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor No Yes
Screen space comparison
TUF Gaming F16 (2026)
16″ (16:10 ratio) = 115.1 in2
MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
~38% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast - 1437:1
sRGB color space 100% 100%
Adobe RGB profile 75.3% 86.8%
DCI-P3 color gamut - 98.1%
Response time - 20 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes, 100 W Yes
Charging port position Left Left
Charge power 280 W 35 / 40 / 70 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter - 116 / 80 / 167 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 2.2 GHz 4.61 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.8 GHz -
Cores 8 (4P + 4E) 10 (4P + 6E)
Threads 12 10
L3 Cache 12 MB -
Integrated GPU Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4 (48EU) Apple M5 GPU (8-core)
Fabrication process 10 nm 3 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
Nvidia Optimus MUX -
Type Dedicated Integrated
Fabrication process 8 nm 3 nm
GPU boost clock - 1620 MHz
FLOPS 4.3-7.1 TFLOPS 3.3 TFLOPS
Memory size 6 GB System Shared
Memory type GDDR6 LPDDR5X
Memory bus 128 bit 128 bit
Memory speed ~12 Gbps 9.6 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 2048 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 64 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 40 32
GPU performance 4.3-7.1 TFLOPS 3.3 TFLOPS

GPU Benchmarks

Steel Nomad Lite Score
Blender GPU 846 1734
Solar Bay 16850 17375
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x8 GB 2x8 GB
Clock 5600 MHz 9600 MHz
Type DDR5 LPDDR5X
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 2 -
Max. ram size 64 GB -

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x) Custom
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x512 GB 2x256 GB
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 2 -
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.0 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Power 2x2W -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness - ~82.1 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6E v7
Bluetooth v5.4 v6.0
Fingerprint No Yes
Infrared sensor Yes No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A 3x USB 3.2 No
USB Type-C 2x USB 3.2 2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 4
HDMI 1x HDMI 2.1 No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) Yes No
SD card reader No No
Proprietary charging port Yes Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad Yes No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.7 mm 1 mm
Touchpad
Surface Plastic Glass
Windows Precision Yes No
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
2 (33.3%)
4 (66.7%)
Total votes: 6

Comments

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