MacBook Air M4 vs M5: Which to Buy Refurbished?

For most buyers in August 2026, the refurbished MacBook Air M4 is still the smarter purchase, but the margin has narrowed. A refurbished 13-inch M4 starts at $849 on RefurbMe against $1,099 for the cheapest refurbished M5, a gap of $250. Compare like for like at 512GB and that gap collapses to roughly $90. The M4 wins decisively at its 256GB base configuration. Above that, the M5 is close enough that its faster graphics, Wi-Fi 7, and doubled base storage start to pay for themselves.

According to RefurbMe's own tracking, a MacBook Air reaches the refurbished market a median of 99 days after Apple ships it, and the M5 beat that pace: Back Market listed the first refurbished M5 Air on 24 May 2026, 74 days after the 11 March release. Those figures come from the RefurbMe Refurbished Apple Price Index (RAPI), as of August 2026.

One more RefurbMe figure sets the context. The median Refurb Discount across every MacBook Air model RefurbMe has ever tracked is 88% (as of August 2026). That is a family-wide median reaching back to 2011-era machines, so it does not mean a current M4 or M5 sells for 88% off. What it shows is how far MacBook Air prices eventually fall, which is exactly why buying one generation back is usually the value play.

Quick Verdict: M4 or M5 Refurbished

Buy the refurbished M4 at its 256GB base configuration. At $849 it sits 15% below its own $999 launch price and $250 below the cheapest refurbished M5, and it shares the chassis, display, battery, camera, and port layout of the newer machine. For email, browsing, documents, and video calls, nothing about the M5 will be visible to you.

Pay for the refurbished M5 if you want 512GB or more. Apple rates the M5 at up to 15 percent faster multithreaded CPU performance and up to 30 percent faster graphics than the M4, rising to up to 45 percent in apps that use ray tracing, with over four times the peak GPU compute for AI workloads. At 512GB the refurbished price difference is around $90, which is a small premium for those gains plus Wi-Fi 7 and a faster SSD.

Everything that defines how a MacBook Air feels is unchanged across both. Same weight, same Liquid Retina display, same all-day battery, same fanless silence. You can compare live refurbished MacBook Air prices on RefurbMe to see exactly how wide the M4-to-M5 gap is on any given day.

MacBook Air M4 vs M5: Spec Comparison

Both generations use a 10-core CPU, the same 16GB base memory, and the same 16-core Neural Engine. The real changes sit in memory bandwidth, storage, wireless, SSD speed, and graphics throughput.

Sources: MacBook Air (13-inch, M4, 2025) Tech Specs, MacBook Air (13-inch, M5) Tech Specs, and Apple's MacBook Air with M5 announcement. Refurbished floors verified live on RefurbMe, August 2026.

Two deltas matter most. The M5 doubles the base storage, so its $1,099 list price buys a 512GB machine against the M4's 256GB, and it can be configured to 4TB for the first time. Apple also states the M5's new SSD delivers 2x faster read and write performance than the previous generation, which shows up when you copy large video files or open big project libraries.

Real-World Performance: How Much Faster Is the M5?

Apple publishes the cleanest figures here. Against the M4, Apple rates the M5 at up to 15 percent faster multithreaded CPU performance, up to 30 percent faster graphics from its enhanced shader cores, up to a 45 percent graphics uplift in apps that use ray tracing, and over four times the peak GPU compute for AI workloads.

The MacBook-Air-specific numbers are more useful than the chip-level ones. Apple measured the M5 Air at up to 1.9x faster than the M4 Air in Topaz Video, up to 1.5x faster in Blender ray-traced 3D rendering, up to 1.5x faster in Affinity image processing, and up to 4x faster on AI tasks. Those are the workloads where the generation gap is real.

For everyday work the gap disappears. Browsing, office documents, photo edits, and video calls feel the same on both chips. Neither Air has a fan, so under long sustained loads both throttle and the practical difference narrows further. The M5 is the faster chip on paper and in bursts; the M4 keeps pace for the work most people actually do. The same pattern held one generation earlier, covered in our MacBook Air M3 vs M4 comparison.

What Is Identical Between the M4 and M5 Air

This is where the upgrade math tilts toward the M4. The M5 changed the chip and a few components around it, but the laptop you hold is the same one.

Both share the same aluminum chassis and weight: 2.7 pounds for the 13-inch, 3.3 pounds for the 15-inch. You cannot tell them apart by looking. Both use the same Liquid Retina display at 13.6 or 15.3 inches, 500 nits, P3 wide color, and True Tone. Neither offers ProMotion or a brighter panel.

Battery is unchanged too. The 13-inch carries the same 53.8Wh cell on both generations and the 15-inch the same 66.5Wh cell, with an identical Apple rating of up to 18 hours of video streaming and 15 hours of wireless web. The camera is also the same on both: a 12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View, recording 1080p video. MagSafe 3 charging, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and the headphone jack all carry over without change.

The Refurbished Price Gap in 2026

The M5 launch in March 2026 pushed the M4 deeper into the refurbished channel, and that is exactly where its value now lives. The M5 has not followed it yet.

Here is what refurbished pricing looks like on RefurbMe right now, verified live in August 2026 and sorted by price:

Read that table three ways. Floor to floor, the cheapest refurbished M4 undercuts the cheapest refurbished M5 by $250. Like for like at 512GB, the gap is only about $90, because the M4's 512GB configuration is a paid upgrade while the M5 ships that capacity as standard. And the cheapest refurbished 13-inch M5 costs $1,099, which is exactly Apple's list price for a new one: five months after launch, the M5 has not entered the discount channel at all.

That is the whole argument in one line. Buy the M4 if 256GB is enough for you, because $849 is a genuine discount. If you need 512GB, pay the extra $90 and take the M5, because the M4 stops being cheap the moment you climb its storage ladder.

For context on how low these can go, RefurbMe's record for a 13-inch M4 is $769, set on eBay Refurbished on 8 July 2026, and the record for a 13-inch M5 is $929, set on 8 August 2026. Those are all-time lows, not prices you can buy at today, but they show where patient shoppers have landed. Back Market carries by far the deepest MacBook Air inventory of any seller RefurbMe tracks, 205 of the 217 US listings live today, so it is the first place to check when a configuration you want is out of stock everywhere else.

MacBook Air 11.6"

128GB SSD
1.4Ghz Intel Dual-Core i5 4th gen
4GB memory • Silver
2014 release

Good condition, by Amazon

$149

new $899 -83%

View deal

+1 deals

MacBook Air 13.3"

256GB SSD
1.8Ghz Intel Dual-Core i5 5th gen
8GB memory • Silver
2017 release

Fair condition, by plug

$219

new $1,199 -82%

View deals

+1 deals

MacBook Air 13.3"

1TB SSD
1.6Ghz Intel Dual-Core i5 8th gen
16GB memory • Space Gray
with Touch Id • 2018 release

Fair condition, by Mac of All Trades

$220

View deals

Compare all Refurbished MacBook Air

Who Should Buy the Refurbished M4

The refurbished M4 fits a wider range of buyers than its older-generation label suggests, provided you stay at the base configuration.

Budget-conscious buyers. At $849 the 13-inch M4 delivers nearly all of the M5's day-to-day capability for $250 less, and it is the only one of the two currently selling below list price.

Everyday users. Email, browsing, documents, streaming, and video calls run identically on both chips. Paying the M5 premium for these jobs buys you nothing you will notice.

Students. The MacBook Air is one of the best laptops for coursework, and the refurbished M4 is the most affordable path into current Apple silicon. See our guide on whether MacBooks are worth it for the long view.

Anyone unsure refurbished is safe. A certified refurbished M4 carries a warranty and a tested condition grade. Our breakdown of whether refurbished MacBooks are worth it covers what to check before you buy.

Who Should Pay More for the M5

The M5 earns its premium for a narrower set of needs, but that set grew once the 512GB gap narrowed to $90.

Anyone who needs 512GB or more. This is the biggest change for 2026. A refurbished 512GB M4 runs $1,009 against $1,099 for a 512GB M5, so at that capacity the newer chip costs a rounding error. If 256GB feels tight, take the M5.

Creative and AI workloads. Apple measures the M5 Air at up to 1.5x faster in Blender ray-traced rendering, up to 1.9x faster in Topaz Video, and up to 4x faster on AI tasks than the M4 Air. If you render, run local models, or push the GPU daily, those are gains you can feel.

Fast networks and future-proofing. The Apple N1 wireless chip brings Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and Thread, and the M5 drives a wider range of external display configurations, including a single 8K panel at 60Hz. If you plan to keep the laptop six or more years, that headroom matters.

Where to Buy a Refurbished MacBook Air Safely

Buy from sellers that test, grade, and warranty their stock. Back Market is the first stop for both generations: it holds the deepest MacBook Air inventory RefurbMe tracks, carries a one-year warranty, and gives a one-month return window. Mac of All Trades and Amazon Renewed are the next US options worth comparing, and eBay Refurbished, the vetted certified-refurbished program rather than the open marketplace, regularly holds the cheapest 15-inch listings.

Apple Certified Refurbished is the trust option and currently holds the cheapest 13-inch M4 listing outright. Apple's terms are worth reading precisely, because they are widely misquoted. Every Apple Certified Refurbished device is tested, cleaned, inspected, fitted with genuine Apple replacement parts as needed, boxed new, and covered by the standard one-year limited warranty. The extra promise of a new battery and a new outer shell applies to refurbished iOS devices only, so do not expect a new battery or a new casing on a refurbished Mac.

Compare grades, warranty terms, and prices side by side rather than buying the first listing you find. For a ranked look at sellers and what each offers, see our guide to the best refurbished MacBooks or the refurbisher comparison tool. RefurbMe aggregates live pricing across every major seller so you can compare refurbished MacBook deals in one place.

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