MSI Modern 15 (A11X) vs. Intel MacBook Air: Which is better?

Here is a side by side comparison between MSI Modern 15 (A11X) and Intel MacBook Air specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) Pros

Reasons that MSI Modern 15 (A11X) is better than Intel MacBook Air.

Significantly faster CPU performance

Intel Core i7-1165G7 inside MSI Modern 15 (A11X) has a 48% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i7-1060NG7 inside Intel MacBook Air.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
MSI Modern 15 (A11X) - Intel Core i7-1165G7
4,487
MSI Modern 15 (A11X) - Intel Core i5-1135G7
3,980
Intel MacBook Air - Intel Core i7-1060NG7
3,018
Intel MacBook Air - Intel Core i5-1030NG7
2,818
Intel MacBook Air - Intel Core i3-1000NG4
1,942
Supports larger memory

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) supports a larger memory capacity than the Intel MacBook Air. It supports up to 64GB versus 16GB of system memory on the Intel MacBook Air.

Max system memory size
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)
64 GB
Intel MacBook Air
16 GB
Upgradable memory

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) comes with two SODIMM slots that allow you to replace or upgrade when needed. On the flip side, you can't upgrade RAM on the Intel MacBook Air since it has onboard memory.

MemoryMSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Slots
x2
Onboard
TypeDDR4LPDDR4X
Supports discrete graphics

Configurable up to NVIDIA GeForce MX450 2GB GDDR6 vs. integrated

17% larger display

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) has a 15.6-inch screen size 17% larger than the 13.3-inch Intel MacBook Air.

Display size
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)
15.6-inch
Intel MacBook Air
13.3-inch

Intel MacBook Air Pros

Reasons that Intel MacBook Air is better than MSI Modern 15 (A11X).

Supports faster memory

Intel MacBook Air supports a faster memory speed than the MSI Modern 15 (A11X). It supports up to 3733MHz versus 3200MHz of system memory on the MSI Modern 15 (A11X).

Memory type and speed
Intel MacBook Air - LPDDR4X
3,733 MHz
MSI Modern 15 (A11X) - DDR4
3,200 MHz
About 21% lighter

Intel MacBook Air weighed 2.8 pounds, 21% lighter than the 3.53 pounds MSI Modern 15 (A11X).

WeightMSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Pound
3.53 lbs.
2.8 lbs.
Kilogram
1.60 kg
1.27 kg

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) Price
MSI Modern 15 Laptop: Ryzen 7 7730U, UMA AMD Radeon Graphics, 15.6" FHD, 16GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Type C, Win 11 Pro: Classic Black B7M-223US
MSI Modern 15 Laptop: Ryzen 7 7730U, UMA AMD Radeon Graphics, 15.6" FHD, 16GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Type C, Win 11 Pro: Classic Black B7M-223US
By MSI
$799.99
MSI Modern 15 Laptop: Intel Core i3-1215U, UHD Graphics, 15.6" FHD, 8GB DDR4, 512GB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Type C, Win 11 Home: Classic Black B12M-433US
MSI Modern 15 Laptop: Intel Core i3-1215U, UHD Graphics, 15.6" FHD, 8GB DDR4, 512GB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Type C, Win 11 Home: Classic Black B12M-433US
By MSI
$379.99
$519.00 27% OFF
MSI Modern 15 Laptop: Ryzen 5 7530U, UMA AMD Radeon Graphics, 15.6" FHD, 16GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Type C, Win 11 Home: Classic Black B7M-224US
MSI Modern 15 Laptop: Ryzen 5 7530U, UMA AMD Radeon Graphics, 15.6" FHD, 16GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, Type C, Win 11 Home: Classic Black B7M-224US
By MSI
$549.99
Intel MacBook Air Price
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch Retina display, 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 128GB) - Space Gray (Renewed)
Apple MacBook Air (13-inch Retina display, 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5, 128GB) - Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$370.28
Early 2020 Apple MacBook Air with 1.1GHz Intel Core i3 (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) (QWERTY English) Gold (Renewed)
Early 2020 Apple MacBook Air with 1.1GHz Intel Core i3 (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage) (QWERTY English) Gold (Renewed)
By Apple
$467.08
2017 Apple Macbook Air with 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD Storage) (QWERTY English) Silver (Renewed)
2017 Apple Macbook Air with 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 (13-inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD Storage) (QWERTY English) Silver (Renewed)
By Apple
$233.98
$289.99 19% OFF

Availability

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Released20202020
Release Date-
  • Announced on March 18th, 2020
  • Available on March 18th, 2020
Pricing-
  • $999 - Intel Core i3 | 8GB RAM | 256GB SSD
  • $1,299 - Intel Core i5 | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Generations-

Exterior

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Dimensions14.05” x 9.20” x 0.67” (356.8 x 233.75 x 16.9 mm)
  • Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
  • Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm)
  • Height: 0.16–0.63 inch (0.41–1.61 cm)
Weight3.53 lbs (1.6 kg)Starting at 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg)
Colors
Urban Silver Carbon Gray
Gold Space Gray Silver
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • Keyboard
    • Backlight Keyboard (Single-Color, White)
    • 1.5mm key travel
  • Touchpad
    • Precision touchpad support multitouch gestures and intuitive response.
Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
  • 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures

Display

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Size15.6 Inches13.3 Inches
Info15.6" FHD (1920x1080), IPS-Level, Wide View Angle, Thin Bezel.Retina display
  • 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors
  • Supported scaled resolutions:
    • 1680 by 1050
    • 1440 by 900
    • 1024 by 640
  • 16:10 aspect ratio
  • True Tone technology

Ports

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
  • 1 x USB Type-C with Thunderbolt™ 4.
    Supports USB 4, DisplayPort, and Power Delivery charging.
  • 2 x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2
  • 1 x USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 1
  • 1 x MicroSD Card Reader
  • 1 x HDMI (4K @ 60Hz)
  • 1 x Mic-in/Headphone-out Combo Jack
  • 1 x DC-in
Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) ports with support for:
  • Charging
  • DisplayPort
  • Thunderbolt (up to 40Gb/s)
  • USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10Gb/s)

Internal Specs

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Processor
  1. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7
    4 cores, 8 threads, 2.40 → 4.20 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 28W
  2. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7
    4 cores, 8 threads, 2.80 → 4.70 GHz, 12MB SmartCache, 28W
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1000NG4
    2 cores, 4 threads, 1.10 → 3.20 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 9W
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG7
    4 cores, 8 threads, 1.10 → 3.50 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 10W
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1060NG7
    4 cores, 8 threads, 1.20 → 3.80 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 10W
Integrated Graphics
  1. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7
    Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
    80 Execution Units, 400 → 1300 MHz
  2. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7
    Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
    96 Execution Units, 400 → 1300 MHz
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1000NG4
    Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
    48 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG7
    Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
    64 Execution Units, 300 → 1050 MHz
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1060NG7
    Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
    64 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz
Memory
  • Up to DDR4-3200 Memory Type
  • 2 Slots Number of SO-DIMM Slot
  • Max 64GB Max Capacity
8GB
Configurable to 16GB 3733MHz LPDDR4X onboard memory
Discrete Graphics
MSI Modern 15 A11SB
  • NVIDIA® Geforce® MX450
    Video memory: 2GB GDDR6 VRAM.
MSI Modern 15 A11M
  • No discrete graphics
-
Storage
  • 1 x M.2 SSD slot (NVMe PCIe Gen3)
  • 1 x M.2 SSD slot (NVMe PCIe Gen4)
256GB 512GB
Configurable to 1TB and 2TB SSD

Connectivity

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Wi-Fi802.11 AX Wi-Fi 6
  • 802.11ac Wi‑Fi wireless networking
  • IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatible
BluetoothBluetooth 5.1Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology

Battery

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Size52 Wh (3-cell Li-Polymer battery)49.9 Wh lithium‑polymer battery
Battery Life-
  • Up to 11 hours wireless web
  • Up to 12 hours Apple TV app movie playback
  • Up to 30 days of standby time
Power Supply
MSI Modern 15 A11M
MSI Modern 15 A11SB
30W USB‑C Power Adapter

Software

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
OS
  • Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 10 Pro
Shipped with macOS Catalina
Built-in Apps
  • MSI Center for Business & Productivity
Photos iMovie GarageBand Pages Numbers Keynote Siri Safari Mail FaceTime Messages Maps News Stocks Home Voice Memos Notes Calendar Contacts Reminders Photo Booth Preview Music Podcasts TV Books App Store Time Machine Find My QuickTime Player

Camera & Audio

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
CameraFront-facing camera
720p (1280 x 720 HD) top mounted camera.
720p FaceTime HD camera
Audio
  • 2 x 2W Speaker
  • Nahimic 3
  • High-Resolution Audio ready
  • Stereo speakers
  • Wide stereo sound
  • Support for Dolby Atmos playback
  • Three-mic array with directional beamforming
  • 3.5 mm headphone jack

Misc

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
Sensors-
  • Touch ID sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
Security-
  • Touch ID sensor
  • Apple T2 Security Chip
In the box-
  • MacBook Air
  • 30W USB‑C Power Adapter
  • USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)
Warranty1-year Limited Warranty (Include 1 Year Global)Your MacBook Air comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus applicable tax.
More-Video Support
  • Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:
    • One external 6K display with 6016-by-3384 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors, or
    • One external 5K display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors, or
    • Up to two external 4K displays with 4096-by-2304 resolution at 60Hz at millions of colors
  • Thunderbolt 3 digital video output
    • Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C
    • VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)

Key Features

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air
At Glance
Released in
2020
16:9 FHD
15.6”
1080p 60Hz
Weight
3.53 lb
1.60 kg
Up to
Intel Core i7-1165G7
4C/8T, 2.80 → 4.70 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,374
Single Core
Geekbench 5
4,487
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
96 Execution Units, 400 → 1300 MHz
Upgradable up to
64GB
3200 MHz DDR4
NVIDIA GeForce
MX450
2GB GDDR6
Released in Early
2020
16:10 QHD+
13.3”
1600p 60Hz
Weight
2.8 lb
1.27 kg
Up to
Intel Core i7-1060NG7
4C/8T, 1.20 → 3.80 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,119
Single Core
Geekbench 5
3,018
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics
64 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz
Configurable up to
16GB
3733 MHz LPDDR4X

Comparison Summary

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) vs. Intel MacBook Air

MSI has released the Modern 15 (A11X), a 15.6-inch machine, in 2020. It is powered by up to a quad-core Intel Core i7-1165G7 with a boost clock speed up to 4.70 GHz. The laptop has a dedicated GPU option up to NVIDIA GeForce MX450 with 2GB GDDR6.

On the other hand, we have the 13.3-inch Intel MacBook Air was introduced by Apple around the same year in early-2020. It comes with up to a quad-core Intel Core i7-1060NG7 with a boost clock speed up to 3.80 GHz. It has an integrated graphics option up to Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics (64 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz).

Geekbench 5 Single Core

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)1
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G71,19586.97%
2
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G71,374100.00%
Intel MacBook Air1
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1000NG497871.18%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG71,05676.86%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1060NG71,11981.44%
01,374

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)1
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G73,98088.70%
2
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G74,487100.00%
Intel MacBook Air1
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-1000NG41,94243.28%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1030NG72,81862.80%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1060NG73,01867.26%
04,487

The MSI Modern 15 (A11X) has a 15.6-inch display which is considerably larger than the 13.3-inch Intel MacBook Air. In addition, the MSI Modern 15 (A11X) weighs 3.53 lbs. about 26% heavier than the 2.8 lbs. Intel MacBook Air. Moreover, measured at 14.05” x 9.20” x 0.67”, the MSI Modern 15 (A11X) is much bulkier than the Intel MacBook Air at 11.97” x 8.36” x 0.63”.

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)Intel MacBook Air

Moving over to upgradability, MSI claims that the MSI Modern 15 (A11X) supports up to 64GB 3200 MHz DDR4 memory that you can upgrade with two memory module slots on the motherboard. It also comes with two M.2 slots that users can easily upgrade and install an additional SSD to expand the storage on the device.

For Intel MacBook Air, it supports up to 16GB 3733 MHz LPDDR4X memory. Unlike MSI Modern 15 (A11X), it has an onboard memory module that is not upgradable by the users.

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