MSI Modern 15 (A11X) vs. M1 MacBook Air: Full specs comparison

We have comprehensively analyzed the technical specifications for the MSI Modern 15 (A11X) and M1 MacBook Air models. Our report includes intricate details such as the CPU, memory, storage, battery life, display quality, and other features.

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) Pros

Reasons that MSI Modern 15 (A11X) is better than M1 MacBook Air.

Supports larger memory

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) supports a larger memory capacity than the M1 MacBook Air. It supports up to 64GB versus 16GB of system memory on the M1 MacBook Air.

Max system memory size
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)
64 GB
M1 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 M1 MacBook Air since it has onboard memory.

MemoryMSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 MacBook Air
Slots
x2
Onboard
TypeDDR4Unified
Supports discrete graphics

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

Upgradable storage

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) comes with two M.2 slots that you can easily upgrade and install an additional SSD to expand the storage on the device.

SlotsMSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 MacBook Air
M.2
Yes x2
Onboard
17% larger display

MSI Modern 15 (A11X) has a 15.6-inch screen size 17% larger than the 13.3-inch M1 MacBook Air.

Display size
MSI Modern 15 (A11X)
15.6-inch
M1 MacBook Air
13.3-inch

M1 MacBook Air Pros

Reasons that M1 MacBook Air is better than MSI Modern 15 (A11X).

Much faster CPU performance

Apple M1 (8C, 8G) inside M1 MacBook Air has a 65% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i7-1165G7 inside MSI Modern 15 (A11X).

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 7G)
7,414
M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 8G)
7,414
MSI Modern 15 (A11X) - Intel Core i7-1165G7
4,487
MSI Modern 15 (A11X) - Intel Core i5-1135G7
3,980
About 21% lighter

M1 MacBook Air weighed 2.8 pounds, 21% lighter than the 3.53 pounds MSI Modern 15 (A11X).

WeightMSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 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: 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
MSI Modern 15 15.6" Laptop: Intel Core i5-1155G7, Intel Iris Xe, 16GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, USB Type-C, MicroSD Card Reader, Win 11 Pro: Classic Black B11M-023US
MSI Modern 15 15.6" Laptop: Intel Core i5-1155G7, Intel Iris Xe, 16GB DDR4, 1TB NVMe SSD, 180-Degree Lay-Flat, USB Type-C, MicroSD Card Reader, Win 11 Pro: Classic Black B11M-023US
By MSI
$599.99
$899.00 33% OFF
M1 MacBook Air Price
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$629.00
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$707.39
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$610.00

Availability

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 MacBook Air
Released20202020
Release Date-Announced on November 10th, 2020
Pricing-
  • $999
    Apple M1 Chip (7 cores GPU) | 8GB RAM | 256GB SSD
  • $1,249
    Apple M1 Chip (8 cores GPU) | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Generations-

Exterior

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 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)M1 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
  • 400 nits brightness
  • Supports wide color (P3)
  • True Tone technology

Ports

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 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
M1 MacBook Air Ports
Image Source: Apple
Left (2)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
    40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), Charging, DisplayPort
Right (1)
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone

Internal Specs

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 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. Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W
  2. Apple M1
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 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. Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)
    Apple M1 iGPU
    7 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
  2. Apple M1
    Apple M1 iGPU
    8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Memory
  • Up to DDR4-3200 Memory Type
  • 2 Slots Number of SO-DIMM Slot
  • Max 64GB Max Capacity
  • 8GB
    unified memory
  • Configurable to 16GB
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
    SSD
  • Configurable to 1TB or 2TB

Connectivity

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 MacBook Air
Wi-Fi802.11 AX Wi-Fi 6
  • 802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6 wireless networking
  • IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
BluetoothBluetooth 5.1Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology

Battery

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 MacBook Air
Size52 Wh (3-cell Li-Polymer battery)49.9 Wh lithium‑polymer battery
Battery Life-
  • Up to 15 hours wireless web
  • Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Power Supply
MSI Modern 15 A11M
MSI Modern 15 A11SB
30W USB‑C Power Adapter

Software

MSI Modern 15 (A11X)M1 MacBook Air
OS
  • Windows 10 Home
  • Windows 10 Pro
Shipped with macOS Big Sur
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)M1 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)M1 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 display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
  • 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)M1 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 Late
2020
16:10 QHD
13.3”
1600p 60Hz
Weight
2.8 lb
1.27 kg
Up to
Apple M1 (8C, 8G)
8C/8T, 3.20 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,705
Single Core
Geekbench 5
7,414
Multi-Core
With integrated
Apple M1 iGPU
8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Configurable up to
16GB
Unified Memory
M1 MacBook Air Ports
Starting at
$999
M1 (7 GPU Cores), 8GB, 256GB SSD
Up to
18 Hours
Battery Life
Built-in
Touch ID
With T2 Chip
Dual
USB-C
USB4 & Thunderbolt 3
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.0

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