The difference in X-ray activity between early and late M-type stars shown from different perspectives. Upper panel: Histogram of log(L_X/L_bol) of all X-ray detected M stars in our sample, separated into two subsamples with SpT ≤ M4 and > M4. Middle panel: log(L_X/L_bol) of all X-ray detected M stars are plotted against spectral subtype. The median value of each subtype is shown with a horizontal green line. A vertical dashed line is drawn at SpT M3.5. Lower panel: Kaplan-Meier estimator for the distributions of log(L_X/L_bol) for all M stars in our sample and of different subsamples based on their SpT.