Spec-Down: Apple MacBook Air vs. Microsoft Surface Laptop 2

Long overdue for a refresh, the Apple MacBook Air received a Retina display, Force Bear upon trackpad, new Intel Core i5 processor, and other enhancements this week that once once again make information technology competitive with the latest and greatest Windows ultraportable laptops.

These Windows competitors—the Dell XPS 13 and Huawei MateBook X Pro immediately come to mind, amongst several others—besides run the latest and greatest hardware, though. What's more, they're frequently updated with new features, sometimes multiple times per year. The upshot is an ultraportable market then intensely competitive that information technology's well-nigh impossible to crown one as an undisputed winner.

It is possible to enter the MacBook Air in a spec-down with one of its archrivals, though, and then that's exactly what I'm going to practice. For this contest, the recently revamped Microsoft Surface Laptop ii joins the new MacBook Air in the ring.

Paying the Apple tree Premium

Let's begin the competition with price, since that will determine which internal configurations of the MacBook Air and Surface Laptop two to compare, as well as whether or not you tin afford either one, and thus whether or non you lot care about this fight at all.

The base model of the Surface Laptop 2 includes an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD for $999. That's about as unsurprising every bit yous tin can get: Spending effectually $1,000 for these specs is par for the course for most ultraportable laptops. Indeed, the base level MacBook Air has the same memory and storage chapters as the Surface Laptop 2 does, and information technology besides comes with an Intel Core i5 processor. Only it starts at $1,199, putting the MacBook Air at a meaning disadvantage right from the offset.

Next up: screen quality. The Surface Laptop 2 comes with a rather unique, foursquare-looking 3:2 attribute ratio instead of the more than common widescreen 16:9 or 16:10 ratios. This is smashing if you're editing a document in a give-and-take processing app, since it can display more lines of text earlier you have to scroll down. It'southward far from ideal if you're watching a pic or TV show, though, most all of which are shot in a wide format. The MacBook Air comes with a xvi:9 display.

MIcrosoft Surface Pen with Surface Pro 6

The Surface Laptop 2's 13.five-inch display is almost imperceptibly larger than the MacBook Air's xiii.3-inch screen. With 201 pixels per inch (ppi), information technology also has an imperceptibly lower resolution than the MacBook Air's screen does (227 ppi). Both resolutions are far higher than full HD (1080p), though not exactly 4K (2160p). From PCMag's quick hands-on looks at both screens, even though neither has Loftier Dynamic Range (HDR) back up, they both offering incredibly bright colors, wide viewing angles, and well-baked text.

1 major feature missing from the MacBook Air's brandish is a bear on screen that supports both finger and digital pen input, which the Surface Laptop two offers. This is somewhat of a moot comparison, though, since the usefulness of a touch screen is largely dependent on software that supports it. Windows ten offers native touch support while macOS doesn't, and so the Apple's lack of a bear upon screen isn't surprising. While this might factor into which operating arrangement y'all prefer, it doesn't have much of a begetting in determining which screen is better, so based on the other specs, let's call screen quality a dead oestrus between the ii competitors.

Name	Apple tree MacBook Air (2018)	Microsoft Surface Laptop 2

Lowest Price	$1199.00 MSRP	$999.00 MSRP
Editors' Rating
Processor Family	Intel Core i5	Intel Core i5
Processor Speed	1.vi GHz	Unkown GHz
Operating System	Apple macOS Mojave	Windows x
Storage Capacity (every bit Tested)	128 GB	128 GB
Graphics Card	Intel UHD Graphics 617	Intel UHD Graphics 620
Screen Size	13.3 inches	xiii.5 inches
Resolution	2560 10 1600	2256 x 1504
Storage Type	SSD	SSD
Weight	2.75 lb	two.76 lb
	Read the Review	Read the Review

Since you lot can't bear upon the MacBook Air'southward screen (and at that place's no option to add Apple's Impact Bar), your main input source will be the Force Touch trackpad, which is one of the nearly welcome additions to the 2022 iteration of the laptop. Instead of a physical clicking mechanism, this pad simulates clicks with tiny vibrations, known as haptic feedback. This setup lets you receive a uniform clicking sensation no affair where your fingertip is located on the pad, something that'southward impossible with a physical clicking mechanism. Y'all can as well adapt pressure sensitivity and other settings to suit your preference.

All told, the Force Impact trackpad is the best laptop pad I've ever used, and a clear advantage over the Surface Laptop ii's conventional—and much smaller—touchpad.

Deciding which laptop has a amend keyboard is far more difficult, though. Apple has added its controversial butterfly-manner fundamental switches to the 2022 MacBook Air, which results in boggling stability only also extremely brusk central travel. Some people love the sensation, while others vehemently hate it, but whichever campsite you lot fall into, I've found that you lot'll quickly grow accustomed to tapping rather than striking the keys.

The Surface Laptop 2's keyboard is far more conventional, with greater travel while however affording skilful key stability. It's certainly in the upper echelon of laptop keyboards, so I'k going to give information technology a slight upper hand over the MacBook Air's keyboard.

Anemic Port Selection

The port pick on both the Surface Laptop 2 and the MacBook Air is a bit anemic, but that's expected for thin and calorie-free laptops. The MacBook Air offers two USB-C ports that both support the lightning-quick, cut-edge Thunderbolt 3 data transfer interface. If you lot own external difficult drives, monitors, or other peripherals that tin take reward of this interface, the MacBook Air is a clear winner over the Surface Laptop 2, which lacks both USB-C and Thunderbolt 3.

Unfortunately, the ii USB-C ports and a three.5mm headphone jack are all y'all get on the MacBook Air, which means any peripherals that use USB Type A ports volition demand adapters. The Surface Laptop 2, past contrast, includes a USB three.0 Blazon A port while lacking both USB-C and Thunderbolt three connectivity. Display output is via a mini DisplayPort connector, which will require an adapter or special cablevision to utilise.

The bottom line is that neither laptop offers a well-rounded port choice, but the MacBook Air is slightly more than versatile because y'all tin always purchase an adapter to transform a Thunderbolt 3 port into a USB Type A port, but there'due south no mode to transform a USB Blazon A port into a Thunderbolt iii port.

The MacBook Air weighs 2.75 pounds, a noticeable decrease from the 2.96 pounds of the 2022 model that it replaces. The 2.76 pounds of the Surface Laptop 2 means that the ii competitors are almost identical, giving neither the advantage. It'due south worth noting that the Air, which pioneered the ultraportable laptop category, is no longer the lightest portable Mac. That honor belongs to the MacBook, which is just 2.03 pounds, though information technology as well has a smaller 12-inch display.

Almost Identical Internal Configurations

At offset glance, it's piece of cake to compare the primary internal components of the MacBook Air and the Surface Laptop 2, since the base configurations are identical, equally mentioned higher up. The problem is that since we haven't tested either 1 in PC Labs withal, we don't actually know how they will perform in real-world and benchmark computing tests. We also don't know the exact details of which Core i5 model powers the MacBook Air, since it doesn't match any model that Intel currently sells and Apple customarily declined to provide detailed processor specifications.

So for now, I'll simply compare the options available to MacBook Air and Microsoft Surface Laptop two shoppers who want more processing musculus, retentiveness, or additional storage. For the MacBook Air, storage configurations include 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or one.5TB PCI Limited SSDs. The Surface Laptop two offers most identical SSD options, though its nigh spacious bulldoze is 1TB, not ane.5TB.

Neither laptop offers a defended GPU, instead performing graphics calculations using memory and processes shared with the CPU. Memory configurations on both laptops are either 8GB or 16GB, but the Surface Laptop ii lets you upgrade to an Intel Core i7 while the MacBook Air only offers the Core i5 in the base of operations model.

Ultimately, the configurations are similar enough so little is known almost the machines' real-globe performance that I'll call the internal component offerings a necktie between the 2 laptops.

And the Winner Is…

Nearly differences betwixt the Surface Laptop 2 and the 2022 MacBook Air are so idiosyncratic that they really but matter if you know exactly what you're searching for in a laptop. Will you spend more time editing documents than watching movies? If and then, the Surface Laptop 2's screen is a improve choice. Do you take lots of multimedia content stored on a new Thunderbolt 3 external hard bulldoze? In that example, the MacBook Air is the obvious option.

Practice you lot dear navigating a PC using a touch screen? Buy the Surface Laptop 2. Do you have an iPhone, beloved the blue bubbling of Apple tree Messages, and want to respond to them on your laptop? You'll demand macOS. You lot're probably starting to see a pattern here.

Ultimately, the merely clear differentiator that applies to everyone eyeing either laptop (other than computing performance, which is yet to exist adamant) is cost. Hither, the Surface Laptop is the articulate winner, at $999 to the MacBook Air's $1199. If all you demand is a capable ultraportable to get you through a long flight, a day at the part, or a night of essay writing, all prove points to buying the Surface Laptop 2. Don't forget to use office of the $200 you'll relieve on some dongles to rectify the anemic port situation.