Apple's latest M4 MacBook Air is here and I put it head to head against Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7th Edition. Both laptops are exactly $1,000 and have almost identical specs, but one of them is better in almost every way.
First Impressions
The Macbook Air is one of the most beautifully designed laptops ever made. Apparently Microsoft realized this, and tried to copy every aspect of the Macbook Air. Luckily, they did a really good job. Yes, the Surface Laptop is slightly thicker, but other than that, these two laptops could easily be confused for each other. From a design perspective, the Surface Laptop is my favorite Windows laptop I've ever used.
Turning Them On
The initial setup of the MacBook Air is seamless. Upon lifting the lid, the laptop powers on automatically, guiding you through a quick and intuitive setup process. Logging into your Apple ID syncs all your data, apps, and preferences effortlessly, thanks to the tight integration within the Apple ecosystem.
The Surface laptop took 36 minutes and restarted at least 7 times to boot to Windows initially. I understand the importance of security and having an up-to-date operating system, but Windows launch process requires you to babysit the computer throughout this entire process clicking "next" before it installs even more updates over and over again.
Displays
Both laptops have incredible displays. The Macbook has a better contrast ratio (blacks look blacker), but many people may actually prefer the Surface's display that is brighter, 120hz vs Apple's 60hz, notch free, slimmer bezels, and a touchscreen.
Ports
Both laptops come with a magnetic power port, 2 USB C ports, and a headphone jack. The Surface comes out ahead again with the addition of a USB A port as well.
Speakers
The speakers are shockingly good on both of these laptops, considering their size. The Surface can get louder, but the Macbook Air produces slightly richer sound at average listening volumes.
Operating System
Without going into all of the crazy differences in each laptop's operating system, I do want to point out that the Macbook Air had flawless navigation in MacOS. At times, the Surface Laptop would lag to open pages in Windows 11, and other times, it would load blank pages that would take up to 10 seconds to load.
Keyboards
Both laptops have fantastic keyboards. The Macbook has a standard "Apple" feel with very short travel, and the Surface has a much softer, but still premium feel to button presses. It's hard to imagine anyone would have a problem with either of these keyboards.
Trackpads
Apple’s Force Touch trackpad on the MacBook Air remains industry-leading, offering precise cursor control and a range of pressure-sensitive gestures. The Surface Laptop’s precision trackpad feels like a replica Apple's design that is 95% as good. It's the best trackpad I've ever used on a Windows laptop, but it still isn't quite as precise as Apple's.
Photoshop Performance
In Adobe Photoshop, the MacBook Air was the clear winner with faster load times and smoother animations. The Surface Laptop failed to even load the "liquify" tool and after trying to open Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop crashed and wouldn't close even after I tried to force it to in the task manager. I was forced to restart the entire computer to get Photoshop to open again, but when I did, the entire computer froze and then started updating itself again.
Restart Time
Restarting the MacBook Air took 25 seconds to return to the login screen. The Surface Laptop took over twice as long to restart.
Lightroom Performance
In Lightroom I queued up 48 100MP raw files for export on both machines. The Macbook was able to export the files in 2:31 and the Surface took 3:21.
Premiere Export Speed
In Premiere, I queued up a 16-minute 4k video to export on both laptops. The Macbook Air exported the project in 21 minutes. After it had finished, the Surface was around 40% through the project and claimed to have over 30 minutes remaining.
Conclusion
Normally I'm turned off by companies copying the design language of a competing product, but at this point I don't care anymore. I'm tired of gigantic, thick, plastic Windows laptops with RGB lighting. Microsoft copied the design of the Macbook almost exactly, and I think they did a great job. The laptop looks and feels beautiful. Sadly the software can't keep up.
I'm not sure if the Surface Laptop is underpowered or if the software isn't optimized for the new ARM based chipset, but the bottom line is that the Macbook Air destroyed the Surface in every single software test.
The Windows experience feels ancient at this point and as Microsoft adds more popups, and upsells to their desktop, I imagine they will continue to push more of their customers away. Perhaps Microsoft needs to start copying more than Apple's hardware design language.
I'm honestly not that surprised. I recently purchased a Mac Mini M4 - it was not at all expensive and it's an absolute beast for the money. I never really imagined that I would use the word "Apple" and the phrase "value for money" in the same sentence, but here we are!
Apple still like to fleece you with the cost of any upgrades like ram and bigger hard disk which cannot be done after purchase but I do agree the M chips are a revolution. I'm still using a Mac Mini M1 for photo editing bought shortly after they were first available and I think the cost, including an expensive ram upgrade still was worth it.
I mourn for the state of our software. I've been contemplating making an entire channel for that subject... for both Apple and Windows
Like... the MS team didn't even figure out how to do the background set up in parallel with the face-scan and other user pref settings. 100 loads of laundry but you can only use the washer OR the dryer but not both at the same time.
Another thought: the info displayed while being set up was so lacking as you rightly pointed out - you had to answer a question that was never asked: skip or try again? They should do some soul searching and discover design. Microsoft needs to up their human interface guidelines.
These are the guys who put "Shut Down" under the "Start" menu.
I can now cancel my Hulu subscription 'cause that (video) was the best entertainment all month.
(Typed on an M4Pro Mac Mini)
I wonder if this will cause an arguement by saying that this is MS's first major machine with a actually usable snapdragon chipset. I had one of the 3rd gen snapdragon 8c3 chips and the snapdragon 7 c-something chip as well. Both were utter crap. The comparison between those and this new snapdragon eilite is incredible. Now give them a couple years to build apon getting Windows on Arm with a chipset that is actually decent and hopefully they will get better and better
This is really and apples and oranges comparison. A full fledged laptop versus the stunted on purpose surface laptop is a crap comparison