Apple MacBook Air vs. Microsoft Surface Laptop 2

Apple has completely revamped the MacBook Air, making it thinner and lighter while giving it what it always deserved: a Retina display. Today we compare it to another portable notebook, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 2.

Surface Laptop 2 compared to MacBook Air: compared to specifications：

	Microsoft Surface Laptop 2	Apple MacBook Air
Price (Starting/as configured)	$999 ($1,299)	$1,199
Display	13.5-inch, 2256 x 1504-pixel	13.3-inch (2560 x 160)l
CPU	8th Gen Core i5, Quad Core i7	8th Gen Core i5 (Y series)
RAM	Up to 16GB	Up to 16GB
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620 (i5), Intel UHD Graphics 620 (i7)	Intel UHD Graphics 617
SSD	Up to 1TB SSD	Up to 1.5TB SSD
Key Travel	1.3mm	0.55mm
Ports	USB 3.0, mini DisplayPort, Surface Connect port, headphone	2 Thunderbolt 3, headphone
Colors	Platinum, Black, Cobalt Blue, Burgundy	Gold, Silver, Space Gray
Size	12.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches	12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
Weight	2.7 pounds	2.8 pounds

Design:

Both the MacBook Air and the Surface Laptop 2 are slim, stunning aluminum creatures available in a variety of colors. The Surface Laptop 2 features a smooth matte chassis in platinum, black, cobalt blue or burgundy. At the same time, the MacBook Air is made of 100% recycled aluminum with a softer surface and a more rounded corner with gold, silver or space gray.

The interior design is completely different, because the Surface Laptop 2 uses the amazing Alcantara material to make you feel like typing on the cloud. At the same time, the MacBook Air features an all-aluminum interior with a very large touchpad that looks better than the Surface. The borders on the two laptops look equally thin.

Screen:

The two machines are almost the same size and weight, but the MacBook Air has a slightly smaller footprint. The MacBook Air weighs 2.8 pounds and measures 12 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches, while the Surface Laptop 2 weighs 2.7 pounds and measures 12.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches.

The Surface Laptop 2 and MacBook Air are both eye-catching in design and closely related to each other.

Port:

Although both Surface Laptop 2 and MacBook Air are poor on the port, they still manage to serve different users. The Surface Laptop 2 has a USB 3.0 Type-A port, a Mini DisplayPort, a 3.5mm audio jack and a Surface Connect port, while the MacBook Air has two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Air has the advantage of providing USB-C, but if you charge your laptop, you can only access one port. Surface only gives you a USB port, but since it's Type-A, it's more versatile when dealing with most peripherals. The Surface Laptop 2 also has a Mini DisplayPort, although the Air's Thunderbolt 3 port can be used to connect to the display. Overall, these laptops are also lacking in connectivity.

Display:

The Surface Laptop 2 has a 13.5-inch display, while the MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch display, so you can get more space with your Surface. However, the MacBook Air (2560 x 1600) has a higher resolution than the Surface Laptop 2 (2256 x 1504).

When Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston marched in The Upside trailer, bright yellow appeared on the wall, and Cranston's blue shirt was extraordinarily vivid on the Surface Laptop 2. Although the MacBook Air's panel doesn't look bad, the yellow walls and orange flowers in the background are less active.

Keyboard and Touchpad:

The cost of entry into the macOS world, aside from the ridiculous price, is getting used to the keyboard and touchpad. Apple has integrated its new Butterfly switches into the MacBook Air, and the switches yield only a measly 0.6 millimeters of key travel (we typically look for 1.5 to 2.0 millimeters). The keys were well spaced, but it felt like I was typing on a solid surface.

Meanwhile, the Surface Laptop 2 features one of the most comfortable palm rests I've ever laid my hands on, making typing the most seamless experience ever. While it's 1.0 mm key travel didn't meet our mark, it felt like a real keyboard.

Surprisingly, my results on the 10fastfingers.com typing test were eerily similar, as I typed 65 words per minute on the MacBook Air and 66 wpm on the Surface Laptop 2. My pace with the MacBook Air could be attributed to how well-spaced the keys are, despite their low travel.

Performance:

As expected, the Surface Core 2's Intel Core i5-8250U processor dominates the MacBook Air's Intel Core i5-8210Y CPU because the U-series chip has four cores and the Y-series has only two.

In the overall performance test of Geek bench 4.1, the Surface Laptop 2 scored 12,744, which is higher than the 7,871 of the MacBook Air.

The Surface Laptop 2 took 1 minute and 15 seconds to match 65,000 names and addresses in our Excel test, eliminating 3 minutes and 26 seconds for the MacBook Air.

In the HandBrake benchmark, the Surface Laptop 2 can transcode 4K video to 1080p in 17 minutes and 30 seconds. The MacBook Air took 37 minutes and 24 seconds.

The MacBook Air played a major problem on its 256GB SSD because it replicated 4.97GB of data at a ridiculous rate of 2.1 gigabytes per second. This will destroy the Surface Laptop 2's 256GB SSD (203 MBps) and destroy our 500 MBps advanced laptop average.

The Intel UHD 620 GPU in the Surface laptop 2 performs at 82 frames per second in the Dirt 3 benchmark, while the Intel UHD 617 GPU in the MacBook Air can only reach 22 fps, below the 30 fps playability threshold.

Battery Life:

The MacBook Air and Surface Laptop 2 have very similar battery life, considering that the Surface consumes more power due to its U-series chips. The MacBook Air lasted for 9 hours and 32 minutes in the laptop Mag Battery test (continuous Internet access with Wi-Fi at 150 nits) and climbed above the 8:09 category average. Surface Laptop 2 is not too far behind, lasting 9 hours and 22 minutes.