The new Microsoft Surface Laptop vs. MacBooks – Specs Comparison

surface laptop

So Microsoft at its #MicrosoftEDU event in New York City launched the new Surface Laptop, the latest in the Surface line of devices by Microsoft. By all measures it is an ordinary laptop; nothing overly grand about it, except the fact it could be the best device among other regular laptops. But before we get to that, let us look at the specifications:

Surface Laptop features

It comes running the new Windows 10 S (a version of Windows 10 tailor-made for students and teachers and runs only apps from the Store). If this version of Windows doesn’t work for you, you can switch to Windows 10 Pro for free before Dec 31, 2017; but Windows 10 S comes with one year Office 365 Personal subscription for free.

It has a 13.5-inch touchscreen display with 2256×1504 (201 ppi) resolutions, with Corning Gorilla Glass protection and Surface Pen support. It runs on the 7th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 chip and RAM options of 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB. For storage, it have 128GB, 256GB, 512GB SSD options.

As for the Graphics, the Surface Laptop comes with the Intel HD 620 (i5) or Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640(i7). It has the Windows Hello face log in and a 720HD front-camera, 3.5mm headphone jack, and a USB 3.0 port.

As for connectivity, it has Bluetooth 4.0 LE and Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n. It also has an ambient light sensor for automatic brightness level control. The device weighs 2.75 lbs (1.25 kg) so carrying it around will be easy. It comes with an aluminum casing with different colors; platinum, graphite gold, burgundy, and cobalt blue. Microsoft claims it has a battery that can run up to 14.5 hours of video playback.

So how does it compare with entry-level MacBooks?

As said earlier, the Surface Laptop is an ordinary laptop, nothing about it particularly screams for power users.

That said, Microsoft at the launch event went ahead to pit the new Surface Laptop versus some of the typical entry-level laptops from Apple. In a nutshell, here is how the Surface Laptop compares to other entry-level MacBooks:

Credit: MSPowerUser.com

As you can see (as per Microsoft’s benchmark), the Surface Laptop beats MacBook Air in virtually all parts and gives the MacBook Pro a fierce run for its money. The battery life if it lives up to what Microsoft says beats anything any of the MacBook can throw at it, 14.5 hours. The device is also lighter even than the MacBook Air.

Nonetheless, we can wait for the real stats from an independent third party review or when you get your hands on the device; whichever comes first. You can make pre-orders for this device, which start shipping June 15, 2017, starting at $999.

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