Surface Laptop vs MacBook Air: Which Should You Buy?

Which do you like best, and why?

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► Timestamps

00:00 Intro
00:25 Build Quality & Portability
01:29 Display
02:26 Keyboard
02:56 Trackpad
03:17 Performance
06:18 Battery Performance
07:12 Speakers
07:47 Connectivity
09:00 Stability
09:56 Value, Pricing, and Upgradeabiliy
10:39 Conclusion
11:48 So long and thanks for all the fish

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[lhl]

I'm not exactly an Apple fanboy, but It seems a bit weird that one could point out some seemingly pretty huge (IMO) disqualifiers like intermittent crashing/lockups, a large number of missing/incompatible apps, or super-intrusive advertising (that often can't be turned off by mere mortals) and still declare that laptop the winner especially when the alternative doesn't have any of those issues. It seems adding up the numbers are sort of arbitrary since if you added Software Compatibility, Security, Privacy, or UX categories the MBA would pull far ahead (maybe a geometric mean might help, maybe not). Ignoring all that, I think the real question I'd ask someone looking to buy one of these laptops is to ask is if paying 10% less is worth having a system that is so much less reliable/stable that it'll lock up or not charge a noticeable percentage of the time, or that will have constant popups/ads for the lifetime use of a product (basically, built in instrusive malware!). Seems a bit crazy that anyone would put up with that to me.

[jameshuegli]

I would recommend adding a repairability score. The new surfaces are a monumental upgrade over the previous versions. Even taking the devices apart is so easy now.

[DywanTv]

Of course its not possible to design perfect score system but in my opinion stability, performance or display should have bigger impact on final score than for example speakers. Things like crashing during call, keyboard not working or problems with charging in a NEW computer should result in substracting at least 10 to 15 points. These are major problems after all, not only small inconviences.

[franciscolodix]

For battery test it should be done at a fixed workloads. Not running cinebench with different pc/cpus giving different results. One CPU is working harder than the other.

[sholmes_ttyy]

I always say this: if you are testing the battery, test it until it completely runs out. Apple’s battery percentage is a scam. It decreases much slower initially and then increases the speed of reduction once it reaches lower percentage levels. On the other hand, Surface shows a steady decrease. This is not an assumption; I tested it, and this is the case with most Apple devices.

[ZiggyMartinovic]

Didn't you just publish a video bashing LTT for their testing, just to publish this and confirm their results, only to add a smidge of additional context?
Why are you contradicting yourself so fast?

[jaydenmoon]

That ad stuff would be a deal breaker for me 😢

[chuckyfox]

Adding up the points is kind of pointless, when all of these categories aren't nearly of the same importance. Who cares about connectivity when you can't use your laptop because of some random issue? Who cares about slightly more performance, when in most cases you have to use a performance destroying translation layer? I use both windows and a macbook and I prefer windows, but I don't think I'd recommend a snapdragon laptop to anyone, if they ask me, especially when I'd have to be the support.

[유성-lz]

5:25 This is probably the most important part for me. The only reason I still use a macbook is cuz I want it to stay cool during moderate tasks like zoom calls, discord screen share or download big files from the web, and I still cant find any windows laptop that can compete it while having a similar battery life

[SenselInc]

We're thrilled that you're a fan of the Sensel-powered haptic touchpad in the Surface Laptop 7!

[oltorftheviking]

Wait - 5/10 stability and u gave it an 83?? That should be a 50 at most - the flat score weights are nonsense. Stability should be a score ceiling - if ur crashing it doesn’t matter how nice the speakers/screen/keyboard are.

[thu-buhf]

The Mac running rock solid while the Windows machine keeps crashing? Oh well, some things never >:-)

[americanwaffle]

The lack of software compatibility on the surface laptop 7 is not a win. It can't even run exam proctoring software, which is a must for ANY student (particularly in college). Having to worry about the laptop shutting down in the middle of a project, presentation, or test is also not acceptable. Very disappointing and misleading by Microsoft.

Because of this, the Macbook wins for me and most students.

[MaramRohan]

I must say I'm disappointed by your perspective! Battery life and stability are very important for laptops. Most of the users simply do not know if their software is going to work in the future. A snapdragon based laptop should not even be considered until we get full app support for ARM. How can it win your test if there are stability problems even with basic tasks? You have called out LTT on misleading consumers. I feel the same with this video! FYI, I do not support Linus whatsoever. I don't even watch his videos anymore due to lack of critical information. If you would have made this video 6 months later, then it might have been justified. But as of now, your verdict is wrong.

[KAPIL]

I believe some catergories like Performance and stability should have more weightage than other. So, same scoring system shouldnt be used for those.

[Matheheftchen]

Hi Josh, I really appreciate all your laptop reviews and how much effort you put into them, but there's a huge problem - which isn't your fault - pricing outside the US.

Comparing the US prices from your website to the best prices in Germany:
• Default MacBook Air M1 | 699$ vs 789€
• Zenbook 14 OLED 2024 | 799$ vs 999€
• Default MacBook Air M2 | 799$ vs 949€
• Surface Laptop 7 13 2024 | 999$ vs 1199€
• Yoga 9i 14 2-1 2024 | 1299$ vs 1847€

Also many of the Lenovo laptops aren't even availabe with the exact configuration.

I know you can't change much about this problem but I hope I can get your attention.

[ericmclean]

I've said for years that the Windows laptop best suited to compete with the MacBook Air is the Mircosoft Surface Laptop. It seems that Microsoft has been listening to the complaints that a lot of user have. However, I'm majorly disappointed in the rating of the new keyboard. IMO, the Surface Laptops used to that best laptop keyboards around it wasn't close. They've gotten away from that in recent models and I don't understand why.

[DrewPera]

Love this comparison. It's straight forward and data driven. Both machines are great for the right person.

[elderman]

You're welcome for the fish Josh!

Also, the x elite laptop performed amazingly. Very surprised that it was overall better yet there's so many puppets hating them in the comments.

[Ancient]

It seems that Windows on Parallels on a Mac is more stable than the one on other machines natively. And that software compatibility... nobody is giving 1300€ just for light task. MBA with M1 can do that for years from now.