Surface Laptop 5 vs MacBook Air M2 - ULTRABOOK Shootout!

More Surface comparisons coming soon!

[markmoriarty]

Thanks for the review. Recently upgraded to Surface Laptop 5 from Surface Pro 8 and yes battery life could be better, as always on any device Apple or Microsoft but for everyday tasks having Surface Laptop 5 on recommended settings (which is faster than SP8 on best performance) battery life has been as good as my iPad Pro 12.9 M2. Battery life seems to go down quicker on SL 5 because I use it for longer periods of time but when I check I’m using about 10-12% an hour which is perfectly acceptable. Also on the software side I mainly use Word as I am writing and the version on the Surface is vastly superior to the Mac version, using 365 subscription. I have an iMac and can compare the versions and I am surprised or perhaps not that Microsoft is making Word much better on their devices.

[gusmoment]

Although i typically prefer windows over mac, I’m gonna have to go with the Macbook Air for this one, I can’t get over the bezels on the Surface 5

[crimbleland]

Baffled that you have as few subs as you do. Great video, this is not typically my style of content but you’ve really helped me as I look for a laptop for work!

[sidbohra]

I am going to start my uni coming September. I wanna know which laptop would best suit me considering I’m gonna use it for studies, work and a little gaming (f1, fifa, etc) I really like the surface laptop series. Not a fan of Mac OS
What would you suggest?

[FrankFurther]

Another great review. Totally agree with your conclusion too, 14 hours battery screen on time is hard to walk away from.

[lskknl]

MacBook is worse for work tasks. I used to use MacBook then I wanted to try a different PC so I bought a Surface laptop in 2019. Being a windows PC it took its time to boot up and all, but the keyboard experience on the Surface is much better than a Mac and also being a window PC it’s much better when carrying out tasks in word, PowerPoint and Excel. Also with a Mac I realized it’s very annoying because you can’t use the keyboard short cuts for excel on a Mac. Sadly I sold off my Surface laptop that was still functioning well for a measly amount that wasn’t worth it and I hugely regret. Just can’t do office work on a MacBook. It’s not designed for those tasks and the keyboard experience is horrible. I recommend getting a surface for work, I really regret selling my old Surface laptop. MacBooks faster and useless for work.

[Ile-des-Soeurs_Verdun]

I’m actually used to the notch already. Plus, the notch won’t affect your activity since Apple put extra pixels in the display. The iPhone 12 mini (my old phone) and the iPhone 13 (my current one) all have the notch, so the notch of the M2 MBA doesn’t really affect me.

[markholle]

I would be happy with both. I have the M1 MBA and my wife has the SP4. Battery life is a differentiator though. I don't worry about it ever on my MBA.

[krishnanandbabuvijayasanka]

Could you please help me choose on buying a laptop in between MacBook Air M2 8cpu/8gpu and Surface Laptop 5 i5. Both 512 ssd and 8gb ram. My purpose of use is for learning and home usage. Which one is good in performance? Is touch screen with SL5 a big deal to taken care of? Which one has a stable os for longevity?

[scpg]

I appreciate you talking about the keyboards! Not enough reviewers so.

[HiroTheCorgi]

For studying, gaming, editing, everyday use, technology, and design, which laptop would you go with?

[ridziridz]

Mike, please tell which is better for video editing and animation ?
Dell xps or mac pro m1 or mac pro


And what size 13" or 14"??

[tuosuqm]

The bezels never bothered me, pretty normal. HATE the notch and was the overall dealbreaker for me.

[ES-zdcb]

I purchased three SL5 and they were all incompatible with Surface Slim pen 2 and Surface pen (and a third party pen). When I kept using the pens, touch screen stopped working randomly. I confirmed these pens work perfectly fine on my Surface Pro3 without any issue so I think it's the issue of entire SL5 lines (which is serious problem I think). I reported this issue to MS customer team, but they were saying only three SL5 units that I've tested could have hardware failure issue, not the entire SL5 lines, and closed the case. I think this is ridiculous that they were saying only three units (brand new) that I've tested have hardware failure because such probablity is extremetly low and it's more likely that it's the issue of entire SL5 lines. I think this is serious problem, and MS should come up with firmware update or something, but they seem not interested so far. I'd greatly appreciate if you could test on your SL5 with Surface pen (or third party stylus) to see if touch screen stops working randomly (you have to keep using it repeatedly) and publish the video so that more people get to know about the issue and MS can start investigating it more properly.

[markmoriarty]

A killer feature of Windows computers is connecting to Android mobiles you can do everything on the phone from the computer beats air sharing of a Mac.

[YouGotPropofol]

Was looking for this. I’m in the market for one of these. Haven’t watched it yet but wanted to say thanks in advance. 🎉

[dperr]

I have the M1 Air and the webcam is horrible. But luckily they added continuity cam so I can use my iPhone and have one of the best webcams. I would rather have a crappy webcam if it means they spent the money elsewhere in this scenario.

[crvcrfing]

I kinda feel like you mentioned keyboardgate as a con of this MacBook even tho it’s using a “new” keyboard mechanism (basically old scissor keyboard) just like previous M1 MacBook Air.

[ChicagoTechGuy]

Microsoft needs to make their own chips like Apple to improve that battery, and maybe Windows 12 with better power management with Windows, biggest problem with windows is the bloat it brings compared to Apple, that’s why Apple always wins the battery life thing. I will always stay windows though regardless 😎

Just subbed, great video sir!

[UnknownMoses]

I just wish the surface laptop keyboard key spacing was like the surface pro type cover keyboard. My fingers are shorter so the travel between keys is better