Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 vs Apple MacBook Air (M3): Which is the better laptop in 2024?
When Apple launched the MacBook Air with ARM-based Apple Silicon for the first time in 2020, it changed the market altogether. The Cupertino giant has released three iterations of its ARM CPU since then, pushing the performance of its products further and putting immense pressure on other industry giants to do the same.
After four years, Microsoft introduced a new Surface Laptop 7 with an ARM chip to compete with MacBooks. This article compares the two laptops to see if the new Surface device can beat Apple's Macbook.
Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and solely reflect the writer's opinions.
Surface Laptop 7 vs Apple MacBook Air (M3)
The Surface Laptop 7 is equipped with a brand-new Snapdragon X Elite to take on the Apple MacBook Air (M3). Let's begin the comparison of the two notebooks, starting with their specs.
Specs comparison
Here are the specs of the two devices:
The major difference between these laptops lies in their display's refresh rate. The Surface Laptop 7 has a 120Hz refresh rate, which is noticeably smoother than the MacBook's 60Hz. Other than that, there are no drastic differences in specs between the two laptops.
Design and display comparison
The first thing you notice about a notebook is its design, and both laptops nailed this aspect.
The Surface Laptop 7 is crafted with anodised aluminum, which not only makes it more durable but also gives it a shiny look.
The MacBook Air (M3) is also made of aluminum, similar to that of the surface laptop. It is around 200 grams lighter and feels more sturdy in the hand.
The Macbook's display has a uniform bezel compared to the Surface device, which looks more pleasing to the eyes. However, it has a notch that some users may not like.
Getting such thin bezels wouldn't have been possible without a notch. That's why the Surface has a thicker bezel at the top: to accommodate the cameras without a notch.
Synthetic performance comparison
Let's check out how Surface Laptop 7 and Apple MacBook Air (M3) perform in popular tests, including GeekBench and CineBench.
On average, the Surface Laptop 7 is about 11.7% slower than the Apple MacBook Air (M3) in single-core scores. However, the former is about 30.6% faster than the latter in multi-core tests.
Essentially, some things will be faster on the Surface Laptop and others on the Macbook, but that's just a synthetic performance comparison. In reality, things are a bit different.
ARM-based MacBooks have been here for a while, so many apps have been ported to the new architecture. However, Microsoft just started this journey, and its Windows operation hasn't received a lot of native ARM applications.
To deal with applications that are not ARM native, both companies have a translation layer to ensure the laptops can run x86 apps. Apple has Rosetta 2, which is better and seems more polished than Microsoft's PRISM. The chances of crashes, glitches, or other issues are lower on the MacBook than on the Surface device.
Battery life comparison
The two notebooks can provide about a full day's worth of battery life.
With lighter tasks, both the Surface Laptop 7 and Apple MacBook Air (M3) have a similar battery life. However, the latter has the upper hand when it comes to heavier tasks, thanks to its more efficient Apple M3 processor.
Final verdict of Surface Laptop 7 vs Apple MacBook Air (M3)
The Apple MacBook Air (M3) is the best laptop you can buy as of writing. However, the Surface Laptop 7 is closer than you can imagine. The only thing that holds it back is the software experience, which isn't on the same level as the MacBook.
With a bit of optimization and maturity of the Windows translation layer, the Surface Laptop 7 will catch up to the Apple MacBook Air (M3).