Surface Laptop vs MacBook Air: Which Should You Buy?

[@JustJoshTech]

Our Snapdragon Laptop Analysis: kzbin.info/www/bejne/m53TlpSJhJWAqrs 🏅Surface Laptop 7: howl.me/cmIYMj29aDV 🛒 MacBook Air M3: howl.me/clL0EQNB1f2

[@tronewsky2]

Pls 🙏🙏🙏 Show the truth about the NPU!!!! Apple M3 and Apple A17 Pro have an identical NPU. It's mean they have 35 TOPS in INT8 and 18 TOPS INT16 / FP16. Snapdragon X Elite has 45 TOPS INT8.

[@farukhkhan2832]

Thanks So much for the valuable content. Thought of buying Windows Surface Laptop, after watching your Videos I just dropped my plan. I am a programmer and looking for Laptop. I have a 2 laptops in my List, Could you please help me which one should I buy 1. 650 $ - Lenovo Ideapad 5 14" 2-in-1 Touchscreen Laptop - AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS - WUXGA (1920 x 1200) - Windows 11|16GB RAM|1 TB SSD OR 2. 799 $ ASUS Zenbook 14 inch OLED WUXGA Touch Laptop AMD Ryzen 7-8840HS 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Jade Black

[@nnnnnn3647]

You can buy Mac much cheaper. Why did you show Best Buy for Surface and apple official store for Mac?

[@anthonytrevino3761]

Can't you configure a MS surface laptop with OLED screen?

[@nnnnnn3647]

@@anthonytrevino3761 nope.

[@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.

[@mbazoka]

This. Maybe I am biased since I own an M3 Air myself, but Windows on Arm just isn't the future... yet. The M3 Airs are the third generation of their lineup, and as such have immense advantages like a fully-functioning ecosystem of apps & features, software stability & availability, the comparison just isn't fair. And when Josh gave the MacBooks the score of only 4 points for connectivity when Surface has ONE whole USB-A port over the Air is ridiculous (the extra monitor you can power with the Snapdragon is useless if it's only at 30Hz, might as well not be included in the comparison), that was a weird choice in giving the Surface laptops an edge in that case. Did they even mention the power draw when connected to all these displays? Not to mention that the power draw of the MacBooks means you can perform the same intensive tasks than the Snapdragon laptops can for 2 - 3 times longer is an insane plus for Apple. For any amateur or even a professional photo/video editor, the MacBooks are a clear win just for the power efficiency alone (8W compared to 35W at max load is crazy good, and deserves an 11/10 score). MacBooks are still the king of battery life while staying mobile, and these Snapdragon Elite chips are only here to fix the Windows sleep problems that have plagued that platform for decades now. They can't *touch* the MacBooks in actual efficiency as of yet.

[@Rojfos]

to be fair, he also didn't mention the issue with right to repair on macs while those surface laptops are pretty repairable. Why? I will tell you why and keep it 100% with you. In today's age, nobody gives two sh!ts about privacy or right to repair. People got used to it. Macs don't score any additional point on "privacy" or "security" because it doesn't make a difference in the real world. People would rather their laptops looked good than have upgradable ram or storage. And if people really cared about privacy, then they wouldn't be using tiktok/snapchat/instagram/[insert dystopian corpo here]. They would be using something like linux/graphineos combo without social media. Arguing that Apple treats their customers better than Microsoft, and that Apple doesn't see you as a bag of money to be milked is funny. If that was the case then MacOS would make it less expensive to sign and compile the code, and they wouldn't send hashed of programs you run to heir HQ. Choosing between Apple and Microsoft literally doesn't matter. Microsoft and Apple are equal and saying otherwise just makes it likely to end up on one of the 4chan /g/ humor threads.

[@huh3864]

Well, he said, it isn't a clear win and depends on the use case. I for example have no issues with my laptop whatsoever, but I don't game and only use Arm native apps, except for one exception and that also works fine.

[@snappywang]

I use the M3 Air for C++ development on Linux. I'm quick to admit that I'm not a general user. The project I work on requires developing and testing target software for Linux/Intel. Both laptops can run Linux on a VM for ARM architecture. But... Microsoft is nowhere close to supporting development of Linux/Intel, because if you want to do development for Intel architecture you need to either cross compile (not an option in our build environment and means I can't actually execute tests) or emulate (not virtualisation) Linux on Intel which means woeful performance and not energy efficient. What Apple has up their sleeve is the ability to run Intel binaries on a Linux on ARM VM by using Rosetta 2 for Linux. This is a massive game changer for my development work. If Microsoft implements that Prism thing for Linux on ARM to efficiently run Intel binaries then it can compete in this space.

[@arney1]

i think i turned off ads in my windows because i havent seen any

[@jameshuegli3534]

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.

[@sairoadways4365]

yes, i also agree with it. earlier they were unrepairable. but now the chassis is changed and can easily be repaired. battery is component that needs repair every 3-4 years.

[@defnotatroll]

anyone who is considering a macbook probably doesn't give a hoot about repairability. If their laptop breaks they'll just get a new one

[@tomll09]

​@defnotatroll Maybe they just know that the getting the battery replaced at an apple store is cheaper than a original surface laptop battery which then still needs to replaced by the user himself

[@tomll09]

In reality this is irrelevant. The original battery for the surface laptop is more expensive than getting the battery of the macbook air 2024 replaced at an apple store 😂

[@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.

[@JustJoshTech]

We are definitely planning to do this. We are a small team, but as we grow we are hoping to switch to this test. Hopefully very soon

[@navixaxa5023]

THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[@alexs.5107]

True

[@alexs.5107]

​@@JustJoshTech Stop using that as an excuse.Souds silly

[@Egor9090]

fantasies

[@jaydenmoon1165]

That ad stuff would be a deal breaker for me 😢

[@vladyslavmykhalyuk3252]

It depends where are you from, no ads in Europe

[@mrdosancos13687]

@@vladyslavmykhalyuk3252 What? I'm in Italy and I had to turn off all the notifications to avoid all the ads. It was a torture.

[@Just_a_random_birb]

@@mrdosancos13687 From where i live. we get no ads. no need for youtube premuim

[@Lee.S321]

@@vladyslavmykhalyuk3252 Yeah, i've never understood this ad complaint. I'm in the UK & never see ads. I am pretty particular about how my laptop is set up & i'm pretty ruthless in tweaking the setting to my liking, so maybe i've done something to disable them?

[@shashank_mittal]

It's easy to turn off those notifications. I have the 13.8 inch version of the laptop. No ads 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.

[@nezumitherat1948]

I totally agree. Whether or not it sounds okay when you use the speakers is not on the same level of importance as whether or not a computer can straight up work right. The scores should definitely be weighted on importance.

[@finforcer]

+ resale value.

[@franciscolodix1214]

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.

[@davitdavid7165]

I feel like performance per watt does kinda fulfill this, but good point

[@alexanderzhulin3528]

AND CB24 is running natively on the Air and via emulation on a Surface

[@Winnetou17]

@@alexanderzhulin3528 CB24 is native on Surface too. CB23 is x86_64 only, but C24 has ARM64 version for Windows too.

[@TamasKiss-yk4st]

@alexanderzhulin3528 it's native on Windows too.. but why do you don't even consider the possibility to get worst battery because of the 3x more power cores.. M3 only have 4 power cores but X Elite have 12 (even the M1 ultra only had 16 power cores, but they needed almost the same amount just to beat the basic chip..), more cores use more power (and 3x more power cores should give you 3x better performance not just 50% better..)

[@alexanderzhulin3528]

@@TamasKiss-yk4st I thought CB24 is not yet compiled for windows on ARM, my bad.

[@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?

[@two2birds]

I had the same thought

[@hassan_codes]

Alex Ziskind still has the best way for testing these new laptops

[@__________f9433]

Watt/performance issue he pointed out. And yeah that’s a big deal. Unless I’m missing something

[@TheCommonSenseForRegularPeople]

LTT sucks.

[@tringuyen7519]

He’s not. Surface Laptop won by 0.01% against M3 MacBook Airs. When M4 MacBook Airs launches in September, Apple will regain the crown.

[@SenselInc]

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

[@chiefdenis]

Y'all eating synaptics' lunch rn 😅

[@asdqqq846]

As I wrote in a Reddit post I hope you guys at @SenselInc adapt the scroll behavior. It has way to little to no momentum on short but fast 2 finger swipes. Besides that I am a huge fan of these new touchpads and very glad finally having these types of touchpads in a windows laptop.

[@chuckyfox9284]

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.

[@Winnetou17]

I get you, but it's basically an average, because everybody weights differently each category.

[@marceldiezasch6192]

@@Winnetou17Battery life and stability are clearly more important than stuff like the Wifi version, it's not even close.

[@lhl]

@@Winnetou17 I agree that per category scoring is actually useful since it lets a user decide what matters to them, but it does seem like there needs to be a pass/fail line, and if you're going to total it up for an overall winner, it clearly needs to be multiplicative or weighted in some ways or something. You could have the fastest laptop in the world, but if it had 10 minutes of battery life, could it be recommended to anyone? Similarly, you could have an extremely cheap laptop (such a great value!) but if it has an unpleasantly bad display that makes it a pain to use. Or lets say it is clearly better in every category, but has hard lockups/crashes multiple times a day - even if the average score is highest, could you say that it is the winning laptop over one that does everything decently well but has rock solid stability? If not, then it's the scoring system/conclusion that's wrong and needs to be corrected.

[@Winnetou17]

@@marceldiezasch6192 Yes, thouuugh, I really hope you didn't got influenced by that crazy "where are the web page render tests?" guy/gal. Because battery life and stability were each a category on its own, Wi-Fi wasn't, so it already was significantly less important in the score. Also, while battery life is extremely likely not not be improved (though these are very new and clearly not fully polished devices, so there's hope) the stability in general is likely to improve, because it's mostly based on the software, drivers & firmware (basically all software) which can be improved as time goes by, and especially so in this case. Also, the stability was pretty heavily penalized.

[@Winnetou17]

@@lhl I do think that there is a pass/fail line. If any of the cases you mentioned would've been present, this video would'n've existed in the first place, as a "competition" like this would not have been put by Josh or whatever other channel. Also that fastest laptop in the world, but can only last 10 minutes ? I would get that. I already have a desktop replacement, a heavy 17" inch laptop (heavy because it's almost 8 year old, back then people were surprisingly able to have and carry 4 kg laptops, somehow today nobody can) which I never planned to use on battery and never did. The GPU cannot be turned off (doesn't have Optimus, even though some laptops from that era have) and I don't think it was ever good more than several hours on battery save and 1 hour on a decent performance profile. The battery is literally an integrated UPS. And before that I had a Toshiba laptop that had terrible cooling and in just 2 years (of pretty heavy use, admitedly) the battery died. By that I mean that the laptop would not boot with the battery connected, even if plugged to the wall. But would boot if the battery was disconnected and the laptop was plugged to the wall. Which is how I used it for another 1/2 a year before I got this laptop. That cheap laptop would also be very useful when you have 1-2 external monitors, like I do at work. But I got your point. The Surface laptop doesn't seem to be so gimped. The stability was not good, but wasn't that gigantic of a deal either if, from multiple laptops, they had only 3 problems in more than a week. Below the average, but still usable by most people.

[@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.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

He awarded the Surface the win (and points) for having WiFi 7 vs WiFi 6....but did ZERO web rendering tests? I bet the MBA M3 CRUSHES the Surface in ANY webpage rendering/loading test....the perfect platform AGNOSTIC testing available!! .....WiFi 7 or not ! ...and yea, no point deductions for hardware lockup and software crashes (on everyday basic tasks) on the Surface....Really ???

[@marceldiezasch6192]

I just feel like his ratings are missing a weighting system. There is no way Wifi 7 instead of Wifi 6E should be worth the same as having better battery life or higher performance.

[@chatnoir1375]

For non-pro-users stability is not as important as it is for people who use their device for their job. I couldn't use a laptop for daily web conferences when it randomly crashes; but if you just want a high quality device for media consumption, stability is just not that big of a deal.

[@chatnoir1375]

@@marceldiezasch6192 If you bring an order to the different ratings with some higher valued and some lower, different ordering systems would have to be specified to different user profiles as well. For example: Better battery life is completely irrelevant for those who use their device plugged in the whole time. There is no useful general weighting system.

[@josephle2381]

5 points off for stability for the surface watch the video apple fanboy

[@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.

[@McFlysss]

yes I'm just gonna wait 1-2 years to buy snapdragon laptop 😂😂

[@cameronbosch1213]

The MacBook can't run that either except through Rosetta 2, which is good, but not perfect. Give it time; the Surface Laptop will eventually get the software, otherwise, bug the company making said software or switch software.

[@catharsis7629]

Proctoring software? Must for college students? What the fuck? Of all the software you could have said you said one of the worst software for the user privacy and autonomy over their system? Yikes.

[@itIsI988]

@@cameronbosch1213 Lol. After all these years my Surface Pro 5 is still full of bugs. Microsoft doesn't give a fuck.

[@cameronbosch1213]

@@itIsI988 I didn't say use a Surface product. I said don't use a Mac.

[@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.

[@overbe]

Don't ever do shockface again..

[@swaggitypigfig8413]

😮

[@sarthak1453]

Kid😂😂

[@uchihamadara7248]

True

[@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.

[@Rojfos]

name me one program which isn't vscode, ms office, adobe product or chrome, doesn't run on those machines and is needed by a person which buys an ultrabook.

[@oltorftheviking]

What? It shut off in the middle of a zoom call and the keyboard stopped working in word…. Those are basic tasks… there’s two programs for u. You basically cut out all corporate workers and students -- if all you're gonna do is dork around on the internet just buy a chromebook or cheap ipad - save yourself $1000.

[@Rojfos]

If pressing 2 buttons keeps you from rejoining the call, you had a pretty good life. In about a month or so those issues will be gone. Microsoft is really making a push into arm. I think that josh didn't take many points for the lack of stability, because it wasn't really an issue for him. He has been testing those laptop for about two weeks and those two issues are the only ones he had encountered. Most people don't manage nuclear reactors for a living. They can live with that. Besides, it will only get better from now.

[@oltorftheviking]

It's pretty obvious @Rojfos that you bought one and are in the early stages of extreme denial. "Oh it shut off during a call?" -- no problem just reboot and join the call and they might have it sorted in a few months. LOL what... People are going to keep these things for years - he had two fails in two weeks...

[@dansanger5340]

My M1 MacBook Air also had kernel panics when new, but they're now completely gone. I'm glad I didn't consider it a dealbreaker and return it.

[@atgred]

So LTT wasn’t wrong then?

[@sebastian_harnisch]

Thought the same thing. LTT surely was, and this verdict is misleading.

[@empajarito]

@@sebastian_harnisch What am I missing here?

[@유성-l7z]

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

[@just.fisayo]

My windows laptop doesn't overheat tho

[@thu-bu1hf]

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

[@rowaystarco]

My Pro 11 has not crashed yet, some unsupported games crashed, but those games would not launch on a Mac eitehr.

[@yensteel]

This is.. an unusual situation though. *Turn humor on.. yes things never change >:)

[@tringuyen7519]

@@rowaystarcoGuess that you never run Adobe. Kind of important to professionals.

[@pkpnyt4711]

@@tringuyen7519 Because there's Davinci that professionals also use. Adobe is a POS software company.

[@RR-zq3mk]

2015 windows HP laptop hasn’t crashed once. But ok apple fanboy

[@DrewPera]

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

[@141290KAPIL]

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

[@Dabbaranks]

If you go to the their website, you can see a chart of the results, then you use whatever multipliers you wish to emphasize certain categories. For example you could multiple Performance and Stability x2. Conversely, you could also de-emphasize certain other categories as well.

[@Rojfos]

if you really cared about performance then you wouldn't be using an ultrabook

[@oltorftheviking]

Absolutely agree -- it's like reviewing a car and going 'This car is super awesome, I mean sometimes it shuts off on the highway, but other than that, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!' Hold up... what?

[@goobfilmcast4239]

He awarded the Surface the win (and points) for having WiFi 7 vs WiFi 6....but did ZERO web rendering tests? I bet the MBA M3 CRUSHES the Surface in ANY webpage rendering/loading test.....WiFi 7 or not ! ... and yea, no point deductions for hardware lockup and software crashes on the Surface....Really ???

[@Rojfos]

@@goobfilmcast4239 performance includes web browsing. wifi7 makes a huge difference when downloading data

[@ericmclean4291]

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.

[@GeorgeCody1992]

Have you tried putting hands on. New Surface Laptop has the best keyboard! Try it in Bestbuy or somewhere before making assumptions.

[@yugalkhanal6967]

Hey Josh, can you make a video on Linux compatibility on Snapdragon Elite processors? Or a short post.

[@shApYT]

Nothing bootable yet despite Qualcomm demoing Ubuntu pre release

[@yugalkhanal6967]

@@shApYT yeah I really would like to use Linux on it. No way I'm using Microtrash Trashdows

[@yugalkhanal6967]

@@shApYT yeah I'd like to use Linux on it. Really can't stand Windows

[@Rojfos]

@@yugalkhanal6967 same

[@bartomiejkomarnicki7506]

@@yugalkhanal6967 go Asahi

[@Ancient0609]

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.

[@oltorftheviking]

yep - totally agree. I would much rather have a stable machine than a beta product for this price.

[@Spoonfed78]

Stability in this test, certainly not the experience across many M series MacBooks at work, simple tasks like using Finder can be quite buggy.

[@NOM4D20]

Value is a big win for the surface.... No it's not. You can get an M1 macbook pro for the price of the surface, and It won't crash, fail, and you can use it. For me, if it crashes, and not working, it's not worth a single dollar. I get, that it will get better, but I buy this laptop now, not 3 years from now...

[@cameronbosch1213]

And the SSD is removable and replaceable. That's a huge win for right to repair AND IT for businesses because now you don't have to resort to an expensive motherboard replacement when the laptop's SSD inevitably wears out, and IT departments can easily wipe the data off of them in accordance with data retention policies.

[@alexs.5107]

Who the hell buys an M1 now

[@cameronbosch1213]

Though the MacBook will be e-waste or at best require an expensive repair once the SSD dies. The Surface at least can have the SSD replaced and continue working for less than $200. That's a massive point, especially given the Surface Laptops all have 16 GB of RAM _standard_ and that DOES make a difference on Windows and macOS.

[@brandonw1604]

@@alexs.5107 A lot of people are still buying them. Especially being $600.

[@depayanmondal]

Who said windows crashes? Which year are you living in? Also How much does the M1 pro costs with extended ram and memory?

[@MoChuang343]

You keep saying the surface is great for people doing light tasks, ie web and office applications. Aside from locally running MS Office, do you think there is any significant advantage to running WoA over ChromeOS right now? Assuming you could find similar performance ARM chips in both.

[@JustJoshTech]

I need to check more ChromeOS laptops, which we haven't done yet - but my hypthosesis is it will come down to the quality of the overall device. Alot of ChromeOS laptops seem to be rather cheap, but I do know there are some expensive ones. This is a great video idea, let me see if we can get one in (premium priced ChromeOS laptop)

[@shaneterrell]

There is a huge advantage to WoA for some users. As a .NET developer, I used my previous WoA 2-in-1 as my travel development/work machine, and I plan to use my Surface Pro 11 in the same way. The ability to run Visual Studio and other proper development tools is huge. For similar purposes, a Chromebook or an iPad Pro would be completely useless to me.

[@sebastian_harnisch]

Josh is putting himself in a difficult position: criticizing someone else rather harshly (rightly so, in my opinion), but then drawing a misleading conclusion himself. Why? Would have been a very informative and balanced video otherwise. Still appreciate the hard work put into this video.

[@JustJoshTech]

You didn't feel my conclusions were reasonable? Which were... It depends on what you value as to which is right for you. I personally would buy the Air based on my use case, but many people would prefer the Surface base on theirs

[@sebastian_harnisch]

​@@JustJoshTech Honestly no! The problem is not so much the additional context you provide. In fact, you do a fantastic job there! The problems: a) Just summing the points for each category distorts the results massively. b) Declaring the Surface the winner when it clearly has major compatibility and stability issues is not reasonable, and many seem to agree. One could argue that it's fine for simple tasks. Until it crashes. And we software devs might have a chance to somehow fix it (sometimes), but the people buying it for simple tasks might not.

[@eraditortv]

Galaxy book 4 pro (16 inch) please...Also I loved this video. These kinds of comparisons against other laptops with points really makes it easier for a potential customer to make the right decision. Hope u keep this up ❤❤

[@Silent_poet]

Just don't buy Samsung laptops

[@MiTheMer]

@@Silent_poet Why not?

[@eraditortv]

@@Silent_poet U dont have an idea do u? Ik samsung laptops are too pricey and shit. But the non 360 16 inch does not have the problems of the 14 inch or the 360. Ive ordered mine. I'll be putting up a review in a few days

[@MrKar18]

Josh, for programming preferences, its not highlighted which you used to do. Any plans? Java, Python, Go, Rust all have ARM compatibility and same as IDe and Docker and WSL etc. Would be good to have detailed one if possible.

[@elderman64]

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.

[@rowaystarco]

IMO it's a mix of people either loving Macs/Intel/AMD or people that bought an X Elite device believing they could play AAA games on high settings (something that was never claimed by Qualcomm). There's of course also a few people that bought these without checking if their very specific software could run on it or not. It's absolutely valid not to like these, their option is simply not to buy them.

[@E-087]

Apple fan boys are bashing it. MacOs is horrible and not more stable than a proper windows machine. Windows on ARM will add another flavor to the OS. X86-64 for desktop and ARM on portable devices

[@michaelbabiuk8758]

Well, who would hate “one of their own” or their products? A little bit of history. In 2019, three former Apple engineers left Apple to form Nuvia, a company specializing in designing ARM based chips. Nuvia was purchased by Qualcomm in 2021 for a cool 1.4 billion dollars and for that amount, Qualcomm purchased Nuvia’s intellectual property rights and their top engineering talent. Those three former Apple engineers, who worked on the M1 chips and founded Nuvia also joined Qualcomm. Of course, one of those engineers also happened to be the former CHIEF CPU architect at Apple. Three years later, the PC world is blessed with essentially an updated M1 chip design now known as the Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus family of ARM chips. But a computer is more than the chip that powers it. And so far, Apple’s computer designs enjoy a demonstrated advantage in power efficiency and hardware reliability. When the soon to be released M4 family of chips going into Apple laptop computers become available, IMO, Apple will still maintain a two year hardware chip advantage over Qualcomm’s family of laptop chips.

[@Machiato123]

Awesome comparison!! I really really apreciate, Really really really, that you guys pay so much attention to detail. Of course youtube is some kind of entertainment, but I just love that you bring the big points across well with mindful graphics and without screaming nonsense at us which would just distract the viewer. I wish you all the best as you keep up the good spirit! Absolutley great quality content!!

[@JustJoshTech]

Thank you!!!

[@NeroG4ming]

IMPORTANT: if some of those points are for you not as important then others, maybe you focus more on battery life then on accessibility, then you can list all those criteria and multiply those points from 1 to 100% being 100% the most important one. after you have done this sum all those numbers up and you have your own true winner

[@mrdave5500]

At the moment you really can't recommend the Snapdragon Arm laptops due to too much incompatibility. Naturally things will improve overtime but following your personal recommendation (as of time of video publish date) that the Surface is better is bizarre. I'd hate to spend that much money and find that half the apps I run are emulated due to no Arm version and thus slower, let alone totally incompatible apps leading to worse stability. The Macbook on the other hand, we know it's stable, highly unlikely to randomly just turn off and software compatibility is top notch, even the older apps running under Rosseta.

[@robertsheltonjr]

Well done comparison! However, I wonder how big the cross section of people who would consider Windows over MacOS, or vice-versa, when I see comparisons like this. Maybe it's larger than I know, but I am 100% Windows, but considered MacOS b/c of battery life over the past few years. I am happy that I don't have to switch now that the Snapdragon chips are as good, or better. I am a happy owner of a Surface Laptop 7 13.8". It's perfect for my mobile use cases, and I have a powerful desktop that I use for AAA gaming, which MacOS would have never been able to replace for me and neither can the Windows on Arm laptops. Either way, I appreciate the fair albeit fully subjective review. Great job!

[@dondekeeper2943]

Battery life on X is disappointing. Qualcomm clearly exaggerated. Looks like my next purchase would likely still be an AMD

[@VladdyDaddy369]

I'm waiting for my Zenbook S16 to arrive at the end of the month and I'm definitely hopeful and keeping my fingers crossed, so I'm with you there. However, in the meantime, I'm messing around with the 15" SL7 and the battery life has been fantastic for my use case. Obviously it's not quite what's advertised but it is definitely an all day battery even with screen at max brightness.

[@christianr.5868]

I thinks it’s because of windows high performance mode being used. It can use up to double the wattage for similar tasks as the recommended while only providing less than %20 performance gain. They should have a better automatic power draw option for the snapdragon

[@CesarPeron]

It's a matter of development. Snapdragon is the "new kid on the block", yet it's already competing with the seasoned x86 veterans. There's no doubt that ARM has a promising future ahead for optimization, while x86 has already hit its ceiling and now has to juggle to offer minor improvements.

[@Gallus-Upstart]

The scoring on this video makes no sense. It’s all over the place and really inconsistent 👎🏼

[@JustJoshTech]

What we should have said is "We are here to bring you the facts, our scoring though is subjective. Feel free to adjust based on how you see it, or even weight our scores differently based on what's important to you." I thought this was implied, but I should have made it clearer. That being said we did think very hard about each score. So effort did go into them

[@angusmatheson9997]

Why wasn’t system bloat/adware it own 1 to 10 score? Seems as important as the other factors. Basically you said Mac is 10 and Windows is 9. That seems very generous to Windows.

[@jaccobninan9664]

Are the stability issues with surface only for your piece?

[@TuxikCE]

I would like to give a recommendation in testing laptops. Can you also show how the UEFI looks like, and what all options and settings they provide? This will be good for messing around or troubleshooting purposes, that you have access to a lot of these settings. OEMs have a very bad habit to lock down a lot of such firmware features, and for me, it has been really annoying. For example, changing the CPU voltage (either for undervolting, or troubleshooting purposes), lifting power limits, etc.

[@lhiggi]

Hate to ask a dumb question, but how do I know for sure which apps will run on the Surface?

[@omerfarukgungorf]

I think it is a great question, and I want to learn more about it

[@bemacbe]

I hate all those ADs on the Windows laptops. You only subtracted one (1) point? Maybe it's time to get a Mac?

[@MartinLonek-h8n]

For me, it is a great news that pc users can now buy a variety of laptops that offer similar performance like Apple MacBook Airs / Pros. A year ago, it was simply impossible to buy a ligh-weight pc with great performace and batter life at the same time. And now with the new Intel 258V pcs also compete with MB Pros.

[@CesarPeron]

What stands out the most to me is that this is the first time a Windows device offers real HW quality. The maturation of ARM and other aspects will come with time and future revisions. But considering that this is version 1.0, being able to compete with a MacBook is something to be applauded.

[@Gentleman139]

9:33 it’s such a shame, I wanted the surface for school, but I can’t risk these things, “ it won’t charge or it freezes”?

[@davidkorcak]

Are you certain the NPU numbers were at the same precision?

[@homanh]

The NPU numbers he's published is just for the NPU itself. But remember a GPU can do heavy lifting (e.g. look at 4090 which completely decimates all NPUs even though its a general GPU) and the M3 has a very decent 10 core GPU (those 2 extra cores come in handy here).

[@homanh]

The job of the NPU is to be more power efficient, but overall the M3 Air is still very power efficient even during these AI tasks.

[@NawfalHasan]

Great review as usual but i have to disagree on scoring.. how's marginal differences in connectivity given a difference of 4 points (in favour of surface), but annoying ads deduct only 1 point. Ads make a noticeable difference in user experience. This feels so pro surface..

[@JustJoshTech]

For connectivity, we were including ports. I should have made that clearer. I will in future. Hope that helps

[@Dragonblaster1]

That thing about the SL7 not being flush at the bottom looks more like an issue with your table. I am using one at the moment, and it's rock-solid, no rattle at all.

[@SerjK64]

I’d also mention that Air’s screen has no flickering on all brightness levels and the same can’t be said for Surface’s OLED screen.

[@JustJoshTech]

Good point. Thank you

[@josephle2381]

Surface has no Oled screen bruh🤣

[@cliffm8846]

"TU DIE!" I dont know what kind of accent is that. Thanks for the review!

[@cityrunner-x3x]

Which one you recommend for programming and devops staffs. No concern about camera, display, speakers, battery life and physical design.

[@jpack61108]

I don’t understand the obsession with heat and fan noise. These are machines. They are gonna make noise. Who cares?

[@itsacookie1]

I had high hopes for these Surface ARM laptops but they just aren't ready for a production environment. I can't have a laptop that might not be able to run certain programs, crashes on others, and is generally unreliable. Maybe the 2nd gen will be better, assuming Microsoft continues to focus on Windows for ARM.

[@Winnetou17]

Frankly, you should've expected a first gen to not be ready for a production environment, especially at launch. It might be ready in 1 year. And it should (for their sake) be ready with the 2nd generation.

[@serrael-182]

If the first generation wont get better a second wont help at all. Youll need to watch software development.

[@compuowl]

Thank you for your substantive work, which I’m sure is continuing to earn the confidence of the community.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

He awarded the Surface the win (and points) for having WiFi 7 vs WiFi 6....but did ZERO web rendering tests? I bet the MBA M3 CRUSHES the Surface in ANY webpage rendering/loading test.....WiFi 7 or not ! ...and yea, no point deductions for hardware lockup and software crashes (on everyday basic tasks) on the Surface....Really ???

[@jjakkad]

Apple would wipe the floor if they'd set the base config for macbooks to include 16GB ram instead of fleecing customers another $200

[@waldamy]

And when the soldered SSD dies, it's just e-waste.

[@Rojfos]

but they didn't

[@bengubgqwe1203]

This is exactly what they did lmao

[@blackgold1859]

Thanks Josh and team…another balanced and comprehensive review!!👍🏼

[@goobfilmcast4239]

He awarded the Surface the win (and points) for having WiFi 7 vs WiFi 6....but did ZERO web rendering tests? I bet the MBA M3 CRUSHES the Surface in ANY webpage rendering/loading test.....WiFi 7 or not ! ...and yea, no point deductions for hardware lockup and software crashes (on everyday basic tasks) on the Surface....Really ???

[@WilhelmRontgen-uy2vk]

What color is the dark macbook air? Seems too dark for space grey and not blue enough for midnight?

[@HifiCentret]

I'm actually considering one since they're one of the very few NOT using OLED. I have my computer on all the time when I'm home and LCD have no issues with burnin or anything. Sure some IPS/PLS panels can have a little retention but it is only temporary and not to be confused with actual burn in. Beside I don't know why but I really like a good IPS panel. It just looks nicer and more natural to me.

[@Kevin-xz4jq]

Josh and team putting out the best, most relevant, objective laptop content right now! Gotta love it!

[@mrdosancos13687]

Perhaps it would be worth mentioning the fact that MacOS is an extremely stable and reliable system, while Windows, even after becoming compatible with all software, will always remain an unpredictable system. And I believe this is the strength of MacOS, guaranteeing a constant and consistent experience for the user, regardless of the hardware purchased. But I understand why the Surface can win in this type of comparison.

[@rowaystarco]

It's honestly comes down to preference. I've been a user of both MacOS and Windows 10 and Windows 11 at work. I never really came to like MacOS, I find the OS sluggish somehow and I really dislike windows management. I do of course enjoy the lack of ad shit in the OS, though I usually strip that out of my Windows device fairly quickly. I gave MacOS my very best shot and was ready to buy a new MB Air, but I went with a Pro 11 instead. But I'm certainly not going back to hopeless Intel/AMD cpus on a laptop yet.

[@mrdosancos13687]

​@@rowaystarco I think you're right, this was just my opinion: I've been a Windows user for many years, and it's been so painful so many times that I might be traumatized, but when I switched to macOS I finally found my peace.

[@marceldiezasch6192]

The best time to use a Windows version is when the successor is already out there. Since they stopped giving Windows 10 feature updates and only roll out security patches, it has been rockstable.

[@setarem.m9089]

Very informative. Thank you so much.

[@FoxxFire]

I watched this video on my phone on my lunch break today and liked it so much i chose to watch it again now in high res on my studio display at home. What a great comparison, and I think you were pretty fair, if maybe a little tougher on the MBA than I would have been (though you gave thoughtful reasons for the lower scores). The biggest issue with the Air for me (I'm a Mac guy, BTW. I only use Windows for work because I have to) is the lack of 120hz. I wouldn't even mind the IPS panel. It feels like a wasted opportunity for Apple not to offer a 120hz display option since I would gladly pay for that. I really want the thinness of the MBA but I am forced to use a MBP because i really value the higher refresh rate. I do a ton of reading on my computer, and scrolling while reading text is plain more enjoyable with 120hz vs 60. (With that said, I think it is also about time we get a high refresh rate first party display from Apple; i am pretty sure that current gen ports can handle a 5k 120hz display, and I am quite confident Apple can make that work. Quinn from Snazzy Labs explained that pretty well in a video some months or maybe a year ago.)

[@JustJoshTech]

Thank you nice comment

[@ingjoseMLGomez]

Excellent review. At last I have found someone who will put some nuance on the usability of these laptops.

[@digitalnomadtrader]

Yours and Pete Matheson's videos feel like the best on these new machines. The hype train has been unreal. Still nice machines and optimistic for gen 2/3 on these.

[@polarized8708]

Beside the issues with crashing and compatibility - I really would like to switch to a portable long-lasting windows machine without any fan noise and powerful enough to render videos and picture editing. So I had higher hopes, that the Snapdragon would be a breakthrough for windows users. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you want to do silent video and photo editing for hours on the go, there is no way around a MacBook and if you choose the oldest iteration, they aren't that expensive. Sadly, I miss a lot of Windows applications, which wouldn't run on Mac OS (but I doubt they will run with ARM windows machines).

[@ogbimikaro7122]

Someone should advise me between microsoft Surface laptop 7 and dell latitude 9510 which should i buy ?

[@eliottgonzalez8844]

I wholeheartedly disagree with the surface being a better option. Coming from a previous hardcore windows fan boy. Unless you are a Windows power user( very specific tasks that require windows ) or a gamer ( why would you even attempt to game on one of these machines. If you have an iphone the integration across the apple ecosystem is incredible. The optimization on MacOS is leaps ahead of windows as well. the resell market is also leaps better on the apple market. For 99% of user upgradability is absolutely pointless. These categories make it a no brainer to go with the Macbook air. Yes you will pay more for the macbook air but you will definitely get your money's worth. FOR MOST USERS APPLE HAS LEFT MICROSOFT BEHIND.

[@JustJoshTech]

After reading these comments I'm starting to agree. I think is Apple provided 16g or even 12g as minimum for memory, I think it could be pretty big trouble for these other laptops. Add in M4 and yes. Game over

[@eliottgonzalez8844]

@@JustJoshTech For those of us in tech or professionals that rely on our machines for work we know how much RAM we need. For those looking into tech fields / pro work RAM would be minimum 16GBs but could really be much higher minimum depending on what field you want to get in. for the avg user which is the overwhelming majority 8GBs of RAM is more than enough. If you are worried about cost & wanting more RAM I always recommend keeping an eye on the apple refurbished store as you can typically get a much better deal on getting more RAM closer to the entry level price. I have always purchased directly from apple refurbished and have never had a product issue.

[@CharlesGorby]

Josh you are always so good at cutting through BS but this video wasn't really hitting the mark. The connectivity being 4 vs 8 just for Wi-Fi 6E vs 7...like...what? That difference alone could've made the MacBook win. Also, declaring a winner for screen without testing flickering or color accuracy (gamut ≠ accuracy). And design is simply subjective so how do you rate them the same when one laptop wobbles on a desk and is heavier (plus they have different UI design and software build quality). You declare the surface a winner for those seeking light tasks and basic apps with native arm support but the MacBook is simply more reliable for these customers who likely have not much programming + tinkering experience. That means they probably prefer the MacBook having no advertisements, no crashing, no fan noise. These things alone are a much bigger deal than how your video makes them seem. I think it would be helpful to point out that the price increase seems worthwhile for most in this regard. Very, very few people would truly be happy and not run into issues with these new snapdragon laptops. They're not inherently bad, but they are first gen and buggy. And Josh, you of all would know that products should not be bought for the promise of a less buggy or more feature packed future. Hope this is a helpful piece of criticism. I absolutely love your team's effort and this video is still great! Y'all got this.

[@JustJoshTech]

I should have made it clearer.... Connectivity included ports. This is a new thing for us. Technically ports are Connectivity. But we should have said "Connectivity & Ports" before we showed the Score. Re your second point, thats why I said a) It depends on what's important to you, and b) I personally would buy the Air

[@aloaisiga]

One question, in surface laptop Can I charge the laptop through the USB C ports?

[@JustJoshTech]

You can. Just be aware occasionally it doesn't. You may have to close the lid and open it or restart the laptop. So after you plug in, just double check it registers as charging

[@mokotik]

It can't be, it takes a long time for Word to run on my Air m1, have you completely unloaded it from RAM on a Mac?

[@MysterCannabis]

ONE point deducted for spqmming ads LOL!

[@Purrington]

Thanks. What might be an upgrade to this, that has an OLED touch?

[@PLANETWATERMELON]

“I’m not sensitive to the price” has to be one of the best lines I’ve heard. Basically, I have the funds. 👍🍉

[@peterbreis5407]

Add the annual cost of Office/Productivity/Creativity software on the Surface. With any Windows PC the cost of software means it starts getting more expensive about 15 months after purchase. That's ignoring the endless Apple support you get from Apple Stores. On Win dows you are on your own except for hardware support and that runs out at the end of the warranty.

[@kjelle2802]

Hey Josh. I am gonna start studying IT this summer, and i was wondering if you can recommend me a laptop for that? Some of the tasks that i will be doing, is programming, networking and running virtual machines.

[@JustJoshTech]

Mate, we are literally writing the script for this video right now! Hang tight. Should be out late next week

[@kjelle2802]

@@JustJoshTech Thank you❤️

[@BhargavGadekar69]

*If only Surface had MORE GPU power* 😢😢😢

[@alfy988]

Credo che tra un anno ce l’avrà e avrà nvidia come scheda video

[@xbenxwilsonxhighlights7879]

Why you don't need alot of horsepower to run word and a browser.

[@paolof.4778]

1:36 There is a mistake. You mark MacBook Air 13 und 15. 1:39 and here too.

[@3dr14ng4]

Apple making sure that segmentation is guaranteed by giving external display deficit on Airs so people would get the Pros. I never thought that the only improvement that they did since 2020 was the laptop lid closed for the dual external display setup.

[@NTGuides]

Hey Josh. With regards to your surface charging issues, it is not only for arm devices. It's a surface issue. My Pro 7+ has issues connecting to its surface charger. That's an Australian one so it's not an arm problem, just a surface issue. Not sure why tho.

[@BobG-eh5fc]

Excellent overview, thanks

[@Ramtinss]

When do you guys can get your hands on the new ASUS TUF A14? Really interested to see how the new Zen5 CPUs perform.

[@lakshay8363]

It's the first step in right direction for windows on arm and MS nailed it, It will get better overtime but the 2nd and even the 3rd gen of these chips will be so good with performance and efficiency. When M1 was released, it had many issues so eventually it should get better for these guys.

[@bryans8656]

As usual, excellent real world comparisons. I've been keeping an eye on the new Snapdragon laptops as a replacement for my wife's aging VivoBook S15, but I'm holding off until Microsoft works out the stability and compatibility issues.

[@timothyjholloway]

Using a MacBook, I played an old game on Crazy Games, which used HTML5, and the graphics flickered and disappeared while playing. If any computer can't handle browser games reliably, it's junk at any price.

[@SoftwareManiacLSM]

Nice. Say, how are Snapdragons selling compared to Intel models?

[@varunmundhra5321]

what if you go for the macbook 256gb and 16gb ram config and then get an external ssd

[@AhmedBalfaqih]

What a great and fair review. I am still on the bench. This review will help me to make a decision soon. Thank you.

[@borayeniay2282]

Just buy an M2 Air then. I hated apple for so long, But here MB Air wins. No light user in their right mind has time for Windows, let alone Windows on Arm. Although I criticize MacOs's closed off design, it serves perfectly well to light task users.

[@frankgu]

There's a misunderstanding about the RAM capacity. The surface laptop is not using the unified memory architecture as Apple's platform. So the 16G RAM on the surface laptop equals 8G RAM plus 8G VRAM. However, on the MacBook, the GPU data doesn't need to copied again from memory. The RAM utilization will be much efficient on Apple platform. Thus, the experience of 16GB Surface Laptop is more close to that of 8G MacBook Air (maybe 10G if exists). For example, If you run a game like Baldur's Gate 3, you can see much memory（RAM and VRAM) usage on the laptops using the Snapdragon SoCs.

[@dansanger5340]

Are people still believing the 8GB = 16GB marketing hype? It's been tested, and it's really not true.

[@frankgu]

@@dansanger5340 It’s true not marketing. I tested native games on M1 Pro and windows. The ram usage is much lower.

[@AndroidDigest]

Buy the X Plus version for $999 for 256GB and upgrade the storage yourself. Just 4 screws on the bottom, and the bottom plate is magnetically attached. Then you will have to take out the SSD, replace it, but still, you may only pay $1,100 for 1TB of storage, you would pay MILES more for that on the Macbook Air. If you are buying a laptop like this, you are probably only doing basic tasks anyway. And if you don't need the storage, boom, $999 for a crazy fast laptop with upgradeable storage. A win.

[@JustJoshTech]

Good comment

[@andyH_England]

I plug a superfast Thunderbolt external drive into my laptops and other devices, and I always keep the SSD to a bare minimum. It saves the hassle of opening the device; most people would never do that and then reinstall Windows. You can have multiple external drives that are as fast as internal SSDs. Upgradeable storage is no longer important, IMHO, and people make too much noise about it.

[@eberhardjiritschka3151]

The NPU comparison is ridiculous for 2 reasons: (1) Apple gave 18 TOPS as a the max performance for FP16, the numbers of the SDXE are for INT8 which is much faster. (2) the theoretical max performance is much less important than whether the NPU is utilised regularly by the OS - Apple does this since a decade with their A series chips and now since 4y with the M series. By the way: single core performance is much more important for every day (work) usage than multi core. No, I’m not an Apple fanboy but a 30y windows user who switched 3y ago to MacOS and enjoyed this as a huge relief

[@Dawid-e1p]

Josh, what do you think about OLED laptops? You reccomended Zenbook 14 oled in one video, as one of the best laptop in 2024, but I wonder if those laptops are safe from the screen burn in.

[@damiansmk]

I was really hoping for (almost)fanless and cool (temperature) experience when doing office work... Looks like I must wait a few years more.... using my noisy Surface Laptop 4 =D Love your reviews!

[@RestoranLaguna-kh4xx]

why didn't you compare mac book pro with that?

[@JustJoshTech]

Because it wouldn't be fair... and its a different price bracket.. The MacBook Pro, assuming we get the one I recommend people buy as a base model, the M3 Pro, would destroy it

[@RestoranLaguna-kh4xx]

@@JustJoshTech thanks for the answer, one question :) since you recently tested the asus viva book with 14 oled... it should arrive next week, I ordered it before I saw the microsoft surface 7! is it much better than the vivabook? I watched your video for that laptop and that's why I bought it

[@arturomolinamacias8989]

Great vid as always Josh and team. Focused on results and and facts. Would love to see a comparison between core ultra and x elite in this format, with the 2 best devices. It could be spectre vs surface 7, as it beat the x elite in battery test and do not have any of the compatibility issues...

[@FenrirKi]

I will go on with my M2 MacBook Air thank you.

[@JustJoshTech]

I would

[@ik0v]

I do appreciate the unbiased and level headed coverage. I'd be keen to see the 2nd gen Qualcomm processors when they have more competition from intel and AMD and have had time to figure out performance/watt better.

[@Szabolcs_Kun]

Could you make a review of ASUS Vivobook Pro 15 OLED N6506MU-MA026 ? I am considering purchasing this laptop for university (IT), gaming, and productivity. Therefore, I need power and battery life at the same time

[@dantebg100]

The score should be 0 for the Ms surface and 10 for the MacBook because no real competition exists.

[@adithyabhat6622]

A 7 for the macbook display? Have you even compared the contrast and the blacks on them? The blacks on the Air is incredibly better compared to the Surface Book 7. Not to mention the glossy finish on the Surface making it a pain to use in bright environments. The only thing going for the Surface's display is the 120Hz display. The image and the resolution is much better on the Air

[@JustJoshTech]

Even though tough, this is a worthy comment

[@JanSuchomel]

​@@JustJoshTech also I would be interested how many lines of code you can comfortably see on each display

[@wlcrutch]

M1 macbook air, STILL killing it in 2024 and I use it for SW development

[@_wallykhalid]

Whoa. Worth the wait. Amazing in depth review. Covers everything I wanted to see

[@goobfilmcast4239]

He awarded the Surface the win (and points) for having WiFi 7 vs WiFi 6....but did ZERO web rendering tests? I bet the MBA M3 CRUSHES the Surface in ANY webpage rendering/loading test.....WiFi 7 or not ! ...and yea, no point deductions for hardware lockup and software crashes (on everyday basic tasks) on the Surface....Really ???

[@spike5499]

@@goobfilmcast4239 reported for spam, stop copying and pasting this comment everywhere