At launch, Apple said that the M3 MacBook Air is the fastest consumer-grade AI laptop, and Microsoft's has arrived to challenge it. Can Microsoft claim the crown with the Surface Laptop Copilot+?
Top list of the best Windows alternatives to Apple MacBook Air in review
Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 is a serious bit of kit. Here's how it stacks up to the M3 MacBook Air.
While MacBooks are incredibly popular laptops, they don't exist in a vacuum. There are some incredible MacBook alternatives out there, and we've picked out the best ones.
Forget MacBook Air: This Windows alternative is just as lightweight and full of features https://vist.ly/3569k
If you're in the market for a new laptop but you're on the go, it doesn't get better than these lightweight Windows alternatives to the MacBook Air.
The Surface Laptop 7 is the largest revamp of Microsoft's mainstream portable in years. But is it a competitor to the MacBook Air?
MacBook Air, MacBook Pro ; M2 : 13.6-inch display M3 : 13.6- or 15.3-inch display, 14.2- or 16.2-inch display ; LCD Liquid Retina display, Mini-LED Liquid Retina XDR display ; 60hz refresh rate, ProMotion for refresh rates up to 120Hz ; Up to 500 nits brightness, Up to 1,000 nits brightness and 1,600 nits peak HDR brightness ; , Nano-texture display option ; 1080p FaceTime HD camera, 12MP Center Stage camera with support for Desk View ; Apple M2 or M3 chip, Apple M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chip ; M2 : Enhanced 5nm node (N5P) based on A15 Bionic chip from iPhone 13 (2021) M3 : 3nm node (N3B) based on A17 Pro chip from iPhone 15 Pro (2023), 3nm node (N3E) based on A18 chip from iPhone 16 (2024) ; M2 : 3.49 GHz CPU clock speed M3 : 4.05 GHz CPU clock speed, M4 : 4.4 GHz CPU clock speed M4 Pro and M4 Max : 4.5 GHz CPU clock speed ; 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, M4 : 10 CPU cores with 4 performance and 6 efficiency cores M4 Pro : Up to 14 CPU cores with 10 performance and 4 efficiency cores M4 Max : Up to 16 CPU cores with 12 performance and 4 efficiency cores ; Up to 10-core GPU, M4 : 10-core GPU M4 Pro : Up to 20-core GPU M4 Max : Up to 40-core GPU ; Updated GPU architecture, Updated GPU architecture with improved efficiency ; M2 : 16-core Neural Engine, 15.8 trillion operations per second M3 : 16-core Neural Engine, 18 trillion operations per second, 16-core Neural Engine, 38 trillion operations per second ; 16GB or 24GB unified memory, M4 : 16GB, 24GB, or 32GB unified memory M4 Pro : 24GB or 48GB unified memory M4 Max : 36GB, 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB unified memory ; LPDDR5 memory, LPDDR5X memory ; 100GB/s memory bandwidth, M4 : 120GB/s memory bandwidth M4 Pro : 273GB/s memory bandwidth M4 Max : 546GB/s memory bandwidth ; Passive cooling, Active cooling ; , High Power Mode on all M4 Pro and M4 Max models ; M3 models only : Dynamic Caching Hardware-accelerated ray tracing Hardware-accelerated mesh shading Support for AV1 decode, Dynamic Caching Hardware-accelerated ray tracing Hardware-accelerated mesh shading Support for AV1 decode ; M2 : Wi-Fi 6 M3 : Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 6E ; Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports, M4: Three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports M4 Pro or M4 Max : Three Thunderbolt 5 (USB-C) ports ; , HDMI 2.1 port with support for multichannel audio output ; , SDXC card slot ; 13-Inch : Four-speaker sound system 15-Inch : Six-speaker sound system with force-canceling woofers, High-fidelity six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers ; Three-mic array with directional beamforming, Studio-quality three-mic array with high signal-to-noise ratio and directional beamforming ; M2 : Support for one external display M3 : Support for up to two external displays when the lid is closed, M4 or M4 Pro : Support for two external displays M4 Max : Support for up to four external displays ; , Dedicated display engine ; 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB of storage, M4 : 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB storage M4 Pro or M4 Max : 512GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, or 8TB storage ; 13-Inch : 52.6-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 15-Inch : 66.5-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery, 14-Inch : 72.4-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery 16-Inch : 100-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery ; 18-hour battery life, M4 14-Inch or M3 Pro 16-Inch : 24-hour battery life M4 Pro 14-Inch : 22-hour battery life M4 Max 14-Inch : 18-hour battery life M4 Max 16-Inch : 21-hour battery life ; 30W, 35W, or 67W USB-C Power Adapter, 67W, 96W, or 140W USB-C Power Adapter ; Silver, Space Gray, Starlight, or Midnight color options, Silver or Space Black color options ; M2 13-Inch : Starts at $999 M3 13-Inch : Starts at $1,099 M3 15-Inch : Starts at $1,299, M4 14-Inch: Starts at $1,599 M4 Pro 14-Inch : Starts at $1,999 M4 Pro 16-Inch : Starts at $2,499
MacBooks are great, but they're also expensive and don't have Windows. If you're shopping for the best MacBook alternatives, we list models from Dell and more.
Forget MacBook Air: This Windows alternative is just as lightweight and full of features https://vist.ly/3569n