Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Specs and configurations
Design
Performance
Display and audio
Portability
Want a tablet, get the Surface Pro 11, but otherwise, the MacBook Air is for you
It might seem strange to compare a clamshell laptop with a detachable tablet 2-in-1, but the fact is, if you’re look for a small yet powerful, highly portable PC, you have two great options. The Apple MacBook Air 13 (M4) is the best 13-inch laptop you can buy (maybe the best ever), and the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is the best 2-in-1.
Both are very small, both are fast and get great battery life, and so both can serve anyone well who wants a real PC that feels more like a mobile device. But which one is the right choice for you?
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Specs and configurations
Apple MacBook Air 15 (M4)
Microsoft Surface Pro 11
Dimensions
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches
Weight
2.7 pounds
1.97 pounds (tablet only)
Processor
Apple M4 (10 core)
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus
Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite
Graphics
8 core GPU
10 core GPU
Qualcomm Adreno
RAM
16GB unified memory
24GB unified memory
32GB unified memory
16GB
32GB
Display
13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 LED IPS display at 60Hz
13-inch (2880 x 1920) IPS, 120Hz
13-inch (2880 x 1920) OLED, 120Hz
Storage
256GB SSD
512GB SSD
1TB SSD
2TB SSD
256GB SSD
512GB SSD
1TB SSD
Touch
No
Yes
Ports
2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4
1 x MagSafe 3 for charging
1 x 3.5mm audio jack
2 x USB4
Wireless
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4
Webcam
12MP Center Stage camera with Desk View
12-megapixel front camera
10-megapixel rear camera
Operating system
macOS Sequoia
Windows 11 on Arm
Battery
53.8 watt-hour battery
48 watt-hour
Price
$999+
$1,300+
Rating
5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5 stars
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The MacBook Air 13 (M4) starts at $999 with a 10-core CPU, 8-core GPU M4 chipset, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. That’s a break from the past, where Apple used to keep the previous generation machine around at the lowest price. From there, it’s $100 to upgrade to a faster M4 with a 10-core GPU, then $200 for 24GB of RAM and $400 for 32GB. Storage can be upgraded to 512GB for $200 and up to 2TB for an additional $800. The most expensive model is $2,199.
The Surface Pro 11 starts at $999 with a Snapdragon X Plus chipset, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD, and an IPS display, so the same as the MacBook Air. The OLED version starts at $1,499 with a faster Snapdragon X Elite chipset. It, too, has a variety of configuration options, with the highest-priced model at $2,499 with OLED, 64GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD.
Right now, the Surface Pro 11 is on sale, something Apple rarely does with its current machines. So, the prices are closer together, with the Surface Pro 11 being a bit less expensive depending on the configuration. Neither will be confused for a budget laptop.
Design
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
The MacBook Air 13 is very possibly the perfect 13-inch laptop design. Maybe the perfect 14-inch laptop, depending on how you want to classify a laptop with a 13.6-inch display. It’s incredibly thin, light but not flimsy, and it exudes quality. Just opening and closing the perfectly-designed hinge provides a visceral impression of great manufacturing. At the same time, the Surface Pro 11 is equally well-made. It’s also all-metal, it has the best built-in kickstand on any tablet today, and it’s thin and light enough to be very portable. Snapping on the keyboard makes it a little less thin and light, but it remains one of the easiest laptops to carry around.
Both laptops also look great. The MacBook Air has several attractive colors and a very cohesive aesthetic that mimics every MacBook made today is both minimalist and elegant. The Surface Pro 11 also comes in several colors with detachable keyboards to match. It’s a simple slate with rounded corners and a simplistic design. It’s very attractive as well.
The difference, of course, is in their form factor. The MacBook Air is a standard clamshell that will be immediately familiar to most laptop users, while the Surface Pro 11 is a tablet that serves dual functions. According to our reviewer, it’s not as great a tablet as it is a laptop, primarily because Windows 11 just doesn’t provide the same touch experience as, say, iPadOS. And when connected to its keyboard, the Surface Pro 11 isn’t as stable on anything other than a firm surface. So, if you want a “normal” laptop experience, then the MacBook Air is the better choice. But if you want a tablet with pen capabilities for digital drawing to go with a laptop, then the Surface Pro 11 is for you.
The MacBook Air’s keyboard is superior, and in fact, Apple Magic Keyboard is really the best laptop keyboard around. The keycaps are perfectly sized, the spacing is excellent, and the switches are light and snappy. For anyone who types a lot, it’s the best experience. The Surface Pro 11’s detachable Surface Pro Flex keyboard, which costs extra, is also very good, with quality switches and a functional, if cramped, layout. But typing on the keyboard has a bit of a bounce when it’s propped up at an angle. That might bother some people.
The MacBook Air’s Force Touch haptic touchpad is also the best available on a laptop today. It’s very large, perfectly responsive, and has the additional Force Click feature where pressing a little “harder” invokes additional functionality. The Surface Pro Flex keyboard also has a haptic touchpad that works well, but it’s quite a bit smaller. Of course, the Surface Tablet 11’s display is touch- and pen-enabled, and when mated with the Surface Slim pen, even adds in haptic feedback when writing and drawing on the display. If you’re a digital artist, the choice is clear.
Connectivity is closely matched. Both have just modern USB-C ports, the MacBook Air with Thunderbolt 4 and the Surface Pro 11 with USB4. Both have proprietary power adapters that keep both ports free when charging. The MacBook Air has a 3.5mm audio jack that the Surface Pro 11 lacks, while the latter has a nanoSIM for optional cellular wireless that the former lacks. And the Surface Pro 11 has more up-to-date wireless connectivity.
Finally, the two laptops both have 12MP webcams, while the Surface Pro 11 adds a 10MP rear camera. The MacBook Air benefits from better low-light performance and the Center Stage feature that automatically centers the user when moving around. It also has Desk View that can share a desktop view combined with a picture-in-picture video. The Surface Pro 11 uses its fast Neural Processing Unit for Copilot+ PC AI features, while the MacBook Air’s fast Neural Engine doesn’t have quite as much use today. AI features are evolving, though, so that’s probably not a reason to choose on over the other.
Performance
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
Thee Surface Pro 11 uses either the 10-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite chipsets, which are aimed at combing faster performance with higher efficiency than we’ve seen from past generations of Windows laptops. Graphics are powered by the Adreno integrated GPU. The MacBook Air 13 has Apple’s latest M4 chipset, with 10 CPU cores and eight or 10 GPU cores. Apple Silicon has always been about both performance and efficiency.
In our benchmarks, the MacBook Air 13 is the faster laptop, both in multi-core processing and in single-core processing, where it’s a lot faster. For typical productivity tasks, even the most demanding, the MacBook Air will be a lot more responsive. Neither is a gaming laptop, but the MacBook Air also benefits from various CPU optimizations that make it faster for moderate creative tasks as well, such as video editing.
Geekbench 6
(single/multi)
Cinebench R24
(single/multi/battery)
3DMark
Wild Life Extreme
MacBook Air 15
(M4 10/8)
3,751 / 14,801
172 / 854
7,827
Surface Pro 11
(SnapDragon X Elite X1E-80-100 / Adreno)
2,365 / 13,339
106 / 523
6,128
Display and audio
Luke Larsen / Digital Trends
The MacBook Air has a 13.6-inch 16:10 2560 x 1664 IPS display that’s very bright, has wide and accurate colors, and very good contrast for the technology. The Surface Pro 11 comes with two display options, both 13.0-inch 3:2 at 2880 x 1920, one IPS and one OLED. We tested the OLED version, and it, too, is bright with wide and even more accurate colors. It has OLED’s usual inky blacks, though, which gives it an edge.
Both displays are very good and will please the vast majority of users. The Surface Pro’s OLED panel will use more power, which is its primary downside.
The MacBook Air has a four-speaker audio system with force-cancelling woofers. It’s probably the best sound system on a 13-inch (or 14-inch) laptop, with plenty of volume, clear mids and highs, and surprising bass. The Surface Pro 11’s dual, side-firing speakers are just okay by comparison.
MacBook Air 15
(IPS)
Surface Laptop 7
(IPS)
Brightness
(nits)
532
561
AdobeRGB gamut
85%
85%
sRGB gamut
100%
100%
DCI-P3 gamut
97%
95%
Accuracy
(DeltaE, lower is better)
0.74
1.27
Contrast
22,680:1
1,440:1
Portability
Mark Coppock / Digital Trends
As mentioned above, these are two eminently portable laptops that still provide great performance when using “real” PC operating systems. You’ll barely notice that you’re carrying them around.
Both laptops get better great battery life, but the MacBook Air’s is better. It’s likely that the IPS version of the Surface Pro 11 will be more comparable. You’ll get more than a full day’s work out of both machines.
Web
Video
Apple MacBook Air 15
(M4 10/10)
16 hours, 30 minutes
20 hours, 31 minutes
Surface Pro 11
(SnapDragon X Elite X1E-80-100)
14 hours, 39 minutes
16 hours, 36 minutes
Want a tablet, get the Surface Pro 11, but otherwise, the MacBook Air is for you
There’s a reason why I gave the MacBook Air (M4) a perfect score. It’s the best small laptop ever made, in my opinion, with a sublime build, great performance, and awesome battery life. The keyboard and touchpad are the best you can buy, and the display is great for every use.
At the same time, the Surface Pro 11 is the best 2-in-1 ever made. It’s not as great as a laptop as the MacBook Air, but it’s also a decent tablet. So, if that’s what you want, buy the Surface. But everyone else should just buy the MacBook Air and be done with it.
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