Is Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Really Better Than MacBook Air?

How does Surface Pro 4 measure up when compared to MacBook Air?

After Microsoft unveiled its latest flagship tablet version, a flurry of comparison reviews were made of the product, versus Apple's thin-as-air laptop.

So, which one is better?

Display

"When it comes to the display, Apple's MacBook Air is no slouch," PC Mag prefaced.

"It has a 13.3-inch non-touch and non-Retina display, with a 1,440-by-900 resolution," it went on. "In contrast, the Surface Pro 4 has a beastly 2,736-by-1,824-resolution touch display that's protected by the latest Corning Gorilla Glass 4."

Looks like the Pro 4 wins in this department.

Under the Hood

"The Surface Pro 4 is powered by the 6th Gen Intel Core M3, i5, or i7 (Skylake) processors which are paired with Intel HD graphics 515, 520 or 540, and 4GB, 8GB or 16GB of RAM," Neurogadget noted. "There are four variants of internal memories (SSD), and their capacities are 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB."

"The MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 (whose speed can be increased up to 2.7GHz), and it's configurable to 2.2GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (which can run up to 3.2GHz)," it continued. "The processor is paired with an Intel HD Graphics 6000 processor and it supports 4GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3." "The storage options are 128GB or 256GB PCIe-based SSD and there's an optional 512GB upgrade," the site added.

Considering these specs, it appears Microsoft's slate edges out Apple's laptop, especially considering the former has better RAM size and a Skylake processor.

Design

"The MacBook Air 13-inch is incredibly thin, tapering from 0.68 inches at the back to 0.11 at the front of the system, PC Mag pointed out. "The Surface Pro 4 is 0.33 inches thick, which bests the Surface Pro 3."

"Otherwise, an open MacBook Air has a height of 8.94 inches and a width of 12.8 inches, whereas the Surface Pro 4 in Portrait mode measures 11.5 inches high and 7.93 inches wide," it added.

Although the MacBook Air may be heavier, the Pro 4 would also be a bit heftier when paired with the Type Cover. The 1.73-pound Pro 4 may weight as much as over 2 pounds when attached with the .45-pound Type Cover. The 13-inch MacBook Air weighs 2.96 pounds, while the 11-inch model weighs 2.38 pounds - which is just .20 lbs heavier than the Pro 4 with Type Cover.

Design-wise, it's a draw between the two, as each cater to preferences of certain types of users.

Although a tablet that can work like a laptop can't exactly be compared with a full on, personal laptop like the MacBook Air, it appears the Surface Pro 4 has some edge over Apple's super-thin portable PC. However, user experience may make or break a device, so we'll definitively know later when the hybrid gadget finally gets released on October 26.

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