Apple Macbook Versus Surface Pro 4
CNN —
The Surface Laptop 4 is an excellent all-around notebook, providing plenty of power inside a thin and attractive design. Information technology also happens to have some unique advantages over the MacBook Pro — 1 of our picks for the best laptops you lot can buy.
With a taller-than-average brandish, a combination of mod and classic ports and one of the best keyboards we've tested, the Surface Laptop 4 makes a potent instance for your workspace when pitted against the latest MacBook Pro. That said, Apple'south latest premium laptop still wins big in many areas, especially when it comes to sheer speed, battery life and connectivity.
One quick notation: For this comparison, we're talking specifically virtually the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 4 with an Intel processor, and the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Apple's M1 fleck inside. With that said, allow's break downward the big strengths and weaknesses of these two portable powerhouses to help you notice the right notebook for your needs.
- Surface Laptop iv (starting at $999; microsoft.com ): You should get the Surface Laptop iv if you want a Windows laptop with a superb keyboard, a slim and comfy design, a mix of classic and modern ports and a impact screen.
- MacBook Pro (starting at $1,149; amazon.com and expercom.com ): Y'all should get the MacBook Pro if you want the most powerful laptop in this toll range, demand long battery life, are large on creative work or want something that volition play nice with your iPhone and iPad.
The Surface Laptop 4 and MacBook Pro both sport familiar-looking (and very attractive) designs, but we have to give the edge to Microsoft when it comes to sheer aesthetics.
Microsoft'south notebook is a hair thinner and lighter than the MacBook Pro and comes in a splash of attractive colors, including Matte Black, Sandstone and the especially eye-catching Ice Blue variation we tested. By comparison, the MacBook Pro is limited to just Space Greyness and Silvery.
But where the Surface Laptop 4 actually stands out is with the soft Alcantara fabric covering that'southward bachelor on select 13.5-inch models, which doesn't only look better than the all-metal MacBook Pro — it also proved easier on our wrists while typing. Speaking of which, both of these laptops have excellent keyboards, but we enjoyed hammering away on the Surface Laptop 4 just a bit more. The Laptop 4'southward keyboard offers a deep 1.3 millimeters of travel and felt satisfyingly bouncy and comfortable as we spent hours typing upwardly documents and emails.
The Magic Keyboard on the MacBook Pro is no slouch either, with snappy keys that are much less shallow than the butterfly keyboards of one-time. But the Laptop four's keys but feel better, particularly when paired with the comfortable wrist residuum provided past the Alcantara models.
These slim laptops are too slim on ports, each offering a scattering of connection options that differ in some key ways. The Surface Laptop 4 gets you ane USB-C port, one USB-A port, a headphone jack and a Surface Connect port, the latter of which connects to the included charger and can exist used with supported docking stations. Meanwhile, the MacBook Pro features four USB-C Thunderbolt ports in addition to a headphone jack.
If yous're still using accessories that connect via the older USB-A standard (such equally mice and storage drives), the Surface Laptop four's USB-A port is a nice perk that may forestall the demand to spring for a separate USB adapter. Just the MacBook Pro's 4 USB-C Thunderbolt iii ports are faster than the standard USB-C slot on the Surface Laptop 4.
These ports can transfer information at up to twoscore gigabytes (GB) per second, which is up to twice as fast as what you'll find on regular USB-C and is useful for chop-chop transferring files from a hard drive or connecting to multiple 4K displays at one time. As such, Apple tree's notebook has a slight edge for ability users in terms of port option. Fortunately, you lot can aggrandize the connectivity of either of these laptops with one of the best USB-C hubs.
The displays on the Surface Laptop 4 and MacBook Pro both delivered vibrant colors and impressive detail in our testing, and sport similarly sharp resolutions of 2256 x 1504 for the Surface versus 2560 ten 1600 for the MacBook. Only they each have some key perks that are worth keeping in mind when deciding between the two.
The Surface Laptop four'south screen has a unique iii:2 ratio, which is taller than what you lot'll find on nearly mod laptops and has most an extra inch of height compared to the MacBook Pro. That'due south benign for seeing more of an Excel spreadsheet or a webpage at once without scrolling, and may exist enticing for heavy multitaskers. And unlike the MacBook Pro, the Laptop iv has a bear upon screen for when you want to pinch to zoom into photos or putter around in Pigment.
The MacBook Pro's display stands out with Apple's True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the color temperature of the screen based on what room you're in to go on things looking natural no matter where yous're working. We've also establish Apple tree'due south screen to be slightly brighter than the Surface'due south in side-by-side comparisons, which is important if yous're going to be spending long hours combing through emails and editing photos and videos.
Equally far every bit multimedia goes, these two laptops trade blows in some key areas. The Surface Laptop 4 and MacBook Pro each accept 720p webcams, and while they're both grainier than we'd like, we found that Microsoft's notebook takes sharper, brighter and less saturated photos. Simply Apple's laptop wins on the audio front, pumping out richer and louder sound that amend elevated individual instruments, such as guitars and bass, in our listening.
The Surface Laptop 4 delivered plenty of musculus for everyday multitasking in our tests, merely the latest MacBook Pro is on another level. That's all thanks to the new Apple M1 chip powering the company's latest computers, which runs circles effectually the 11th Gen Intel Cadre i7 bit in our Surface Laptop 4. Apple's processor seriously sets a new standard for laptop operation.
The MacBook Pro's benchmark scores more than doubled that of our Surface Laptop 4 on the Geekbench 5 test, which measures a laptop'south overall speed. In terms of real-world use, all that power meant that we were able to ability up 16 different apps (including Final Cut Pro and Photoshop) on Apple's laptop without any crashes or slowdown.
But the M1 chip doesn't only allow the latest MacBook Pro to be super fast — it likewise enables very strong battery life. Apple'southward latest loftier-end notebook lasted us through long 14-hour days, whereas the Surface Laptop 4 would peter out around 8.5 hours. Both notebooks will go you through most of a standard workday on a single accuse, just the MacBook Pro has much stronger endurance for those who spend nearly of their day on the go.
While these two notebooks are in the same general price ballpark, the Surface Laptop iv offers a wider range of configurations and has the lower starting price of the 2. Microsoft'southward 13-inch laptop starts at $999, which gets you an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB of RAM for multitasking and 256GB of solid-state drive (SSD) storage. The MacBook Pro starts at a more than expensive $ane,299 with the same corporeality of RAM and storage, but it has a much more powerful M1 processor across all models.
Looking at some of the higher-end versions of both notebooks, the Surface Laptop iv technically gives you more for your money in some areas. For instance, a $1,299 Surface Laptop 4 with Intel Core i5 has near twice the storage of the $i,299 MacBook Pro at 512GB versus 256GB. And the $1,499 configuration of Microsoft'south laptop gets you 16GB of RAM versus 8GB in the $1,499 MacBook Pro, which means more headroom for multitasking for the same price.
Notwithstanding, if you want a bigger one-terabyte (TB) storage bulldoze for housing lots of files, Apple tree has the better deal hither. The MacBook Pro can be configured with 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM for $i,899, whereas your just 1TB Surface Laptop 4 option is a pricey $2,299 model that gets you a larger 32GB of RAM.
Overall, the Surface Laptop iv offers a lot of flexibility, with the most affordable starting cost and a wide range of processor or RAM options. But Apple's M1 chip smokes even the high-finish Intel Core i7 processor inside the premium Surface Laptop iv models, and it comes standard on every configuration.
Your decision may also come down to whether you simply prefer Windows or macOS, which are the operating systems that ability the Surface Laptop 4 and MacBook Pro, respectively. Those who already use lots of Apple products like an iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch will find lots to similar near the MacBook, as Apple tree's software makes it very easy to admission things such every bit notes, contacts and text messages beyond devices. The MacBook Pro is as well popular among creative types, cheers to exclusive apps like Final Cut Pro for video editing and Logic Pro for music product.
While both of these machines tin can handle light titles like Rocket League and Minecraft, Windows offers a more robust selection of gaming options. It has more than supported titles on major marketplaces like Steam, and Windows devices similar the Surface Laptop 4 tin can even stream Xbox games from the cloud. And if you utilize an Android device, the Windows 10 Your Phone app lets you access your apps and letters right from your PC. (It also works with iPhones, but in a much more limited mode.)
If your daily workflow consists of apps such as Microsoft Word, Photoshop, Zoom or just lots of Google Docs, you'll be fine with either laptop. But you should go on the above use cases and exclusive apps in mind before you pull the trigger.
If sleekness and comfort are your priority, become with the Surface Laptop four. Its slim pattern, attractive colour options and boisterous keyboard make information technology a delight to use, particularly if you get with one of the Alcantara-covered options (which we highly recommend). It'southward also the way to become if you want a tall display within a relatively compact design, and care nearly having a touch screen. Its cheaper starting price of $999 certainly doesn't hurt either.
But while the Laptop 4 has plenty of muscle for bones workloads, the MacBook Pro (starting at $1,299) is the true powerhouse out of the two. Its M1 processor delivers speeds that eclipse but about every laptop we've tested, and its bombardment life is much better than what nosotros got out of Microsoft's machine. MacBooks are besides a no-brainer for those in the Apple ecosystem, as they'll piece of work seamlessly with your iPhone, iPad and Apple Sentry.
Fortunately, at that place'due south no real incorrect choice between these two sleek and powerful laptops — merely brand sure you're picking upwards the one that best suits how you work and play.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/electronics/surface-laptop-4-vs-macbook-pro-m1
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