Surface Laptop or MacBook Air 13?
Both are quiet, well-built thin-and-lights with roughly fifteen-hour batteries. The Surface adds a 120 Hz touchscreen and costs about $300 more on sale, $600 more at list. The deciding question is not either of those: the Surface runs Arm Windows, and some professional audio, engineering and virtualisation software still does not run on it.
Prices checked August 27, 2026. We hold no affiliate links, so this page earns nothing whichever one you buy.
$1,399.99
Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8-inch
Take the Surface if you need Windows and you have confirmed every application you depend on runs on Arm.
$1,099
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch
Take the Air if you have not checked, or cannot check — it runs everything in its own ecosystem and costs less here.
Rows in red are where they actually differ
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8-inch | Apple MacBook Air 13-inch | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,399.99 | $1,099 |
| Price basis | manufacturer's own store | manufacturer's own store |
| Configuration | Snapdragon X2 Elite, 16 GB, 512 GB SSD | Apple M5, 16 GB unified memory, 512 GB SSD |
| Chip | Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite | Apple M5 (10-core CPU) |
| Graphics | Qualcomm Adreno (integrated) | Apple M5 10-core GPU (integrated) |
| Memory | 16 GB, soldered | 16 GB, soldered |
| Storage | 512 GB, upgradeable | 512 GB, soldered |
| Display | 13.8-inch 2304 x 1536 IPS touch, 120 Hz | 13.6-inch 2560 x 1664 IPS, 500 nits |
| Weight | 1.34 kg | 1.24 kg |
| System | Windows | macOS |
| Ports | Thunderbolt, USB-A, 3.5 mm headphone jack | Thunderbolt, 3.5 mm headphone jack |
Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8-inch
- This machine if you rely on any application you have not confirmed runs on Arm — that is the whole risk here.
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch
- The 2 TB storage tier — Apple charges more for it than an external drive plus a spare.
This page compares two machines. Your shortlist compares all of them.
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