Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 15 vs Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
CPU
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 15 and Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Portability
Design, materials, durability and usability
Pick the usage scenario that best matches your needs
Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Please input up-to-date prices for the selected laptop configurations to get an accurate value-for-money index.
Currency
VS
32.3
(Mediocre)
Value Index
56.1
(Average)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 15
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • Display has support for touch input
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
  • Higher screen refresh rate: 120 versus 60 Hz
  • Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 3 versus 1
  • MacBook with the Apple M2 Pro chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
  • Around 84% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • Features a much bigger (~48%) battery – 70 against 47.4 watt-hours
  • Thinner bezels and 5% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Better webcam recording quality
  • 27% sharper screen – 254 versus 200 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Provides 25% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 400 nits
  • Much smaller footprint: 17% more compact case (107.1 vs 128.6 square inches)

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.54 kg (3.4 lbs) 1.6 kg (3.53 lbs)
Dimensions 340 x 244 x 14.7 mm
13.39 x 9.61 x 0.58 inches
312.6 x 221.2 x 15.5 mm
12.31 x 8.71 x 0.61 inches
Area 830 cm2 (128.7 inches2) 691 cm2 (107.2 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~80.7% ~84.6%
Side bezels 11.5 mm 3.4 mm
Colors Black, Gray Silver, Gray
Material Aluminum Aluminum
Transformer No No
Opening angle 135° 135°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Active
Vapor chamber No No
Liquid metal No No
Number of fans 2 2
Max. fan speed (RPM) - 6800 RPM
Noise level (max. load) 38.1 dB 47.5 dB

Display

Size 15 inches 14.2 inches
Type IPS LCD Mini LED
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate - Yes (24-120 Hz)
PPI 200 ppi 254 ppi
Aspect ratio 3:2 16:10
Resolution 2496 x 1664 pixels 3024 x 1964 pixels
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen Yes No
Coating Glossy Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor Yes Yes
Screen space comparison
Surface Laptop 5 15
15″ (3:2 ratio) = 103.8 in2
MacBook Pro 14 (2023)
14.2″ (16:10 ratio) = 90.6 in2
~14% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 1369:1 25000:1
sRGB color space 97.3% -
Adobe RGB profile 70.3% -
DCI-P3 color gamut 68.1% 99.2%
Response time 40 ms 31 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time 2:00 hr 2:10 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes Yes, 100 W
Charging port position Left, Right Left, Right
Charge power 65 W 67 / 96 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter 305 grams 274 / 315 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 1.7 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.7 GHz -
Cores 10 (2P + 8E) 12 (8P + 4E)
Threads 12 12
L3 Cache 12 MB -
Integrated GPU Intel Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) Apple M2 Pro GPU (19-core)
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP 15 W 35 W
Type Integrated Integrated
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU boost clock 1250 MHz 1398 MHz
FLOPS 1.9 TFLOPS 6.8 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared System Shared
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory bus - 256 bit
Memory speed 5.2 Gbps 6.4 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 768 2432
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 48 152
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 24 76
GPU performance 1.9 TFLOPS 6.8 TFLOPS

GPU Benchmarks

Steel Nomad Lite Score
Blender GPU - 863
Solar Bay - 14631
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x4 GB 2x8 GB
Clock 5200 MHz 6400 MHz
Type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Upgradable No No

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x) Custom
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x256 GB 2x256 GB
Upgradable No No
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.0 4.2 (4 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness ~78.1 dB ~84.3 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6E
Bluetooth v5.1 v5.3
Fingerprint No Yes
Infrared sensor Yes No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1280 x 720 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A 1x USB 3.1 No
USB Type-C 1x USB 4.0 3x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 4
HDMI No 1x HDMI 2.1
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No No
SD card reader No Yes
Proprietary charging port Yes Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.3 mm 1 mm
Touchpad
Size 11.5 x 7.7 cm 13.2 x 8.1 cm
Surface Glass Glass
Windows Precision Yes No
Further details
Notes on MacBook Pro 14 (2023):
    - The base model features a 10-core CPU and a 16-core GPU, as opposed to the 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU we tested, making it about 15% slower in multi-core tests.
    - The base model with a 512 GB SSD uses a single-channel SSD. Versions with 1 TB or larger have faster dual-channel SSD modules.
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
Total votes: < 1

Comments

Write your opinion about the comparison of Apple MacBook Pro 14 (2023) and Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 15 or ask any questions
🌐 Register your profile and become part of NanoReview community!