Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 13.8 vs Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
CPU
Apple M2
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 13.8 and Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022) 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
112.0
(Excellent)
Value Index
77.4
(Good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 13.8
  • Higher screen refresh rate: 120 versus 60 Hz
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • Around 56% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • Thinner bezels and 4% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Display has support for touch input
  • Provides 20% higher max. screen brightness: 600 vs 500 nits
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022)
  • Slightly easier to carry: weighs 100 grams less (around 0.22 lbs)
  • MacBook with the Apple M2 chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.34 kg (2.95 lbs) 1.24 kg (2.73 lbs)
Dimensions 301 x 220 x 17.5 mm
11.85 x 8.66 x 0.69 inches
304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
Area 662 cm2 (102.6 inches2) 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~85.6% ~82%
Side bezels 4.7 mm 5.6 mm
Colors Black, Gray, Blue, Yellow Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue
Material Aluminum Aluminum
Transformer No No
Opening angle 135° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber No -
Liquid metal No No
Number of fans 1 -
Noise level (max. load) 40.3 dB -

Display

Size 13.8 inches 13.6 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes (60-120 Hz) No
PPI 201 ppi 225 ppi
Aspect ratio 3:2 16:10
Resolution 2304 x 1536 pixels 2560 x 1664 pixels
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, Dolby Vision
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen Yes No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor Yes Yes
Screen space comparison
Surface Laptop 7 13.8
13.8″ (3:2 ratio) = 87.9 in2
MacBook Air 13 (M2, 2022)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
~5% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 1400:1 1384:1
sRGB color space 98.2% 99.9%
Adobe RGB profile 87.3% 87.6%
DCI-P3 color gamut 97.8% 98.4%
Response time 28 ms 29 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time 2:18 hr 2:30 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes Yes, 65 W
Charging port position Left, Right Left
Charge power 39 W 30 / 35 / 67 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter 213 grams 174 / 189 / 250 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 3.4 GHz 3.5 GHz
Cores 10 8 (4P + 4E)
Threads 10 8
L3 Cache 6 MB -
Integrated GPU Qualcomm Adreno X1-85 Apple M2 GPU
Fabrication process 4 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 30 W 15 W
Type Integrated Integrated
Fabrication process 4 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock 300 MHz 500 MHz
GPU boost clock 1250 MHz 1398 MHz
FLOPS 3.8 TFLOPS 2.9 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared System Shared
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5
Memory bus - 128 bit
Memory speed 8.45 Gbps 6.4 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1536 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 96 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 48 32
GPU performance 3.8 TFLOPS 2.9 TFLOPS
Blender GPU - 270
Solar Bay 8415 6237

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x8 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 8448 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 1x256 GB
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 1 -
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.0 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness ~81.8 dB ~82.7 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v7 v6
Bluetooth v5.4 v5.3
Fingerprint No Yes
Infrared sensor Yes No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1920 x 1080 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A 1x USB 3.1 No
USB Type-C 2x USB 4.0 2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 3
HDMI No No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No No
SD card reader No No
Proprietary charging port Yes Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.5 mm 1 mm
Touchpad
Size 12.0 x 8.0 cm -
Surface Glass Glass
Windows Precision Yes No
Further details
Notes on Surface Laptop 7 13.8:
    - The Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) model is slightly heavier at 1.65 kg and features faster LPDDR5X memory (8533 MHz) than the Snapdragon version.
*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?
21 (70%)
9 (30%)
Total votes: 30

Comments

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