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Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 vs Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020)

47 out of 100
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
VS
56 out of 100
Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020)
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020)
You can select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 and Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020) 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
Case
Design, materials, durability and usability
NanoReview Score

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • Display has support for touch input
  • Smaller footprint: 11% more compact case (89 vs 100.1 square inches)
Advantages of the Apple Macbook Air (M1, 2020)
  • Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 2 versus 1
  • Around 59% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench R23 test
  • Features a bigger (~22%) battery – 49.9 against 41 watt-hours
  • Backlit keyboard
  • 52% sharper screen – 227 versus 149 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Provides 21% higher max. screen brightness: 400 vs 330 nits
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Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs
Laptop:
Surface Laptop Go 2
vs
Macbook Air (M1, 2020)

Case

Weight 1.24 kg (2.73 lbs) 1.29 kg (2.84 lbs)
Dimensions 278.2 x 206.2 x 15.7 mm
10.95 x 8.12 x 0.62 inches		 304.1 x 212.4 x 16.1 mm
11.97 x 8.36 x 0.63 inches
Area 574 cm2 (88.9 inches2) 646 cm2 (100.1 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~79.8% ~79.4%
Side bezels 8 mm 8.8 mm
Colors Silver, Blue, Green, Yellow Silver, Gold, Gray
Transformer No No
Opening angle 135° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber No Yes
Number of fans 1 -
Noise level (max. load) 41.8 dB -

Display

Size 12.4 inches 13.3 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
PPI 149 ppi 227 ppi
Aspect ratio 3:2 16:10
Resolution 1536 x 1024 pixels 2560 x 1600 pixels
HDR support No Yes, HDR10
Touchscreen Yes No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Glossy (Antireflective)
Display tests
Contrast 990:1 1069:1
sRGB color space 93.8% 99.8%
Adobe RGB profile 65% 85.9%
DCI-P3 color gamut 63.6% 98.6%
Response time 33 ms 35 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Voltage - 11.4 V
Full charging time - 2:23 hr
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
USB Power Delivery No Yes
Charging port position Right Left
Charge power 39 W 30 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weigh of AC adapter 209 grams 172 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 0.9-2.4 GHz 3.2 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.2 GHz -
Cores 4 8 (4P + 4E)
Threads 8 8
L3 Cache 8 MB -
Integrated GPU Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EU Apple M1 GPU
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)
Submit your Cinebench R23 result

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP 15 W 15 W
Type Integrated Integrated
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock 300 MHz 450 MHz
GPU boost clock 1100 MHz 1278 MHz
FLOPS 1.41 TFLOPS 2.6 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared System Shared
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory bus - 128 bit
Memory speed 4.27 Gbps 4.27 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 640 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 40 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 20 32
GPU performance
Surface Laptop Go 2
1.41 TFLOPS
Macbook Air (M1, 2020) +84%
2.6 TFLOPS

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x2 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 4266 MHz 4266 MHz
Type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Upgradable No No

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) Custom
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x128 GB 1x256 GB
Upgradable Yes No
Total slots 1 -
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.0 2.0
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness 77.5 dB 79.6 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6
Bluetooth v5.1 v5
Fingerprint Yes Yes
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1280 x 720 1280 x 720
Ports
USB-A 1x USB 3.2 No
USB Type-C 1x USB 3.2 2x USB 3.1
Thunderbolt No 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 No

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight No Yes
Key travel - 1 mm
Touchpad
Size - 12.1 x 8.1 cm
Surface Plastic Glass
Windows Precision Yes No
*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?
23 (51.1%)
22 (48.9%)
Total votes: 45

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