Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 vs Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)
59
out of 100
VS
70
out of 100
Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Review
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
Value for money (Beta)
Key Differences
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
- Includes an old-school USB-A port
- Slightly easier to carry: weighs 160 grams less (around 0.35 lbs)
- Display has support for touch input
- Much smaller footprint: 16% more compact case (115.2 vs 136.7 square inches)
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)
- MacBook with the Apple M3 Pro chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
- Features a much bigger (~72%) battery – 100 against 58 watt-hours
- Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 3 versus 2
- Around 33% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
- Thinner bezels and 4% higher screen-to-body ratio
- 27% sharper screen – 254 versus 200 pixels per inch (PPI)
Tests and Specifications
Comparison table of test results and technical specsCase
| Weight | 1.98 kg (4.37 lbs) | 2.14 kg (4.72 lbs) |
| Dimensions | 323 x 230 x 22 mm 12.72 x 9.06 x 0.87 inches |
355.7 x 248.1 x 16.8 mm 14 x 9.77 x 0.66 inches |
| Area | 743 cm2 (115.2 inches2) | 882 cm2 (136.8 inches2) |
| Screen-to-body ratio | ~83.1% | ~86.2% |
| Side bezels | 9.3 mm | 3.4 mm |
| Colors | Silver | Black, Gray |
| Material | Aluminum | Aluminum |
| Transformer | Yes | No |
| Opening angle | 180° | 135° |
Size comparison
| Cooling system | Active | Active |
| Vapor chamber | Yes | No |
| Liquid metal | No | No |
| Number of fans | 2 | 2 |
| Max. fan speed (RPM) | - | 6000 RPM |
| Noise level (max. load) | 51.8 dB | 42.8 dB |
Display
| Size | 14.4 inches | 16.2 inches |
| Type | IPS LCD | Mini LED |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | - | Yes (24-120 Hz) |
| PPI | 200 ppi | 254 ppi |
| Aspect ratio | 3:2 | 16:10 |
| Resolution | 2400 x 1600 pixels | 3456 x 2234 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
MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023)
16.2″ (16:10 ratio) = 118 in2
Surface Laptop Studio 2
14.4″ (3:2 ratio) = 95.7 in2
~23% more screen space
| Contrast | 1500:1 | 1000000:1 |
| sRGB color space | 99% | 100% |
| Adobe RGB profile | 68.9% | - |
| DCI-P3 color gamut | 66.7% | 100% |
| Response time | 56 ms | 58 ms |
Max. brightness
Battery
Capacity
| Full charging time | 2:06 hr | 1:25 hr |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes |
| Charging via USB (Power Delivery) | Yes | Yes, 140 W |
| Charging port position | Left | Left, Right |
| Charge power | 102 / 120 W | 140 W |
| Cable length | - | 2 meters |
| Weight of AC adapter | 448 grams | 347 grams |
CPU
CPU name
| Base frequency | 2.4 GHz | 4.05 GHz |
| Turbo frequency | 5 GHz | - |
| Cores | 14 (6P + 8E) | 12 (6P + 6E) |
| Threads | 20 | 12 |
| L3 Cache | 24 MB | - |
| Integrated GPU | Intel Iris Xe Graphics (96EU) | Apple M3 Pro GPU (18-core) |
| Fabrication process | 10 nm | 3 nm |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Single-Core)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi-Core)
Graphics Card
GPU name
| TGP | 80 W | 30 W |
| Nvidia Optimus | Yes | - |
| Type | Dedicated | Integrated |
| Fabrication process | 5 nm | 3 nm |
| GPU base clock | 1665 MHz | 500 MHz |
| GPU boost clock | 2055 MHz | 1380 MHz |
| FLOPS | 10.5 TFLOPS | 6.4 TFLOPS |
| Memory size | 6 GB | System Shared |
| Memory type | GDDR6 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory bus | 96 bit | 192 bit |
| Memory speed | ~16 Gbps | 6.4 Gbps |
| Shading units (cores) | 2560 | 2304 |
| Texture mapping units (TMUs) | 80 | 144 |
| Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) | 32 | 72 |
| GPU performance | 10.5 TFLOPS | 6.4 TFLOPS |
GPU Benchmarks
Steel Nomad Lite Score
| Blender GPU | 2487 | 1595 |
| Solar Bay | 32946 | 23170 |
Expected FPS based on average performance across 9 popular games. Details
RAM
RAM size
| Channels | 2x8 GB | 3x6 GB |
| Clock | 7500 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 | 1x512 GB | 2x256 GB |
| Upgradable | Yes | No |
| Total slots | 1 | - |
| NVMe | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers) | 4.2 (4 tweeters and 2 woofers) |
| Power | 4x2W | - |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
| Loudness | ~81.8 dB | ~84.3 dB |
| Microphones | 2 | 3 |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | v6E | v6E |
| Bluetooth | v5.3 | 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 |
| USB-A | 1x USB 3.1 | No |
| USB Type-C | 2x 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Proprietary charging port | Yes | Yes |
Input
| Keyboard type | Island | Island |
| Numpad | No | No |
| Backlight | Yes | Yes |
| Key travel | 1.3 mm | 1 mm |
| Size | - | 15.5 x 9.9 cm |
| Surface | Glass | Glass |
| Windows Precision | Yes | No |
Further details
Notes on Surface Laptop Studio 2:
- Has a proprietary Microsoft Surface Connect port.
Notes on MacBook Pro 16 (M3, 2023):
- Lower-end M3 Pro and M3 Max SoCs with fewer CPU and GPU cores are also available. Our tests are conducted on the maxed-out variants.
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.
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