Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio vs Apple MacBook Air (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 Studio and Apple MacBook Air (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
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Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio
  • Higher screen refresh rate: 120 versus 60 Hz
  • Thinner bezels and 2% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Features a a little bigger (~10%) battery – 58 against 52.6 watt-hours
  • Display has support for touch input
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
  • Significantly easier to carry: weighs 580 grams less (around 1.28 lbs)
  • Around 49% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench R23 test
  • Smaller footprint: 11% more compact case (101.4 vs 114.4 square inches)

Value for money

Please input the prices of the laptops (with selected configurations) and press the "Calculate" button to determine which one offers better value for money.
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Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 1.82 kg (4.01 lbs) 1.24 kg (2.73 lbs)
Dimensions 323.2 x 228.3 x 18.9 mm
12.72 x 8.99 x 0.74 inches
304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
Area 738 cm2 (114.4 inches2) 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~83.7% ~82%
Side bezels 9.4 mm 5.6 mm
Colors Silver Silver, Gold, Gray, Blue
Material Aluminum Aluminum
Transformer Yes No
Opening angle 180° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber Yes -
Liquid metal - No
Number of fans 2 -
Noise level (max. load) 46.7 dB -

Display

Size 14.4 inches 13.6 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
PPI 200 ppi 225 ppi
Aspect ratio 3:2 16:10
Resolution 2400 x 1600 pixels 2560 x 1664 pixels
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen Yes No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor Yes Yes
Screen space comparison
Surface Laptop Studio
14.4″ (3:2 ratio) = 95.7 in2
MacBook Air (M2, 2022)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
~15% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 1714:1 1384:1
sRGB color space 99.9% 99.9%
Adobe RGB profile 78.5% 87.6%
DCI-P3 color gamut 80.6% 98.4%
Response time 41 ms 29 ms
Max. brightness

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time 2:00 hr 2:30 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
USB Power Delivery Yes Yes
Charging port position Right Left
Charge power 60 / 95 / 102 W 30 / 35 / 67 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter 379 grams 174 / 189 / 250 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 2.6-3.1 GHz 3.5 GHz
Turbo frequency 4.4 GHz -
Cores 4 8 (4P + 4E)
Threads 8 8
L3 Cache 8 MB -
Integrated GPU Intel Iris Xe Graphics 80EU Apple M2 GPU
Fabrication process 10 nm 5 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP 50 W 15 W
Nvidia Optimus Yes -
Type Dedicated Integrated
Fabrication process 8 nm 5 nm
GPU base clock 1140 MHz 500 MHz
GPU boost clock 1410 MHz 1456 MHz
FLOPS 7.2 TFLOPS 3 TFLOPS
Memory size 4 GB System Shared
Memory type GDDR6 LPDDR5
Memory bus 128 bit 128 bit
Memory speed 12 Gbps 6.4 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 2560 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 80 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 48 32
GPU performance
7.2 TFLOPS

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x8 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 4266 MHz 6400 MHz
Type LPDDR4X 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 -

Sound

Speakers 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers) 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Power 4x2W -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness ~82.9 dB ~82.7 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6
Bluetooth v5.1 v5
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 No 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 Mechanical Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel - 1 mm
Touchpad
Size 12.0 x 8.0 cm -
Surface Glass 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?
39 (60.9%)
25 (39.1%)
Total votes: 64

Comments

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