Microsoft Surface Pro 13 vs Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)

Please select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display
2560 x 1664
Battery
53.8 Wh
CPU
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Microsoft Surface Pro 13 and Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026) 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
NanoReview Score
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
73.1
(Good)
Value Index
90.8
(Very good)

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Pro 13
  • Higher screen refresh rate: 120 versus 60 Hz
  • Easier to carry: weighs 340 grams less (around 0.75 lbs)
  • Thinner bezels and 2% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • Display has support for touch input
  • Better webcam recording quality
  • 18% sharper screen – 266 versus 225 pixels per inch (PPI)
  • Provides 20% higher max. screen brightness: 600 vs 500 nits
  • Smaller footprint: 8% more compact case (93 vs 101.4 square inches)
Advantages of the Apple MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
  • MacBook with the Apple M5 (8-сore GPU) chip maintains its performance even when running on battery power.
  • Around 31% better multi-core CPU performance in the Cinebench 2024 test
  • Features a bigger (~14%) battery – 53.8 against 47 watt-hours

Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs

Case

Weight 0.89 kg (1.96 lbs) 1.23 kg (2.71 lbs)
Dimensions 287 x 209 x 9.3 mm
11.3 x 8.23 x 0.37 inches
304.1 x 215 x 11.3 mm
11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches
Area 600 cm2 (93 inches2) 654 cm2 (101.3 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~83.9% ~82%
Side bezels 6.2 mm 5.6 mm
Colors Black, Gray Black, Silver, Gold, Blue
Material Top: Aluminum
Aluminum
Transformer Yes No
Opening angle 360° 130°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Passive
Vapor chamber No No
Liquid metal No No
Number of fans 1 -
Noise level (max. load) 47.2 dB -

Display

Size 13 inches 13.6 inches
Type OLED IPS LCD
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
PPI 266 ppi 225 ppi
Aspect ratio 3:2 16:10
Resolution 2880 x 1920 pixels 2560 x 1664 pixels
HDR support Yes, HDR10 Yes, Dolby Vision
Sync technology No No
Touchscreen Yes No
Coating Glossy (Antireflective) Glossy (Antireflective)
Ambient light sensor Yes Yes
Screen space comparison
MacBook Air 13 M5 (2026)
13.6″ (16:10 ratio) = 83.1 in2
Surface Pro 13
13″ (3:2 ratio) = 78 in2
~6% more screen space
Display tests
Contrast 1000000:1 1437:1
sRGB color space 98.8% 100%
Adobe RGB profile 89% 86.8%
DCI-P3 color gamut 98.8% 98.1%
Response time 1 ms 20 ms
Max. brightness
600 nits

Battery

Capacity
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
Charging via USB (Power Delivery) Yes, 45 W Yes
Charging port position Right Left
Charge power 39 W 35 / 40 / 70 W
Cable length - 2 meters
Weight of AC adapter - 116 / 80 / 167 grams

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 4.04 GHz 4.61 GHz
Cores 10 10 (4P + 6E)
Threads 10 10
L3 Cache 6 MB -
Integrated GPU Adreno X2-45 Apple M5 GPU (8-core)
Fabrication process 3 nm 3 nm

Benchmarks

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

Graphics Card

GPU name
Type Integrated Integrated
Fabrication process 3 nm 3 nm
GPU base clock 500 MHz -
GPU boost clock 1700 MHz 1620 MHz
FLOPS 3.9 TFLOPS 3.3 TFLOPS
Memory size System Shared System Shared
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory bus 128 bit 128 bit
Memory speed 9.52 Gbps 9.6 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1152 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 72 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 36 32
GPU performance 3.9 TFLOPS 3.3 TFLOPS
Blender GPU - 1734
Solar Bay - 17375

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x8 GB 2x8 GB
Clock 9523 MHz 9600 MHz
Type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
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 Yes No
Total slots 1 -
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers 2.0 2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Power 2x2W -
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Loudness ~84.9 dB ~82.1 dB
Microphones 2 3

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v7 v7
Bluetooth v5.4 v6.0
Fingerprint No Yes
Infrared sensor Yes No
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 2560 x 1440 1920 x 1080
Ports
USB-A No No
USB Type-C 2x USB 4.0 2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt Thunderbolt 4 Thunderbolt 4
HDMI No No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) No Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No No
SD card reader No No
Proprietary charging port No Yes

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type - Island
Numpad - No
Backlight - Yes
Key travel - 1 mm
Touchpad
Surface - Glass
Windows Precision - No
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can vary depending on the laptop's specific configuration or region.

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