• Practical choice

  Apple MacBook Air (M3, 2024)

  Operating System

  macOS Sonoma

  CPU

  8-core CPU (Apple M3)

  GPU

  8-core or 10-core GPU (Apple M3)

  RAM

  8GB, 16GB, or 24GB

  Storage

  256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB

  Battery

  Up to 18 hours

  The MacBook Air has long been regarded as one of the best laptops, and the new 2024 model brings some noteworthy upgrades. Its M3 Apple silicon CPU is powerful and efficient, and it's available in two different sizes, both of which are thin and light despite the MacBook's sturdy frame. Finally, since it's a full-featured laptop, most users will find the Air M3 more practical than the Surface Pro 11 tablet.

  Pros & Cons

  • M3 chip is a great performer
  • Two great size options
  • Thin and lightweight
  • Sharp and vibrant Liquid Retina display

  • Only 8GB of RAM in base configuration
  • Sizeable price difference between 13" and 15"

  $1099 at Best Buy (13 inches) $1299 at Best Buy (15 inches) $1099 at Amazon (13 inches) $1299 at Amazon (15 inches)
• AI-ready Windows tablet

  Follow

  Followed

  Surface Pro 11

  Operating System

  Windows 11

  CPU

  Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite

  GPU

  Qualcomm Adreno

  RAM

  16GB or 32GB LPDDR5x

  Storage

  256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD

  Battery

  Up to 14 hours of video playback (Wi-Fi model)

  The new Surface Pro 11 is a great Windows tablet. Its Snapdragon X CPUs give Apple's M-series silicon chips a run for their money, and their more powerful neural engine makes this device more capable of generative AI tasks. The new OLED display option is also gorgeous but pricey. Furthermore, as a tablet, it's less practical than the MacBook, and the keyboard add-on isn't cheap (especially if you want the new Flex Keyboard).

  Pros & Cons

  • Snapdragon X SoC is powerful and efficient
  • OLED display option
  • Comes standard with 16GB of RAM
  • Superior neural engine

  • Keyboard costs extra
  • OLED display isn't standard

  $1000 at Best Buy $1000 at Microsoft $1000 at Amazon

We've seen some impressive new laptops in the first half of 2024, with Apple and Microsoft rolling out noteworthy updates to their MacBook and Surface lines. Apple introduced the M3 MacBook Air, and Microsoft just dropped its new Copilot+ PC family, including the exciting Surface Pro 11. These two devices fall into the same price bracket but feature different designs and hardware. If you're thinking about buying one of these new laptops and are curious to see how they stack up, let's take a closer look.

Price, specs, & availability

Both the Surface Pro 11 and M3 MacBook Air are new for 2024. Apple launched its updated MacBook models earlier this year, whereas the Surface Pro 11 accompanied the Surface Laptop 7 at Microsoft's recent Copilot+ release event. In their base configurations, the Surface Pro 11 retails for $1,000, and the M3 MacBook Air starts at $1,099.

Note that the Surface's sticker price is for the tablet only. You'll have to shell out an extra $180 for the Surface Pro Keyboard or $350 for the newer Flex Keyboard. Both devices are available for purchase through their official websites and third-party retailers, including Best Buy and Amazon.

• 	Surface Pro 11	Apple MacBook Air (M3, 2024)
  CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite	8-core CPU (Apple M3)
  GPU	Qualcomm Adreno	8-core or 10-core GPU (Apple M3)
  Display type	IPS or OLED PixelSense Flow	Liquid Retina (IPS), 60Hz
  Display (Size, Resolution)	13-inch, 2880x1920	13.6 or 15.3-inch, 2560x1664
  RAM	16GB or 32GB LPDDR5x	8GB, 16GB, or 24GB
  Storage	256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD	256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB
  Battery	Up to 14 hours of video playback (Wi-Fi model)	Up to 18 hours
  Ports	2x USB4 and 1x Surface Connect	MagSafe 3 charging port, 3.5 mm headphone jack, 2x Thunderbolt / USB 4 ports
  Operating System	Windows 11	macOS Sonoma
  Webcam	5MP + IR 1440p front-facing camera, 10MP rear-facing camera	1080p FaceTime HD camera
  Dimensions	11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches	11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches (13-inch model) / 13.4 x 9.35 x 0.45 inches (15-inch model)
  Weight	1.97 pounds	2.7 pounds (13-inch), 3.3 pounds (15-inch)
  Speakers	Dual 2W stereo speakers	Six-speaker sound system with force-cancelling woofers
  Colors	Platinum, Black, Sapphire, or Dune	Silver, Starlight, Space Gray, and Midnight
  Price	Starting at $1,000	Starting at $1,099

Design

Traditional clamshell vs. 2-in-1 tablet

Although one is a Windows tablet and the other a macOS laptop, the Surface Pro 11 and MacBook Air aren't worlds apart. These are designed to be sleek, lightweight, portable productivity machines, and both accomplish this (albeit in very different ways).

The MacBook Air has long been regarded as one of the best laptops and is certainly among the most popular. It's available with two different display sizes, 13.6 and 15.3 inches, and packs Apple's proprietary M3 chip. Despite being a full-sized clamshell laptop, the MacBook Air is very thin and light, measuring 0.44 or 0.45 inches thick and weighing 2.7 to 3.3 pounds, depending on screen size. As is typical for MacBooks, port selection is limited: you only get two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a MagSafe connection, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

In comparison, the Surface Pro 11 measures 0.37 inches thick without the keyboard. The MacBook Air M3 is only 0.08 inch thicker. That's impressively slim, considering the MacBook is a full-fledged laptop. However, the MacBook is a bit heavier than the Surface Pro's 1.97-pound frame. The Surface Pro has a similar port array, with two USB4 (no Thunderbolt certification due to the Snapdragon CPU) and a Surface Connect port.

It's hard to say whether the Surface Pro 11 or M3 MacBook Air's design is better, as this is an apples-to-oranges comparison. However, most users will find the MacBook Air more useful and practical than a tablet. You can turn the Surface Pro 11 into a laptop with a Surface Pro Keyboard or Flex Keyboard, but this is an additional expense (and not a small one).

Winner: MacBook Air M3

Display

OLED is soon to be the standard (we hope)

One of the biggest highlights of the Surface Pro 11 is the new OLED display option, which finally makes this thing look like a premium device. Surface tablet screens have always been decent enough, but nothing really special. The OLED display is beautiful, but it'll cost you (an extra $500 over base price, to be precise). Still, even the standard LED has a crisp resolution of 2,880 x 1,920 and the 3:2 aspect ratio makes the screen feel bigger than it is.

Apple rarely disappoints in the display department, although there's no OLED to be found here. The M3 MacBook Air packs a Liquid Retina display, which looks nice and is bright enough for outdoor use. However, the LED technology is inferior to the mini-LED of the MacBook Pro and the Surface Pro's OLED option. You're not likely to be disappointed with either of these screens, but we have to give the nod to the Surface Pro 11.

Winner: Surface Pro 11

Performance

Snapdragon is shaking things up

Apple broke away from Intel years ago when it introduced its M1 silicon chip, and the 2024 MacBook Air packs the 8-core M3 CPU. Microsoft still uses Intel chips in its Surface for Business computers, but the Surface Pro 11 comes loaded with the new Snapdragon X Plus or X Elite system-on-chip.

Microsoft used Qualcomm processors in its Surface Pro X tablet, but the new Snapdragon X looks poised to shake up the laptop market in a bigger way. Numerous computer brands have announced Snapdragon X laptops featuring this chipset, which should make Intel sweat a bit. Like Apple Silicon, the Snapdragon X SoCs combine CPU and GPU cores into a single chip.

Let's get this out of the way: The Qualcomm Snapdragon and Apple M3 are impressive and highly capable processors. Each has advantages and disadvantages, but neither outpaces the other by a huge margin. For the Surface Pro 11, you can choose between the 10-core Snapdragon X Plus in its base configuration or upgrade to the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite (standard on the OLED model).

From what we've seen so far, both versions of the Snapdragon X SoC deliver superior multicore performance than the Apple M3. However, the Apple M3 wins out when it comes to single-core performance. The M3 CPU is also built on a 3nm architecture in contrast to the Snapdragon's 4 nm architecture, which usually translates to more energy efficiency. We need to spend more time testing the Snapdragon X Plus and X Elite to get a feel for how well they'll perform in real-life conditions, but they look very impressive.

Where they inch ahead of the Apple M3 is their neural processing, which is considerably more powerful and will help with the sort of generative AI apps built into Microsoft's Copilot+ platform. The Surface Pro 11 also comes standard with 16GB of RAM, which you can upgrade to 64GB, whereas the MacBook Air M3 has only 8GB of RAM in its base configuration (upgradable to only 24GB). Those factors are enough to give the Surface Pro the edge here.

Winner: Surface Pro 11

Battery life

The MacBook Air sets the bar extremely high

Apple silicon chips have proven to be very efficient, making MacBooks some of the longest-lasting laptops when it comes to battery life. The M3 SoC is no exception, and the 2024 MacBook Air delivered some of the most impressive results we've seen. It should have no trouble lasting all day when doing regular work like writing, browsing the web, and other common everyday tasks. In our tests, it even performed admirably under heavy loads such as editing videos.

The Surface Pro 11 has yet to prove itself in this arena, but we don't expect it to disappoint. However, as mentioned above, the Apple M3 CPU has a more energy-efficient 3 nm architecture than the Snapdragon X. Even Microsoft's official claim of up to 14 hours of continuous video playback is well under Apple's claim of 18 hours for the MacBook Air M3 (of course, these official estimates are on the higher side than you may experience at home). The Surface Pro 11 should provide plenty of juice for daily use, but the MacBook Air is tough to beat.

Winner: MacBook Air M3

Which one should you buy?

Sometimes, you can't beat a classic

Pitting the Surface Pro 11 against the MacBook Air M3 isn't exactly a 1:1 comparison. The Surface Pro is a Windows device, whereas the MacBook Air is a macOS computer. Secondly, the Surface Pro is just a tablet without a keyboard, whereas the MacBook Air M3 is a proper laptop. For this reason alone, we recommend the MacBook Air to most people, as it's more practical. Plus, the new hardware is very impressive. Ultimately, it may come down to your brand preference and use case, but at least you have reviewed the similarities and differences to make an informed decision.

The Surface Pro 11 is an excellent device, though, and a welcome update to the Surface line. Its Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipset is very impressive. Although it's just a tablet, it works well as a slim 2-in-1 laptop when connected to a keyboard, but that'll cost you extra. If you're invested in (or want to dip your feet into) Microsoft's Surface ecosystem, the Pro 11 is an enticing entry point. Also, don't overlook the new Surface Laptop 7 if you like Windows but would rather have a clamshell PC.