When Microsoft announced their new hardware last week in New York City Panos Panay specifically compared the Surface Pro 4 against the MacBook Air.
We decided to compare the specifications for each of those systems and to focus on the devices configured with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
This comparison of specs is between the i5 and i7 versions of each device.
MacBook Air (i5) vs Surface Pro 4 (i5)
| MacBook Air | Surface Pro 4 | |
| Screen | 11 inches | 12.3 inches |
| Resolution | 1366 x 768 | 2736 x 1824 |
| CPU | 1.6GHZ Intel Core i5 | Intel Core i5 (1) |
| Memory | 8GB | 8GB |
| Storage | 256GB | 256GB |
| Battery | 9 hours | 9 hours |
| Touch | No | Yes |
| Keyboard | Yes | Not Included (2) |
| Weight | 2.38 lbs | 1.73 lbs (2) |
| Price | $1,199.00 | $1,299.00 |
(1) Microsoft has not listed the clock speed of the processors in the Surface Pro 4 line.
(2) A Type Cover for Surface Pro 4 adds $129.99 to the overall device cost and 1.2 lbs
MacBook Air (i7) vs Surface Pro 4 (i7)
| MacBook Air | Surface Pro 4 | |
| Screen | 13 inches | 12.3 inches |
| Resolution | 1440 x 900 | 2736 x 1824 |
| CPU | 2.2GHZ Intel Core i7 | Intel Core i7 (1) |
| Memory | 8GB | 8GB |
| Storage | 256GB | 256GB |
| Battery | 12 hours | 9 hours |
| Touch | No | Yes |
| Keyboard | Yes | Not Included (2) |
| Weight | 2.96 lbs | 1.73 lbs (2) |
| Price | $1,349.00 | $1,599.00 |
(1) Microsoft has not listed the clock speed of the processors in the Surface Pro 4 line.
(2) A Type Cover for Surface Pro 4 adds $129.99 to the overall device cost and 1.2 lbs
Beyond the core specs listed above each device has the following ports/connectivity options:
MacBook Air
- 2 USB 3.0 ports
- Thunderbolt 2 port
- 802.11 ac Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n compatible)
- Bluetooth 4.0
- SDXC card slot (only on 13 inch model)
Surface Pro 4
- 1 USB 3.0 port
- Mini DisplayPort
- 802.11 ac Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n compatible)
- Bluetooth 4.0
- microSD card reader
