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Apple's MacBook Air vs. Microsoft's Surface Laptop 2

4look4rd said:
Its because of the surface connector. IMO it made sense to skip USB-C/Thunderbolt in the SP3 and SP4 releases, but it makes no sense to skip it in 2018 and it would be laughable if they skipped in in 2019.
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Maybe they just have a lot of chassis on hand for these things, so when they shrunk it for the Go they included it in the design since that was new; but these sharing the same footprint did not... 2019 sounds like the redesign year, so perhaps now is the time.

...just a spitball, not a certainty.
 
menpan said:
They still have a good resale value because they used to be great machines. Βut competition now gets stronger and stronger. In a few years from now, nobody will pay more than a cup of coffee for a such a weak processor.
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Agree!
don't talk about that joke called "butterfly mechanism"!
I wonder who is going to be so dumb to buy, in the future, a used macbook where would be completely impossible to repair one single broken key! (unless you ask Apple who is going to charge you much more than the computer value itself).
I really don't understand what the heck Apple is doing to the macs!
If you add a huge complication to a what once was a perfect functioning design (the past beatifull macbook keyboards) is because you are really sure that you are sacrifing reparability in change of incredible benefits.
But honestly, what are those benefits?
Class actions apart, there are so many complains about how fragile those keyboards are and, excluding a few users able to write faster using them, there more troubles than anything else.
I'm just waiting to see! and I know what I'm talking about because I bought one of these Mac before all the troubles came out. I've always trust Apple, but now I believe is not a good idea doing it anymore.

Apple!
the only good thing left here is the ecosystem.
Just ***** up it too and you are done!
 
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I noticed that the reviewer left out that, yes they both use an i5, but the Macbook Air's i5 is a Dual Core 8th Generation "Y" processor. Which would be equivalent to the Core M processors of the past, which were about have the power. While the Surface Laptop 2 uses a standard i5, 8th Generation "U" Quad Core chip. So the Surface would outperform the Mac Air with more intense task. Apple decides to rip off their fans by over pricing their unit. Tis how they've become a trillion air company.
 
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Tick410 said:
I noticed that the reviewer left out that, yes they both use an i5, but the Macbook Air's i5 is a Dual Core 8th Generation "Y" processor. Which would be equivalent to the Core M processors of the past, which were about have the power. While the Surface Laptop 2 uses a standard i5, 8th Generation "U" Quad Core chip. So the Surface would outperform the Mac Air with more intense task. Apple decides to rip off their fans by over pricing their unit. Tis how they've become a trillion air company.
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The reviewer didn't leave it out. Worse than leaving it out, they actually stated that both are dual core.
 
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I like the new Air except for the price. The 128GB base storage is a joke. My wife's 2011 Macbook air, now in its 8th year also defaulted to 128Gb of storage. It's unbelievable Apple refuses to give users more storage for $1200. We should be at 256Gb as minimum or even 512Gb by now.
 
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Howard2k said:
The reviewer didn't leave it out. Worse than leaving it out, they actually stated that both are dual core.
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Yeah that's completely wrong. The Surface Laptop 2 uses an i5 8250U Quad Core. Not sure where he got his spec sheet from. Lol
 
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tubomac said:
Agree!
don't talk about that joke called "butterfly mechanism"!
I wonder who is going to be so dumb to buy, in the future, a used macbook where would be completely impossible to repair one single broken key! (unless you ask Apple who is going to charge you much more than the computer value itself).
I really don't understand what the heck Apple is doing to the macs!
If you add a huge complication to a what once was a perfect functioning design (the past beatifull macbook keyboards) is because you are really sure that you are sacrifing reparability in change of incredible benefits.
But honestly, what are those benefits?
Class actions apart, there are so many complains about how fragile those keyboards are and, excluding a few users able to write faster using them, there more troubles than anything else.
I'm just waiting to see! and I know what I'm talking about because I bought one of these Mac before all the troubles came out. I've always trust Apple, but now I believe is not a good idea doing it anymore.

Apple!
the only good thing left here is the ecosystem.
Just ***** up it too and you are done!
Click to expand...
Never had an issue with mine, but that doesn't mean others aren't effected. In my opinion the design is not well thought of that there's a high rate of users that can come into issues. Next step will be a virtualized touch keyboard and I'm sure it will randomly stop working with the first OS releases atleast until it's fixed.
 
Until Apple fixes that godawful keyboard, that's a no from me. Got a 2012 still going strong.
 
magicschoolbus said:
Never thought I would say this, but that windows PC is sexier then the Mac. What a fine looking machine.
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I'm starting to feel that way about some Windows boxes. The latest 15" Razer is a nice *looking* machine. Admittedly, I know nothing about the actual quality of it.
 
I haven't used either device for enough time to say one way or the other. I use Mac primarily at home and Windows primarily at work (though I have both available in both locations). The lack of a USB C port on a current laptop seems like a poor choice by Microsoft. I will admit I was not a fan of the alcantara on the initial laptop so if that persists it's a no sale for me if I were in the market personally. If we're considering Windows machines versus Mac machines though there are just so many options on the PC side that can be had for around the same price with better hardware. I'm a big fan of the HP Elitebook 850 line which can be found fairly easily for comparable prices with similar if not better spec and 3 year warranty.
 
fairuz said:
And Intel should fix their marketing so customers pay more for the better CPUs. The names "i5" and "i7" are meaningless without all the other letters and numbers appended.
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Yup. It works as long as it's clear what device class you're talking about, but when Y, U and H are all used on ultrabooks, it really breaks down.
 
I like Microsoft's Surface hardware and, if I were to ever go back to Windows, I would likely buy one of their offerings (probably the Surface Book just to have the best of both their worlds). Even without USB-C, I like the design and looks of the Surface Laptop. Microsoft's dock isn't very expensive and it adds (pretty much) everything I would want out of a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 dock.

But I'm not a fan of Windows. It's a fine OS but I'm too far into Apple's universe now that getting out would require more work than I want. It started slowly with an iPod, then an iPad, iPhone, multiple Macs, etc. I like that everything works together. Pictures I take on my iPhone automatically show up on my Macs, iPad, and Apple TVs. I can answer texts and iMessages across all my devices, I can route calls to whatever device I want, app content syncs across everything, etc. I could do something similar if I switched to Android and used Microsoft's launcher but I'm not giving up my Apple Watch.

There's nothing wrong with the MBA other than having a high price. But stores will often have them on sale so Apple's MSRP doesn't mean much. The 128GB model is $999 at Microcenter and the 256GB model is $1150. When I picked up my 2017 MacBook (another expensive option), I paid $999 at Best Buy price-matching Microcenter. I'll do the same whenever I purchase the 2018 MBA in a few months to replace the MacBook my wife kidnapped. I will gladly pay a slightly higher price if it means still having good hardware and integration across all my devices (which is even more important now that I'm taking more pictures).
 
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I really like the Surface line of products, quality is definitely there. It's still really hard to beat Apple's ecosystem, though. A short while ago, I changed my iPhone 8 Plus for the Huawei P20 Pro, and while the hardware and actual device were impressive, the tightness of Apple's ecosystem brought me right back to the iPhone XR.
 
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Apple is always stingy when it comes to storage. It's no surprise that the Air has half the storage and costs $200 more, no surprise at all... On the other hand, if you dig down into the weeds (I have not verified this) I bet you'll find that the Surface storage is probably an M.2 card running on a SATA bus, where the Air will be PCIe based storage, running about 5x faster than what's in the Surface.

Another advantage to the Air is the two Thunderbolt ports - far more capability than what the Surface offers. I'm also liking Apple's slightly higher res, and smaller screen - it makes a big difference on the overall size of the laptop - smaller is good when you're going for small and light.

I don't like Apple's keyboard. If they made a better keyboard and bumped up the storage to 256GB, they'd have a clear winner with the Air that couldn't be touched by any competitor.

Update: Just checked Apple & Microsoft... appears Surface has quad-core i7 while the Air has dual-core i5. That makes the price premium hurt even more. Ouch.
 
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Lwyd said:
I don't understand why people fixate on the sticker price of things. Consider all the money you'll spend over the entire time you intend to own the product, add it all up and then see which is the less expensive option. I know a lot of Mac owners will keep their MacBooks for many years longer than the vast majority of Windows laptop users. My MacBook Air lasted me 7 years before I decided to replace it. I would rather spend $1199 on another one that will likely last me another 7 years than spend $999 every one to two years.
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Why are you replacing your Windows laptops every one to two years? I've had my Surface Pro 3 since it was released in 2014 and I'm positive I'll get at least another couple of years out of it. I'm obviously not the only use-case, but I'm just saying it's possible for a PC to last just as long as a Mac.
 
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With Apples product line going in an unknown direction, I'm thinking of getting a Surface Book or Surface Laptop to carry me through until I see what happens in 2021.
 
Should've added the Huawei Mate X Pro to the comparison.

https://consumer.huawei.com/en/laptops/matebook-x-pro-2019/
HUAWEI-MateBook-X-Pro-Fullview-Display-pd.jpg
 
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omihek said:
Why are you replacing your Windows laptops every one to two years? I've had my Surface Pro 3 since it was released in 2014 and I'm positive I'll get at least another couple of years out of it. I'm obviously not the only use-case, but I'm just saying it's possible for a PC to last just as long as a Mac.
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Yes, you are correct. I have a 4 year old PC that outruns anything thrown at it. I just keep my Antivirus up to date and uninstalled "bloatware" and it will make your PC run like a champ for years. Lol
 
"Hey, lets assign this comparison article to someone who can't get laptop specs right!"

'cause it's not just the processor specs she borked.
 
Hmm, I switched back to Windows in 2012 after using the Mac for 13 years before that. It doesn't take long to get used to one OS over the other. Windows 10 has some design inconsistencies that are slowly disappearing due to the fact that Microsoft doesn't want to rock the boat with its core users re: another tectonic shift in design (read Windows 8).

That's the difference between Microsoft and Apple these days: Microsoft is terrified of pissing off its core users (or alienating them) and will actively seek to backtrack if it is deemed to have screwed up badly. Apple gave me the impression that it just doesn't care what I want. In my philosophy, a computer is there to service me; it is there to provide what I want, not what someone thinks I should want. I get that freedom under Windows for the most part. I do miss the fantastic research and productivity applications under Mac OS X but that is not an OS problem, per se: it is just that some developers are not interested in porting applications to Windows.

The trick to using Windows happily is to go for the 'Pro' version, then delay updates: delay 'feature updates' for 120 days and 'security updates' by 30 days. That way Windows remains rock solid. Fail to do this and one becomes a Microsoft beta tester for its rolling release updates: disaster.

The other trick is that one can't expect miracles by buying cheap Windows hardware. Bad hardware makes Windows unstable. In the Windows world expensive hardware doesn't necessarily translate to 'good hardware' either. For any computer or laptop one wants to buy one MUST peruse the manufacturer's and other forums to see if other users are experiencing particular problems. Also investigate a maker's warranty support. Razer, for instance, is a brand that a lot of Apple switchers will go for. Sadly, although improving, they are no 'Apple' when it comes to warranty support.
 
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