And yes, that’s also true of Apple’s AirPods.Apart from that, it’s worth mentioning that the MacBook Air 2020, like its predecessors, can be charged via USB-C.
This is a question of tradeoffs. In the entry-level solutions, Microsoft sometimes uses only half of the memory, in the top models there is up to 1 TB. The Intel Core i7-1065G7 and the integrated Iris-Plus-Graphics are well equipped for everyday life and more intensive tasks and allow very long runtimes thanks to their good efficiency. In addition, the 15 incher can be opened easily with only one hand, but the hinges are still stable.The top case also remains minimalistic.
After all, the device could be charged with a suitable power supply unit, but Microsoft provides its own surface connect port for this.Apart from that, only a 3.5 mm jack socket is offered for connecting headphones – the omission of the integrated card reader is probably missing for many users, especially in productive use.On the hardware side, the device is convincing all along the line.
The company has thus moved away from the much criticized Alcantara surface, although this is still available in the entry-level 13-inch version.In terms of price, you have to put at least $700 on the counter, but you can also pay over $3,000 for the top model – the Surface Laptop is virtually the MacBook from Microsoft.For our test, Microsoft provided us with the commercial version of the 15-inch variant with Core i7 processor, 256 GB SSD and 16 GB RAM, which cost around $1700. Of course, the comparison is misleading, because both systems are based on a fundamentally different processor architecture – but still.In everyday use, MacBook Air in our configuration quickly reaches its limits. By default, MacBook Air is set to only a 1,440-by-900-pixel equivalent.But if your eyesight is fine, you should change it to at least 1,680-by-1,050-pixel resolution in System Preferences as soon as possible so that the items on the desktop appear at a decent size.One of the most important features of MacBook Air deserves a completely separate section: the new keyboard.Last year, Apple introduced the Magic Keyboard for MacBooks – or more precisely, for the 16-inch MacBook Pro. We measured an average of 6,604 K, which is almost the optimum value of 6,500 K. The same applies here: Towards the bottom, the display not only gets darker, but also cooler in color.There aren’t any other special features like adaptive sync or a high refresh rate, which is to be expected considering the target group, though.Apart from a 30-day trial version of the Office 365 office suite, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 comes off almost naked, as you will look in vain for further software tools on our test device. On average, we measured up to 32.4 °C under absolute full load, which we simulate as usual with Prime95 and Furmark, and at the peak it’s around 41 °C. Again this is 35 minutes above the average for the category, so not a bad result by any means.There isn’t a huge disparity here, but the MacBook Air edges out the win.Much like the last time we pitted these two laptops against one another, it was a close-fought battle, but the Surface Laptop 3 came out on top again. The laptop itself comes with a 30-watt power adapter, but you can use any other power adapter that meets the specifications printed on the original. These are, on the one hand, a type C port on the left side of the device, as well as a regular USB type A interface including a 3.5 mm jack socket for connecting headphones.This almost makes the use of an additional docking station necessary and forces the user to buy expensive accessories. We’d love to see more inputs, but at this point, we’re just happy to not see fewer.The Surface Pro 3 offers a bit more with its USB-C input, USB Type-A port, Microsoft Surface Connect port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Others despise it for not being on all the time and for the fact that especially basic functions are often more difficult to access.We can understand all sides in this discussion and are ourselves torn back and forth sufficiently often, so that we cannot and do not want to make a clear judgement for or against Touchbar – the benefits of this technology are too subjective.Last year, Apple let those willing to buy choose between different dual-core variants and memory configurations. There are no large ventilation slits, on the contrary: the case is completely sealed, and the air exchange is handled by the cooling over the area between the top case and the display and on the underside there – similar to what Apple is doing with its current MacBook devices in unibody design.There is no maintenance flap for quick and easy access on the Surface Laptop 3, but the entire underside can be removed more easily than on its predecessors.