Surface Pro 3 Vs MacBook Air: Comparision

Zee Media Bureau/Vibhuti Jaitly

New Delhi: The latest launch by Microsoft – Surface Pro 3 looks quite promising and can be seen as a direct attempt to give a tough competition to Apple's 13.3 inch MacBook Air.

The big 12-inch screen of Surface Pro 3 is a unique product, which is a mix of tablet and laptop. It offers a detachable keyboard, transforming the tablet into a laptop. It also comes with a smart pen which gives more options than just mouse and keyboard. This is first one of its kind and it could be the next big thing for the tech lovers.

Let us compare both the devices in terms of top specifications in order to gauge which of them has an upper hand over the other.


Price: The Surface Pro 3 has a laptop-like price tag, starting at a price of USD799 that goes upto USD1,949. The MacBook Air on the other hand comes at a starting price of USD 900.

USP: The Surface Pro3 weighs very light at 798 grams if compared to 1.3 kg MacBook Air. The Surface Pro3 promises 9-hours of web-browsing battery life and runs on Windows8. On the other hand, Macbook Air runs OS X 10.9 Mavericks and promises up to 12 hours of browsing the web.

Brand Value:Apple is still the market leader and Microsoft has struggled till now to market its Surface Pro tablet and, in particular, its Surface RT. The latter’s sales were so bad the company had to write off nearly USD1 billion on unsold inventory. Microsoft also had a paltry 2 percent share of the global tablet market in 2013, compared to Apple’s 36 percent share with the iPad, according to recent figures from Gartner Research.

Specifications:Depending on which configuration you choose, both the devices come with 4GB and 8GB RAM option. The Pro 3 comes armed with Intel HD Graphics 4400, but Macbook is a tad better with HD Graphics 5000.

Camera: The Surface Pro has 2 cameras, a 5MP on the rear as well as the front. Macbook Air only as a front-facing webcam of 720p.

Microsoft has tried a grand comeback with its new launch, which is loaded with features that could give Apple a run for its money. But this will only come true when Surface Pro 3 is available for the masses in June 2014 and its performance and sales will decide its fate.