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The MacBook Air uses the Apple Magic keyboard, which has 1 millimeter of travel, but has been lauded as extremely comfortable and a significant improvement over past keyboards on the Air. We have yet to actually use the keyboard on the Surface Laptop Go, but we do know that it is a full-sized keyboard, with 1.3 millimeters of travel and a soft touch finish on the keys. The most hands-on aspects of any laptop are the keyboard and touchpad. Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air: Keyboard and touchpad The MacBook Air has the slightly better looking display, but the Surface Laptop Go has a touchscreen. It really comes down to what you value more, looks or usability. It's the sort of smart, automated feature that makes the MacBook Air more comfortable to use, and Microsoft does not have an equivalent future on the Surface Laptop Go. The Surface Laptop Go offers a pixel density of 148 pixels per inch (just shy of 1080p), well the MacBook Air offers a higher 227 PPI, which will look sharper and feel more premium for everything from watching HD video to reading documents.Īnd in 2020 Apple introduced TrueTone technology on the MacBook Air, which adjusts the brightness to offer the best visibility and color accuracy for the ambient brightness of the room you're in. Thanks to the non-standard aspect ratios of both screens, it's a little difficult to parse what that means, so let's put this another way. Resolution is also different between the two, with the Surface Laptop Go offering 1536 x 1024 resolution, and the MacBook Air outfitted with a 2560 x 1600 resolution panel.
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If you want touch capability, the Surface Laptop Go is the clear winner.
#Right click in mac book air alp top pro
The MacBook Air has no touchscreen, not even the divisive touch bar found on the more expensive MacBook Pro models. The Surface Laptop Go leverages one of Microsoft's biggest advantages over Mac, with the 12.4-inch pixel sense display offering 10-point multi-touch. When it comes to laptops, half of the equation may come down to the display, which is literally half of the laptop and the central interface for the entire machine. Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air: Display MacBook Air gets the point, but I'd award a half point to the Surface Laptop Go for providing ports that are more usable. Sure, you can get an adapter for the MacBook Air that plugs into a USB-C connection and then offers all sorts of port options for plugging in multiple devices, but it requires an extra purchase, and carrying around an extra adapter.
Many, many people are still using flash drives, external hard drives, mice and keyboards that connect via USB-A, giving the Surface Laptop Go a little more accessibility than the MacBook Air. Thunderbolt 3 offers some of the fastest connectivity available, and will support both power and external displays, something that a standard USB-C connection can't promise.īased purely on the speed and flexibility of the Thunderbolt 3 connection, the MacBook Air takes the point on port options, but with one caveat. The MacBook Air is also outfitted with only two ports, but both of these are Thunderbolt 3 ports with a USB-C connection. Microsoft has not specified whether the USBA port is USB 3.0 or the older 2.0 standard. The Surface Laptop Go is outfitted with a single USB-C port and a single USB-A port, giving you quick options for plugging in new and old peripherals. Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air: PortsĬonnectivity is another point of sharp distinction between the two laptops. The MacBook Air comes with three anodized finishes, silver, space gray and gold. With the Surface Laptop Go measuring 10.95 x 8.1 x 0.62 inches and the MacBook Air measuring 11.9 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches, the 12.4-inch Surface Laptop Go is just a bit smaller and lighter than the Air, and thus might be a little easier to carry all day in a backpack.īoth come in a trio of colors, with the Surface Laptop Go offered in ice blue, a sandstone and platinum. The result won't be as rigid as aluminum, but it is lighter. It's a composite resin reinforced with glass fiber and made up of 30% post-consumer recycled content. The Surface Laptop Go has a metal lid, much like the MacBook Air, but the rest of the laptop chassis is actually a polycarbonate material. For that more affordable price you get a more powerful processor, a touch screen, and a laptop that will likely match the MacBook Air in many respects, from comfortable typing and processing power.
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The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go is the cheapest laptop in the Surface family, and starts at $549. Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air: Price and valueĪfter all of the details of the product are considered, the biggest difference between the two is price.
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