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Head-to-head

Apple - MacBook Air 13 M4 vs Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3

Last updated · How Mars Score works
MacBook Air 13 M4APPLEILLUSTRATION
Probe A
Apple
MacBook Air 13 M4
60.1/ 100C
Performance50· 35%
Battery & Ports58· 27%
Design87· 20%
Display49· 18%
Surface Laptop Studio 3MICROSOFTILLUSTRATION
Probe B
Microsoft
Surface Laptop Studio 3
62.0/ 100C
Performance58· 35%
Battery & Ports63· 27%
Design67· 20%
Display63· 18%
The fork

Where they actually differ

The most decisive specs, ranked by how much they matter — before the full spec table.

SpecApple - MacBook Air 13 M4Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3
Storage256 GB1024 GB
RAM16 GB32 GB
Refresh rate60 Hz120 Hz
CPU cores108
Battery53 Wh58 Wh
Screen size13.6 "14.4 "
Quick verdict

Between the MacBook Air 13 M4 and Surface Laptop Studio 3, the MacBook Air 13 M4 comes out ahead in cpu cores / weight, while the Surface Laptop Studio 3 wins on storage / ram. Overall, the MacBook Air 13 M4 scores 60.1 and the Surface Laptop Studio 3 scores 62 on our Mars Score.

Buying advice

Which should you buy?

These two are nearly even on the Mars Score (60.1 vs 62). The decision is not about overall quality — both clear the bar — it is about which specific trade-offs fit your use.

Pick the MacBook Air 13 M4 if you carry the device everywhere and weight or thickness has been the deciding factor before. The biggest gaps in its favor are cpu cores, weight. The single most decisive one: CPU cores — 25.00% more. 10 vs 8.

Pick the Surface Laptop Studio 3 if the display is what you stare at all day — refresh rate, brightness, or sharpness is where the difference will be most visible. Its strongest claims are storage, ram, refresh rate, among others. The single most decisive one: Storage — 300.00% more. 1024 GB vs 256 GB.

Both ship with comparable claimed battery life, panel type, thunderbolt ports, so those specs do not separate the two — focus on the differences below.

Bottom line: there is no wrong answer here — match the spec advantages to how you actually use the product. The Mars Score parity says both are well-rounded; the differences are about trade-offs, not quality.

Decision guide

Which should you buy: Apple - MacBook Air 13 M4 or Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3?

Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3 leads the current Mars Score by 1.9 points.The more useful decision is the trade-off behind that result: compare screen size, ram, weight, battery against the way you will actually use the product.

Choose Apple - MacBook Air 13 M4 if…

Apple - MacBook Air 13 M4 has the measurable edge on cpu cores, weight kg.

Choose Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3 if…

Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3 has the measurable edge on storage gb, ram gb, refresh rate hz.

This is a structured comparison of the published catalog values. It is not a claim of identical real-world performance across every workload; use the linked spec drill-downs and methodology page to inspect the inputs.

Why Apple - MacBook Air 13 M4 wins

  • CPU cores — 25.00% more. 10 vs 8.
  • Weight — 0.74 kg less. 1.24 vs 1.98.

Why Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3 wins

  • Storage — 300.00% more. 1024 GB vs 256 GB.
  • RAM — 100.00% more. 32 GB vs 16 GB.
  • Refresh rate — 100.00% more. 120 Hz vs 60 Hz.
  • Battery — 9.43% more. 58 Wh vs 53 Wh.
  • Screen size — 5.88% more. 14.4 " vs 13.6 ".
Full readout

Spec comparison

Design

SpecApple - MacBook Air 13 M4Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3
Weight1.24 kglead1.98 kg
Thickness11.3 mmlead22 mm
Build materialaluminumaluminum
Backlit keyboardtruetrue
Fingerprint readertruetrue

Display

SpecApple - MacBook Air 13 M4Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3
Screen size13.6 "14.4 "lead
Refresh rate60 Hz120 Hzlead
Panel typeIPSIPS

Performance

SpecApple - MacBook Air 13 M4Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3
CPUApple M4Intel Core Ultra 7 268V
CPU cores10lead8
GPUApple M4 10-core GPUNVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Laptop
RAM16 GB32 GBlead
Storage256 GB1024 GBlead
Storage typeSSDSSD

Battery & Ports

SpecApple - MacBook Air 13 M4Microsoft - Surface Laptop Studio 3
Battery53 Wh58 Whlead
Claimed battery life18 h18 h
USB-C ports22
Thunderbolt ports22
HDMIfalsefalse
Reader questions

Frequently asked

Which has better battery life, MacBook Air 13 M4 or Surface Laptop Studio 3?+

Surface Laptop Studio 3 claims up to 18 hours — 18h vs 18h.

Which is lighter, MacBook Air 13 M4 or Surface Laptop Studio 3?+

MacBook Air 13 M4 is lighter at 1.24 kg vs 1.98 kg.

Which has more RAM, MacBook Air 13 M4 or Surface Laptop Studio 3?+

Surface Laptop Studio 3 offers 32GB of RAM.

Which has an OLED display, MacBook Air 13 M4 or Surface Laptop Studio 3?+

Neither model has an OLED display.

Drill down

Spec-level deep dives

By manufacturer

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