Surface Laptop 3 Vs. MacBook Pro Best Portable Which Is Better in 2024

There’s no doubt that Apple is one of the biggest laptop brands in the world right now. It has tantalizing products that offer a wealth of features for office work, designing tasks, as well as for gaming. Although Apple is known for its MacBook series, Microsoft is just entering into the laptop industry. And it decided to enter the industry with a fantastic product – the Surface laptop. Since 2017, Microsoft has produced different models of the surface laptop, including Surface 3 15, Surface Pro 7, and Surface Pro X. Below is a comparison of the two laptops: Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro, with their features, functionalities, and performance level. In the end, we believe you would be well informed to make the right decision between the two products.

Both Apple‘s Macbook Pro 15 and Microsoft’s Surface 3 15 laptops share similar features. However, they are different in many ways too. If you’re looking for the perfect laptop between these two, you are in the right place.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Comparison

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Operating System

One of the main differences between the two laptops is the operating system. While Macbook uses MacOS, the Surface laptop uses the Windows Operating system. For a lot of buyers, they can even decide which laptop to buy based on the difference in their operating system alone. Some users prefer a Windows system, while some others find MacOS challenging to manage.

If you have a strong dislike for MacOS or you love working with a Windows system, the other hardware features of both may not necessarily influence your buying decision. The OS alone is enough to give you the insight of which laptop to buy. But if you wouldn’t mind any operating system, the hardware could be the most defining factor for you.

Already, many people understand the benefits and shortfalls of the Macbook operating system or its Windows version. But for those who don’t know, their main difference lies in the type of programs they can accept and the kind that’s not compatible with their functions.  Some programs are only compatible with macOS, while some others are compatible with Windows. So, before you decide which laptop to buy, find out which of the OS will be compatible with the types of programs you want to install.

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Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Design

Both the Surface 3 15 and the Macbook 15 laptops have a durable aluminum finish. When it comes to size, The Macbook laptop is broader and bigger than the Surface 3 laptop. It’s also heavier at 4.02 pounds, over 3.4 pounds on Surface 3.

But Surface 3 provides support for a pen on its multi-touch screen. It has a resolution of 2,940 by 1,664, as against Macbook’s resolution of 2,800 by 1,800. However, Macbook has a more accurate display with more pixels compared to the Surface 3 laptop. The screen aspect ratio of these laptops is also different. The Surface 3 has 3:2 panel while Macbook comes with a 16:10 ratio.

With the ratios, it’s evident that the Surface 3 has more vertical shape, which makes it a viable productivity laptop. On the other hand, the extra pixels for the Macbook brand make it an excellent laptop for content creators and photographers.

The touchpads and keyboards are also worth considering here. While the Surface 3 has a 1.3mm responsive keyboard, the MacBook Pro still makes use of the butterfly mechanism keyboard that is not entirely reliable for the long term. But its touchpad is more impressive, as it’s more precise and a bit larger than that of the Surface 3.

Another excellent feature of the Surface 3 that’s worth mentioning is the Windows IR camera, which is used for facial recognition. It’s a unique security feature that is lacking in the Macbook. However, the Macbook comes with its security feature. It has a built-in touch bar and a touchID for recognition.  Although the design of both the Macbook and Surface 3 is a bit different, they are both sleek and conveniently portable.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Performance

The performance for both the Surface 3 and the Macbook is excellent. However, there are some differences between them in this area as well. Surface 3 laptop comes with AMD chips, including the Ryzen 7, Vega 9 graphics, or the AMD Ryzen 5. The Ryzen 7 comes with 11 graphic cores, while the Vega 9 has nine.

However, the Macbook is designed with Intel cores. You can have core i9 or the Core i7 processor. You can even have a better option with the more recent i9 -9980HK processor. These processors have terrific speed and performance. When it comes to performance, these processors will give you precisely what you are looking for.

If your main criterion when choosing a laptop is the performance, the Macbook may have the edge over Surface 3 because of the Intel processors. Although, it doesn’t mean that the Ryzen AMD processors in the Surface 3 are not great.  It is a super processor, but it is not as heavily designed as the Intel processors.

In terms of processing speed, the Macbook does better than the Surface 3 laptop. As we all know, the memory capacity will have a lot to do with speed. And the base models of each of the laptops make use of 128SSDs and 8 GB of memory. This memory level is acceptable for content creation and basic gaming. However, you will need to upgrade if you’re considering complex designing or gaming tasks. When you upgrade, Macbook pro has a bigger storage capacity.

If you are going to need the laptop for everyday tasks – casual gaming, emailing, browsing – any of them can serve. However, the Macbook laptop is always much better for high-intensity use or more complex gaming activities.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Battery Life

Both the Surface 3 laptop and the Macbook pro 15 have healthy battery life. Microsoft claims the Surface 3 laptop lasts for up to 11.5 hours on regular use. It is not entirely proven as the product is relatively new. On the other hand, Macbook Pro 15 claims the battery can stay up for about 10 hours. However, our tests proved that it doesn’t last that much.

The battery life from the Surface 3 battery test we carried out did not match what the company is projecting. We used the laptop on Wi-Fi and browsing. Unfortunately, it lasted for only eight hours.  Although eight hours is pretty okay for regular use, heavy laptop users with so many programs may need something stronger. A better alternative is the Macbook laptop, which lasts a bit longer than the Surface 3 product.

On regular use, you should expect something close to 8 hours from the Macbook system. From our findings, Macbook pro may have the upper hand against Surface 3 when it comes to battery strength.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Connections

For ports, both Macbook and Surface 3 have abundant spaces for connections. However, MacBook has the upper hand here. The Surface laptop still bears an older surface connecting port, USB-C port, and USB-A port. It allows you to charge your devices and phones via the charging ports. However, it doesn’t come with Thunderbolt, which is a unique feature in Macbook.

The Macbook features a headphone jack and four thunderbolt-3 USB-C ports. This is essential for those who want to connect a PU to the laptop. The Macbook Pro and Surface Laptop 3 will serve different users. While the  Macbook Pro has the right features for serious power users, Surface laptop-3 does not have the required function for that.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Keyboard and other accessories

The butterfly keyboard panel has been a serious issue for some time. The keyboard is renowned for occasional failing keys. If Macbook can change this with a befitting keyboard, it will do this laptop a lot of good. The Macbook pro keyboard feels too shallow and a bit hard when typing. But the Surface counterpart feels softer. Yes, it’s also shallow, but the keyboard is less harsh on the fingers and provides better actuation than the Macbook laptop.

Although Apple always reacts swiftly to provide a replacement for the affected user, it will be best to fix the problem completely.

The Surface 3 laptop doesn’t have such issues. If you continuously use a keyboard, you should consider getting the laptop that doesn’t give you much headache. And of course, Microsoft’s Surface laptop is the winner in this regard.

When typing, the Surface laptop allows you to maintain your speed and typing accuracy. But the little stiffness of the Macbook’s keyboard will make things a bit harder for you when typing. But this problem is not easily noticeable unless you have been typing on the keyboard for a considerable amount of time.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Cost considerations

The two different sizes of the Macbook laptop are a touchscreen, which is a good thing for fancy users. And between the Surface Laptop 3 and the Macbook pro, the former is cheaper than the later. Apple’s Macbook is almost twice as expensive as the Surface laptop. Yes, we know that you may be wondering why this Macbook will be this high in cost. The reason is the extra layer of performance and speed features. When the laptop comes with Radeon 666X GPU, 250 GB SSD, and Core i7 processor, no one would question the price tag.

It is also because of the extra Thunderbolt feature the Macbook laptop has. If you don’t need a system with heavy features for high-intensity tasks, Surface laptop-3 will be good enough for you. But if you would need those extra features and have some extra cash to spend, you can go for the Macbook laptop. It will serve you well.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Other Attributes

Apple’s Macbook can be compared to the Surface laptop when it comes to their Ultrabooks capability and portability. But with the Macbook, you will get a stunning i9 core processor, better graphics capabilities, and other powerful feature options. The model with the i9 processor is more expensive, but if you are a heavy user of power, you will gain more from it.

Microsoft has even made it possible for users to select between the 15-inch or the 13-inch screens when buying the Surface laptop 3. Although you will have almost the same experience when using any of them, users with integrated Ryzen surface APU will enjoy the convenient benefits of the 15-inch screen.

The new Surface Laptop 3 offers powerful speakers, a gorgeous display, and a sleek design. However, Apple’s Macbook could even be more appealing for some users when it comes to design. The laptop beats many other laptops in terms of attractive chassis, battery life, as well as speed.

Although it has a simplistic design, Surface 3 has this elegant feel that shows how it has been finely made. To add to its beauty, it comes with an aluminum slate with a sleek design that is rare in the industry. And it comes in different color options as well. But the Black color or Sandstone is the most attractive.

Surface Laptop 3 Vs MacBook Pro Comparison: which is better?

We have seen the different features of both the Surface Laptop-3 and its Macbook Po counterpart. No matter how hard we try to differentiate between two of them, people will still prefer one to the other. Each user has a particular need for a laptop. And some features may be more important than other features for different people.

Surface Laptop 3 is undoubtedly not in competition with Macbook pro because each of them can serve different users. But it’s important to know how their features are related and different as well.

The aesthetics of the two laptops is something to admire. For the Apple Macbook Pro laptop, you are getting an aluminum slate slim body, with a stale and iconic design. It truly represents the quality of the product Apple will produce for its teeming users.

But, even with the high-fancy design of Macbook Pro, it doesn’t beat Surface 3 in terms of aesthetics. However, if your need goes beyond aesthetics – with something more powerful on your mind – the Macbook pro 15 beats Surface 3 in that aspect.

We have explained their similarities and differences. We’ve also mentioned areas where one is better than the other. The choice is now yours to make, depending on your needs.