The M1 MacBook Air has ushered in a new era for me when it comes to laptops. The Surface Laptop 4 comes close, but I still have that all-too-familiar, ever-present concern about its battery life if I’m using it consistently each week. The M1 MacBook Air is a stellar performer when it comes to battery life, but the star of the show, as I’ve often highlighted, is the standby time. It’s the one thing that has prevented me from switching to the Surface Laptop 4 wholesale, and I cannot be alone in this.
#MAC VS MICROSOFT FOR LAPTOP MAC#
Whenever you search for distraction-free writing apps on Windows, the results leave you with the sneaking suspicion that you should have bought a Mac instead. For some reason, this app category is badly underserved on Windows, and for no reason that I can think of.
I cannot find a competing Windows-based writing app that comes anywhere close to Ulysses. What’s more, it’s coming to the Mac soon, and it might be the email client that finally tempts me away from Spark.īut it’s another story when it comes to one of the key tools I rely on for my business. It’s why I’m writing this blog on the M1 MacBook Air… and it’s all down to a brilliant app called Ulysses. Mailbird provides the unified inbox I need for my multiple accounts, and one of the easiest ways to triage email, thanks to its uncluttered feature set and user interface. I had a brief moment of panic when I struggled to find an email client that could match Spark, but I thankfully discovered Mailbird, who are very kindly sponsoring this blog post. Pretty much every app I rely on daily – from Trello to Toggl – was catered for on Windows.
#MAC VS MICROSOFT FOR LAPTOP WINDOWS#
This is why I’m going to reserve judgment on this particular battle until Windows 11 arrives in October, because that’s the reason I bought this laptop I want to see what Microsoft does next.Įverything was going swimmingly. Windows’ dominance in that arena has – for me, at least – given it that entirely unfortunate and undesirable connotation. It’s the operating system you’re stuck with if you’re chained to the same desk in the same corporate environment five days a week. This is totally unfair, but it just reminds me of work. There’s nothing inherently wrong with Windows 10, but the muddled Start Menu and presence of Windows user interface elements I remember from my considerable time with the platform over 20 years ago leaves me wanting. Part of this is due to the app ecosystem (I’ll get onto that in a moment), but also because it just feels… like Windows. Regardless, I can’t ignore the fact that, as a Mac guy, getting used to Windows again hasn’t been the most enjoyable experience. I’m not going to labour the point here, because I really don’t want the comments thread of this blog to deteriorate into the platform wars. These laptops will breeze through a normal day’s work without a murmur (and with only the occasional fan spin-up on the Surface Laptop’s part). I can’t get excited about the performance but, then, that speaks more of my use case than the capabilities of the laptop itself. It’s not as ‘snappy’ as the M1 MacBook Air, but that only results in a barely noticeable delay in waiting for apps to open. I have the base spec, which features an AMD Ryzen 5 468U processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD.Īs a do-it-all office laptop, it’s a great performer. It’s my writing device, email companion, and the do-it-all office laptop I’ve always dreamed of – but that’s as far as it goes. I therefore don’t push the M1 chip at all in that particular machine. Winner: M1 MacBook Air ( but the Surface Laptop’s keyboard ensures it remains on its feet until the final round). Easily the best I’ve used on a laptop, it even benefits from the curious amount of flex within the chassis beneath it.Īnd that Alcantara finish? I really like it – but I will report back in a few months regarding its wear! However, special mention must be made of the keyboard, because it’s the crowning glory for the Surface Laptop 4. There’s just a tangible lightness and hollowness to Microsoft’s machine which reduces the premium feel somewhat.
Defining why that’s the case isn’t easy they weigh roughly the same and both feature a tapered design. The Surface Laptop 4 feels a smidgen below the MacBook Air in terms of build quality. But I’d never held one in my hands until now. This is entirely unfair I’m aware that there are many lovely Windows laptops out there that benefit from the same fit and finish and attention to detail that Apple lavishes on the MacBook. I was pleasantly surprised when I retrieved the Surface Laptop 4 from its MacBook-like packaging.
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