Although it has been rumored that Apple fans will get to see the 2016 edition of the MacBook Air sooner than they think, some still stick to their current MacBooks, particularly since the specs of the upcoming new Apple laptop remain shrouded, and fans don't know yet how different tech-wise the new MacBook Air will be from their current one.
However, with Microsoft recently releasing the Surface Pro 4 hybrid and touting it as more powerful than Apple's current laptop lineup, will MacBook owners need to switch?
At first glance, it seems that the Surface Pro 4 has advantages over the current MacBook. As a 2-in-1, it can be used both as a tablet and a mobile workstation. However, for mobility, the two workhorses' specs are not that different – the MacBook Air has been said to be one of Apple's thinnest iterations in the laptop category, measuring a tapered 0.11 to 0.68 inch at the thickest. The Surface Pro 4, meanwhile, is 0.33 inches thick.
In terms of display, the Surface Pro 4 has the advantage of being a recent release. While the MacBook Air displays bright colors of 1440 x 900 resolution even on its non-Retina models, the Surface Pro 4 has the better resolution, with 2736 x 1824 pixels. In addition, the hybrid's screen is protected by the latest Gorilla Glass 4.
Under the hood, the Surface Pro 4 also enjoys being the newer iteration, since it runs on the new Intel Skylake processors. The MacBook Air, on the other hand, has an Intel Core i5, but with last-gen architecture, according to PCMag.
With a choice of configurations on both processor, RAM, and storage, the Surface Pro 4 also enjoys a flexible range of arrangement depending on the user's preferences, and observers say this feature is also what makes the new Microsoft iteration a better competitor than Apple's current MacBook.
