It’s a pretty common thing for brands to compare their products with rivals. Some do it without taking names whereas others don’t shy in calling them out for bragging rights. At its Surface event, Microsoft certainly didn’t hold back comparing its new PCs to the MacBook Air.
Almost every executive that came on stage to gush about the new Copilot+ PCs didn’t miss the chance to point out how on many counts they were better than the MacBook Air. And not just any MacBook Air but the recently launched M3-powered machines.
There’s no escaping the fact that Apple changed the game in November 2020 when it introduced its first M-series of processors. Critics loved it, users lapped it up and couldn’t stop gushing about the battery life — a pain point for most Windows PCs. In terms of performance, there were laptops that could match — and beat as well — the M1 MacBook Air. But battery? Not a single one. It has taken Microsoft four years to reach there but it is now ready to challenge Apple.
Yusuf Mehdi, chief consumer marketing officer, Microsoft said that Copilot+ PCs can deliver up to 22 hours of local video playback or 15 hours of web browsing on a single charge. Compared to the MacBook Air that is up to 20% more battery in local video playback. That’s a tremendous jump for Microsoft to make. And if Microsoft claims that it can beat the MacBook Air on battery count then the company certainly has a winner on its hands. The MacBook Air is the undisputed champion when it comes to battery life — it goes on and on. There are users who have stopped carryin chargers in their MacBook backpacks.
PCs vs Mac: The latest installment
When it comes to performance, the M-series powered MacBooks have been streets ahead of most of the competition. Intel-based laptops struggled to match the MacBook when it came to like-for-like comparisons. Microsoft now claims to have edge there as well. Mehdi revealed that the new Copilot+ PCs “outperform Apple’s MacBook Air 15” by up to 58% in sustained multithreaded performance while delivering all-day battery life.”
In the last few years, whenever Apple has launched a new MacBook Air it has boasted about it being “the world’s most popular notebook”. The M-series MacBook Air has only added more credence to those claims. But Microsoft is optimistic that with Copilot+ PCs and all the AI magic sprinkled over it, it can make Windows PCs cool again. Microsoft said that the entry-level Copilot PC will have 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage. Now that’s double of what the entry-level MacBook Air offers. Not just that the Copilot PC is also $200 cheap for a similar-specced MacBook Air.
The PC vs Mac has been a decades-old tussle. Windows PCs have always been ahead in terms of selling devices but just never been ‘cool’ enough. Macs, on the other hand, have been the perennial cool kid, and lately, Apple has been running circles around Windows in terms of efficiency too. Microsoft is confident that the new trick up its sleeve — Copilot+ PCs — will offer complete package. Style, speed, substance, AI — Microsoft claims to have it all that will give Apple more than just food for thought.
(The writer was in Seattle, Washington at the invitation of Microsoft)
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