Surface Pro 9 5G vs. M1 MacBook Air: Full specs comparison

We have comprehensively compared the specifications for the Surface Pro 9 5G and M1 MacBook Air models. The report includes detailed information regarding both models' CPU, memory, storage, battery life, display quality, and other features.

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Surface Pro 9 5G image

Surface Pro 9 5G

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M1 MacBook Air image

M1 MacBook Air

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Surface Pro 9 5G Pros

Reasons that Surface Pro 9 5G is better than M1 MacBook Air.

Newer manufacturing

2022 vs. 2020

Upgradable storage

Surface Pro 9 5G comes with a single removable M.2 SSD slot that you can replace and upgrade in the future.

SlotsSurface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
M.2
Yes x1
Onboard
About 31% lighter

Surface Pro 9 5G weighed 1.95 pounds, 31% lighter than the 2.8 pounds M1 MacBook Air.

WeightSurface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Pound
1.95 lbs.
2.8 lbs.
Kilogram
0.88 kg
1.27 kg
Has three more ports and slots

Surface Pro 9 5G has more ports and slots count than the M1 MacBook Air. It has six versus three amount of ports and slots on the M1 MacBook Air.

PortsSurface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
headphone jackNoYes
nanoSIM card slotYesNo
SSD slotYesNo
Surface ConnectYesNo
Surface Type CoverYesNo
Thunderbolt 3NoYes x2
Thunderbolt 4Yes x2No
Total63

M1 MacBook Air Pros

Reasons that M1 MacBook Air is better than Surface Pro 9 5G.

Much faster CPU performance

Apple M1 (8C, 8G) inside M1 MacBook Air has a 55% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Microsoft SQ3 inside Surface Pro 9 5G.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 7G)
7,414
M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 8G)
7,414
Surface Pro 9 5G - Microsoft SQ3
4,760
Slightly more versatile connectivity

M1 MacBook Air has better versatile I/O connectivity than the Surface Pro 9 5G. It has two versus one commonly used port and slot on the Surface Pro 9 5G.

PortsSurface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
headphone jackNoYes
Thunderbolt 3NoYes
Thunderbolt 4YesNo

Key Similars

Similar characteristics share between Surface Pro 9 5G and M1 MacBook Air.

Supports the same maximum memory size of up to 16GB

Both laptops supports up to 16GB of system memory.

Max system memory size
Surface Pro 9 5G
16 GB
M1 MacBook Air
16 GB

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Price
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (2022), 13" 2-in-1 Tablet & Laptop, Thin & Lightweight, Intel 12th Gen i7 Fast Processor for Multi-Tasking, 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage with Windows 11, Graphite Microsoft Copilot
 Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (2022), 13" 2-in-1 Tablet & Laptop, Thin & Lightweight, Intel 12th Gen i7 Fast Processor for Multi-Tasking, 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage with Windows 11, Graphite Microsoft Copilot
By Microsoft
$1,098.99
$1,599.99 31% OFF
See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 13" Touch-Screen Intel Core i5-16GB Memory - 256GB SSD Platinum
 Microsoft Surface Pro 9 13" Touch-Screen Intel Core i5-16GB Memory - 256GB SSD Platinum
By Microsoft
$954.99
$1,299.00 26% OFF
See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (2022), 13" 2-in-1 Tablet & Laptop, Thin & Lightweight, Intel 12th Gen i5 Fast Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage with Windows 11, Copilot, Graphite (Renewed)
 Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (2022), 13" 2-in-1 Tablet & Laptop, Thin & Lightweight, Intel 12th Gen i5 Fast Processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage with Windows 11, Copilot, Graphite (Renewed)
By Microsoft
$659.99
$749.99 12% OFF
See at Amazon
M1 MacBook Air Price
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
 Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$629.00
See at Amazon
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
 Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$707.39
See at Amazon
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
 Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed)
By Apple
$610.00
See at Amazon

Specs Comparison

Availability

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Released20222020
Release Date
  • Introduced: October 12, 2022
  • Pre-ordered: October 12, 2022
  • Released: October 25, 2022
Announced on November 10th, 2020
PricingStarting at $2,999.99
  • $999
    Apple M1 Chip (7 cores GPU) | 8GB RAM | 256GB SSD
  • $1,249
    Apple M1 Chip (8 cores GPU) | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Applicable Models
  • Surface Pro 9 with 5G
  • Surface Pro 9 SQ® 3
-
Generations

Exterior

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Dimensions11.3” x 8.2” x 0.37” (287 mm x 208 mm x 9.3 mm)
  • Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
  • Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm)
  • Height: 0.16–0.63 inch (0.41–1.61 cm)
Weight1.95 lb (883 g)Starting at 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg)
Colors
Platinum
Gold Space Gray Silver
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • Not included.
  • Compatible with 
    Surface Pro Signature Keyboard Surface Pro X Keyboard
  • Type Cover Features:
    • Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys
    • Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12)
    • 4 directional keys; Windows, Brightness and Media Controls Keys;
    • LED backlighting
  • Trackpad:
    • Precision glass trackpad.
    • Trackpad size: 4 x 2 inches (101.6 mm x 50.8 mm)
    • Supports a five-finger multitouch gesture.
  • Surface Slim Pen Storage
    • Magnetic dock
    • Automatically wireless charge Surface Slim Pen
Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
  • 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures

Display

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Size13 Inches13.3 Inches
Info
  • 13” PixelSense™ Flow Display
  • Resolution: 2880 x 1920
    5.53M Pixels.
  • Density: 267 PPI
  • Color profile: sRGB and Vivid
  • Dynamic refresh rate: up to 120Hz
  • Aspect ratio: 3:2
  • Contrast ratio: 1200:1
  • Touch: 10-point multi-touch
  • Brightness: 450 nits maximum (typical), 5 nits minimum
  • Gorilla® Glass 5
  • Adaptive Color
Retina display
  • 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors
  • Supported scaled resolutions:
    • 1680 by 1050
    • 1440 by 900
    • 1024 by 640
  • 16:10 aspect ratio
  • 400 nits brightness
  • Supports wide color (P3)
  • True Tone technology

Ports

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Left (2)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 4
    40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), DisplayPort, Power Delivery
Right (1)
  • 1 x Surface Connect
    Charging, Docking
Bottom (1)
  • 1 x Surface Type Cover
Under Kickstand (2)
  • 1 x nanoSIM card slot
  • 1 x SSD slot
    M.2 2230 NVMe slot
M1 MacBook Air Ports
Image Source: Apple
Left (2)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
    40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), Charging, DisplayPort
Right (1)
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone

Internal Specs

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Processor
  1. Microsoft® SQ3™ with Neural Processing Unit
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.00 GHz, 8MB Cache, 7W
  1. Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W
  2. Apple M1
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W
Integrated Graphics
  1. Microsoft® SQ3™ with Neural Processing Unit
    Microsoft® SQ3™ Adreno™ 8cx Gen 3 GPU
    N/A,
  1. Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)
    Apple M1 iGPU
    7 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
  2. Apple M1
    Apple M1 iGPU
    8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Memory
8GB 16GB
4266 MHz LPDDR4X RAM
  • 8GB
    unified memory
  • Configurable to 16GB
Storage
128GB 256GB 512GB 1TB
Removable SSD.
  • 256GB 512GB
    SSD
  • Configurable to 1TB or 2TB
Fans Number--

Connectivity

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Wi-FiWi-Fi 6E: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
  • 802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6 wireless networking
  • IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
BluetoothBluetooth Wireless 5.1 technologyBluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
Wireless WAN
  • Location: GPS, Glonass, Galileo, and Beidou Support
  • NanoSIM and eSIM support
  • Supports 5G
-

Battery

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Size
  • 47.7 Wh
    Nominal battery capacity.
  • 46.5 Wh
    Minimum battery capacity.
49.9 Wh lithium‑polymer battery
Battery LifeUp to 19 hours of typical device usage
  • Up to 15 hours wireless web
  • Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Power Supply
  • 39W power supply
  • Supports Fast Charge (0-60% in about one hour)
30W USB‑C Power Adapter

Software

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
OSConsumer models
  • Windows 11 Home on ARM
Business models
  • Windows 11 Pro on ARM
Shipped with macOS Big Sur
Built-in Apps
  • Preloaded Microsoft 365 Apps
  • Microsoft 365 Family 30-day trial
  • Preloaded Xbox app
  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one-month trial
Photos iMovie GarageBand Pages Numbers Keynote Siri Safari Mail FaceTime Messages Maps News Stocks Home Voice Memos Notes Calendar Contacts Reminders Photo Booth Preview Music Podcasts TV Books App Store Time Machine Find My QuickTime Player

Camera & Audio

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Camera
  • Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)
  • 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video
  • 10.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD and 4K video
720p FaceTime HD camera
Audio
  • Dual far-field Studio Mics
  • 2W stereo speakers
  • Stereo speakers
  • Wide stereo sound
  • Support for Dolby Atmos playback
  • Three-mic array with directional beamforming
  • 3.5 mm headphone jack

Misc

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
Inking
  • Designed for Surface Slim Pen 2
  • Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)
    4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel 0.1mm precision magnetic storage
  • Supports Tactile signals with Surface Slim Pen 2
  • The integrated storage and wireless charging for Surface Slim Pen 2 with Surface Pro Signature Keyboard
-
Sensors
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Gyroscope
  • Magnetometer
  • Ambient Color Sensor (brightness and color)
  • Touch ID sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
Security
  • Enhanced security with Microsoft Pluton
  • Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
  • Windows 11 Secured-core PC
  • Touch ID sensor
  • Apple T2 Security Chip
In the box
  • Surface Pro 9 SQ3 with 5G
  • Power supply
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Safety and warranty documents
  • SIM Card access tool
  • MacBook Air
  • 30W USB‑C Power Adapter
  • USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)
Warranty1-year limited hardware warrantyYour MacBook Air comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus applicable tax.
More-Video Support
  • Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:
    • One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
  • Thunderbolt 3 digital video output
    • Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C
    • VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)

Key Features

Surface Pro 9 5GM1 MacBook Air
At Glance
Released in Late
2022
3:2 2.8K
13”
1920p 60~120Hz
Weight
1.95 lb
0.88 kg
Powered By
Microsoft SQ3
8C/8T, 3.00 GHz
Geekbench 5
978
Single Core
Geekbench 5
4,760
Multi-Core
With integrated
Microsoft® SQ3™ Adreno™ 8cx Gen 3 GPU
N/A
Configurable up to
16GB
4266 MHz LPDDR4X
Starting at
$1,299.99
i5, 8GB, 128GB, Win 11 Home for ARM
Up to
19 hours
Battery life for typical device usage.
Released in Late
2020
16:10 QHD
13.3”
1600p 60Hz
Weight
2.8 lb
1.27 kg
Up to
Apple M1 (8C, 8G)
8C/8T, 3.20 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,705
Single Core
Geekbench 5
7,414
Multi-Core
With integrated
Apple M1 iGPU
8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Configurable up to
16GB
Unified Memory
M1 MacBook Air Ports
Starting at
$999
M1 (7 GPU Cores), 8GB, 256GB SSD
Up to
18 Hours
Battery Life
Built-in
Touch ID
With T2 Chip
Dual
USB-C
USB4 & Thunderbolt 3
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.0

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