Microsoft and Apple have a longstanding rivalry, as they cater to similar audiences and consistently jostle for market dominance. Apple’s Macs have made significant waves in the laptop industry, particularly following their shift to the custom M-series chips. Although Microsoft was slow off the mark, it has steadily enhanced its offerings. A new YouTube ad from Microsoft claims, “we’re faster than a Mac,” specifically targeting Apple’s older M3 MacBook Air, not its high-end Pro models.
The ad boldly asserts that Microsoft’s top Windows PCs with Copilot+ branding boast 58 percent faster performance compared to the M3 MacBook Air, based on Cinebench 2024 multi-core CPU benchmarks. Interestingly, Microsoft’s comparison excludes Apple’s latest M4 Pro and M4 Max models, which offer formidable performance upgrades. This kind of strategy suggests Microsoft is vying against entry-level MacBooks while touting superior specs.
Even though Microsoft’s advertisement primarily highlights their advantage over the M3 MacBook Air, it does note that some Copilot+ machines outpace the newer M4 MacBook Air. For instance, they compare Apple’s laptop with devices like the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and Microsoft’s Surface Laptop, both powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chip, as well as HP’s OmniBook Ultra 14 featuring AMD’s Ryzen AI 9 HX 375.
While Microsoft’s claims aren’t baseless, Apple continues to lead with exceptional performance-to-watt ratios, providing high computational and graphical prowess with efficient power usage. Plus, the MacBook Air models run without fans, ensuring a silent experience. The advanced M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, which weren’t included in this comparison, offer even greater performance. Ultimately, user preference between Windows and macOS will influence the choice.
