Microsoft Surface Laptop Go vs Apple Macbook Air M1 vs Lenovo ThinkBook 14: Pricing and features compared

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go has officially launched in India powered by the 10th generation Intel Core i5 processor. The laptop is positioned as a thin and lightweight offering for students and professionals and is offered in a variety of different configurations. At its asking price, the Surface Laptop Go goes against the likes of the Apple MacBook Air M1 and the ThinkBook 14 by Lenovo. Let’s take a look at the pricing and specifications of the three to see which one stands out of the lot. 

Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air M1 vs ThinkBook 14: Pricing

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go is priced starting at Rs 71,999 for the base 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant and Rs 91,999 for the 256GB storage option. 

Meanwhile, Apple is offering the MacBook Air M1 starting at Rs 92,900 for the 256GB variant and Rs 1,17,900 for the 512GB variant. As for the ThinkBook 14, Lenovo is offering it at Rs 63,000 for the 1TB HDD option.

Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air M1 vs ThinkBook 14: Design and Display

The Surface Laptop Go is presented as a thin and light laptop measuring 15.6 millimetres in thickness and weighs 1.1 kilograms. Due to its slim profile, the laptop can be carried easily with the lid made from aluminium.

The Apple MacBook Air M1 seems to be thinner than the Surface Laptop Go at 10.9 millimetres but weighs 1.29 kilograms. The chassis is made from aluminium which gives it a lightweight profile and a familiar design without fans.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 also has an aluminium build and has received 12 military-grade certifications for its durability. It measures 17 millimetres in thickness and weighs 1.5 kilograms.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go features a 12.4-inch PixelSense touchscreen display with a 1536×1024 pixels resolution giving it a 3:2 aspect ratio. The MacBook Air features a 13.3-inch Retina display with 2560×1600 pixels resolution and features like wide DCI-P3 colour gamut, true tone technology and more.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14, on the other hand, features a 14-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution anti-glare display.

Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air M1 vs ThinkBook 14: Under the hood

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go is powered by the 10th generation Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor with a quad-core CPU with 1.0GHz base clock speeds and Intel UHD graphics. This is paired with upto 16GB LPDDR4x RAM and 256GB SSD storage options to choose from. 

The new MacBook Air is powered by the Apple M1 chip with an octa-core CPU, upto 8-core GPU and a 16-core neural engine. This can be configured with upto 16GB RAM and upto 2TB SSD storage options to choose from.

As for the Lenovo ThinkBook 14, it is powered by a 10th generation Intel Core i5-10210U processor with 1.6GHz base clock speed paired with integrated graphics. This is paired with upto 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD storage.

The Surface Laptop Go and ThinkBook 14 run on Windows 10 Pro while the MacBook Air runs on macOS Big Sur.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go is equipped with a USB Type-C, Type-A port, a 3.5 mm audio jack and a Surface Connect port. The MacBook Air has two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 has a hidden USB port, two USB 3.1 Gen 1, a USB-C 3.1 Gen 1, a USB-C 3.1 Gen 2, 4-in-1 media reader slot, LAN Port, an HDMI 1.4b port and a headphone-microphone combo jack.

Surface Laptop Go vs MacBook Air M1 vs ThinkBook 14: Battery life

Microsoft claims that the Surface Laptop Go offers 13 hours of battery life on a single charge over moderate use including browsing, working, and Wi-Fi connection throughout.

Apple MacBook Air M1 is claimed to offer upto 15 hours worth of battery life on a single charge over browsing and upto 18 hours worth of Apple TV streaming.

The Lenovo ThinkBook 14 offers upto 9 hours worth of battery life on a single charge and supports Rapid Charge for fast charging.