Microsoft believes in the potential of its PC Copilot+ and affirms, in a short video shared on its social networks, that they are much more efficient than the MacBook Air M3. At the heart of the demonstration, there are multi-core tests on Cinebench 2024 and the Redmond firm highlights a shock figure: some high-end Windows PCs, Badgées Copilot+, would be up to 58 % more bicycle than a MacBook Air equipped with the M3 chip. The put forward machines include models such as the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and the Laptop surface of Microsoft (both with the Snapdragon X Elite of Qualcomm), as well as the OMNIBook Ultra 14 HP (with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 of AMD).
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The asterisk that changes (almost) everything
If the comparison with the MacBook Air M3, launched in mid-2024, may seem flattering for Microsoft, a crucial detail should be noted: the figures cited in advertising date from May 2024. However, Apple has since dwed its M4 chips, including its new MacBook Air.
Microsoft’s communication is all the more curious than in a blog note, the company ensures that some of its Copilot+ PCs remain faster even in front of these MacBook Air M4. It is always based on the same Cinebench 2024 test in multi-coeurs, but the gap is tightening considerably. Microsoft’s own figures, for example, reveal that a laptop surface under Snapdragon X Elite would obtain, on average, from 784.6 points to 950 points in multicoors, against 866 points for the 15 -inch MacBook Air M4. The advantage, although real on two of the three laptop surfaces 13.8 and 15 inch tested, is far from the 58 % initially chilled.
Microsoft communication “oversights”
Microsoft’s campaign also seems to be deadlocked on several crucial aspects, including mono-coeur performance. If Copilot+ PCs shine in multi-sisters, the situation is reversed in single-core use and the MacBook Air M3 and M4 would keep a clear advance on this ground. A laptop surface under snapdragon x elite would, for example, display 120 points (laptop surface 13.8 ″) to 123 points (laptop 15 ″ surface) in single-core on Cinebench R24, against more than 170 points for a MacBook Air M4. However, the Redmond firm does not mention this in its comparison.
In addition, it should be noted that almost all of Copilot+ PCs tested are, to our knowledge, equipped with active dissipation systems (with fans). Conversely, MacBook Air are renowned for their passive cooling and this fan without fan can limit sustained performance in multi-corners, but it offers different use comfort, not underlined by Microsoft. Finally, Apple’s master asset remains the performance ratio by Watts and the M3 and M4 chips excels in this area.
With these details, our intention is not to tell you that the MacBook M3 or M4 would be better than the Copilot+PCs. We also tested the 7th generation laptop surface (13.8 inches, Snapdragon X Elite) in July 2024 and we indicated that this laptop was a major opponent for the Apple MacBook Air.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 (RAM 16 GB, SSD 256 GB) at the best Price Basic price: € 1,191
Beyond benchmarks: a war of ecosystems and AI
This new advertising weapon is a wider strategy for Microsoft. With the end of Windows 10 and the PC end on ARM, the objective is to reposition the Windows PC as the choice platform for artificial intelligence with Copilot+. These new machines are designed for local AI functions, without systematic cloud dependence, an argument that could weigh in the face of a more progressive Apple approach with “Apple Intelligence”.
In the end, the war between PC and Mac is far from over, and it is played on many more terrains than simple raw speed.
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