The new Snapdragon X Plus-powered Surface Laptop 7th Edition was put head-to-head with the M2-powered Apple MacBook Air by YouTube creator Luke Miani. Using Cinebench to gauge the CPU prowess of each device, the results were quite surprising. Nevertheless, in some aspects, the M2 MacBook Air still outshone the Surface Laptop. Let's delve into the details.
Battery Life and Performance
Luke Miani conducted two rounds of Cinebench tests, each lasting 10 minutes, totaling 20 minutes. The findings highlight that Apple Silicon's power efficiency remains superior to Qualcomm's latest chip. During the tests, the M2 MacBook Air lost just 10% of its battery, whereas the Snapdragon X Plus-powered Surface Laptop 7th Edition plummeted to 65%.
Despite similar battery capacities—the M2 MacBook Air boasting a 52Wh battery and the Surface Laptop 7th Edition having a 54Wh battery—the discrepancy in power consumption was stark. This higher power drain in the Snapdragon X Plus was evident in the results. Moreover, the Surface Laptop's keyboard area heated up to 45°C compared to the MacBook Air's 36°C. It's important to note that the Surface Laptop features an active cooling system.
Performance Scores and Video Playback
In terms of performance, the Surface Laptop achieved a significantly higher score in Cinebench compared to the M2 MacBook Air, even surpassing the M3 MacBook Air. However, the Snapdragon SoC, being relatively new, still requires optimization in several areas. The results are as follows (lower is better).
While Cinebench underscored the power efficiency gap between the two chips, the Surface Laptop fared better in regular video streaming in terms of battery longevity. After 7.5 hours of video playback, the MacBook Air retained 36% battery, whereas the Surface Laptop was left with only 12%.
