Products
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021)
Tested using Methodology v0.8
Updated Oct 29, 2025 02:49 PM
SEE PRICE
Amazon.com
Tested using Methodology v0.8.2
Updated Oct 29, 2025 03:01 PM
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Amazon.com
Size
15"
Operating System
Windows 10
Size
16"
Operating System
macOS
Our Verdict
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019)
Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021)
The Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) are very different. The Microsoft model is a thin and light laptop designed for everyday use and general productivity, like text formatting, web browsing, spreadsheets, and media consumption. In contrast, the Apple laptop is a much more powerful device designed for creative professionals who need a lot of processing power. The Apple model is better in almost all aspects, but it isn't as portable as the Surface Laptop 3.
Variants
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (V9R-00022) (Matte Black - Ryzen 5/16GB/256GB)
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (VGZ-00022) (Matte Black - Ryzen 5/8GB/256GB)
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (VFL-00022) (Matte Black - Ryzen 7/16GB/512GB)
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (V9R-00001) (Platinum - Ryzen 5/16GB/256GB)
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (V4G-0001) (Platinum - Ryzen 5/8GB/128GB)
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (VGZ-00001) (Platinum - Ryzen 5/8GB/256GB)
- Surface Laptop 3 15 (VFL-00001) (Platinum - Ryzen 7/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1H3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Max/10‑core CPU/32‑core GPU/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1F3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Pro chip/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1E3LL/A) (Silver - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/512GB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK1A3LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Max/10‑core CPU/32‑core GPU/32GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK193LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/1TB)
- MacBook Pro 16 (MK183LL/A) (Space Gray - M1 Pro/10‑core CPU/16‑core GPU/16GB/512GB)
Main Differences for
School
School
Threshold
School
7.5
8.6
Battery
6.1
9.4
Portability
8.5
7.2
Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
4.9
9.7
Ports
4.5
8.5
Reflections
6.2
8.8
Full Comparison
Design
Style
Style Photo
Form Factor
Traditional (Clamshell)
Traditional (Clamshell)
Build Quality
9.5
9.5
Build Quality Photo
Hinge
9.1
9.1
Hinge Photo
Range
140°
135°
Stability
Good
Good
One Finger Lift
Yes
Yes
Portability
8.5
7.2
Dimensions Photo
Size
15"
16"
Thickness
0.6" (1.5 cm)
0.7" (1.7 cm)
Width
13.4" (34.0 cm)
14.0" (35.6 cm)
Depth
9.6" (24.4 cm)
9.8" (24.8 cm)
Volume
74.3 in³ (1,216.9 cm³)
91.6 in³ (1,500.9 cm³)
Weight
3.4 lbs (1.5 kg)
4.7 lbs (2.2 kg)
Charger Size
6.9 in³ (112.5 cm³)
13.3 in³ (218.3 cm³)
Charger Weight
0.6 lbs (0.3 kg)
1.1 lbs (0.5 kg)
Serviceability
4.3
3.5
Internals Photo
Ease Of Access
4.5
6.0
RAM Slots
0
0
Storage Slots
1
0
Replaceable Battery
Yes
Yes
Replaceable Wireless Adapter
No
No
In The Box
In The Box Photo
Display
Screen Specs
Display Photo
Resolution
2496 x 1664
3456 x 2234
Aspect Ratio
3:2
16:10
Pixel Density
199 PPI
254 PPI
Panel Type
IPS
IPS
Touch Screen
Yes
No
Screen-To-Body Ratio
81%
91%
Refresh Rate
6.9
8.7
Motion Blur
Refresh Rate
60 Hz
120 Hz
Variable Refresh Rate
FreeSync
Apple ProMotion
Contrast
7.7
10
Contrast Photo
Native Contrast
1,589 : 1
50,250 : 1
Brightness
8.0
8.5
Maximum Brightness
401 cd/m²
469 cd/m²
Minimum Brightness
4 cd/m²
4 cd/m²
Reflections
6.2
8.8
Reflections Photo Off
Reflections Photo Max
Screen Finish
Glossy
Glossy
Total Reflections
5.9%
1.91%
Indirect Reflections
0.572%
0.18%
Calculated Direct Reflections
5.33%
1.73%
Black Uniformity
7.5
10
Black Uniformity Photo
Uniformity (Std. Dev.)
1.022%
0.355%
Horizontal Viewing Angle
6.4
6.9
Horizontal Viewing Angle Video
Horizontal Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Left
26°
25°
Color Washout From Right
29°
29°
Horizontal Hue Picture
Color Shift From Left
24°
39°
Color Shift From Right
31°
47°
Horizontal Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Left
33°
28°
Brightness Loss From Right
31°
32°
Black Level Raise From Left
60°
60°
Black Level Raise From Right
60°
60°
Gamma Shift From Left
19°
33°
Gamma Shift From Right
28°
38°
Vertical Viewing Angle
6.1
7.0
Vertical Viewing Angle Video
Vertical Chroma Picture
Color Washout From Below
25°
26°
Color Washout From Above
22°
31°
Vertical Hue Picture
Color Shift From Below
24°
38°
Color Shift From Above
25°
45°
Vertical Lightness Picture
Brightness Loss From Below
28°
29°
Brightness Loss From Above
24°
34°
Black Level Raise From Below
45°
45°
Black Level Raise From Above
45°
45°
Gamma Shift From Below
22°
28°
Gamma Shift From Above
19°
33°
Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy
9.9
9.9
White Balance Screencap
Gamma Curve Screencap
Color Screencap
Avg. White Balance dE
1.53
1.46
Avg. Gamma
2.18
2.22
Avg. Color dE
0.72
1
Avg. Color Temperature
6,613 K
6,709.7 K
Color Gamut
8.3
9.5
Gamut SDR
sRGB xy
99.6%
99.94%
sRGB uv
99.08%
99.76%
Adobe RGB xy
74.38%
88.91%
Adobe RGB uv
85.14%
94.33%
Gamut HDR
DCI P3 xy
74.16%
99.73%
DCI P3 uv
79.51%
99.09%
Rec. 2020 xy
53.22%
72.6%
Rec. 2020 uv
57.96%
73.59%
Flicker
10
10
Flicker Graph
Flicker-Free
Yes
No
Flicker Frequency
No Flicker
> 1000Hz
Flicker Active Below
0%
0%
Interface
Keyboard
8.1
8.0
Keyboard Photo
Typing Quality
8.0
8.0
Numpad
No
No
Backlighting
Adjustable
Adjustable
Key Switch Actuation Graph
Operating Force
64 gf
59 gf
Actuation Force
38 gf
41 gf
Pre-Travel
0.92 mm
0.78 mm
Total Travel
1.42 mm
0.86 mm
Touchpad
8.7
9.7
Touchpad Photo
Tracking Quality
9.0
9.5
Size
13.7 in² (88.6 cm²)
24.8 in² (160.0 cm²)
Material
Glass
Glass
Dedicated Buttons
No
No
Speakers
6.9
8.4
Frequency Response Plot
Max Volume
70 dB SPL
76 dB SPL
Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
5.5 dB
4.9 dB
Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)
1.4
0.7
Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)
250 Hz
116 Hz
Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)
14 kHz
20 kHz
Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.
3.2 dB
1.5 dB
Webcam & Microphone
8.7
9.1
Webcam Video Sample
Video Quality
9.0
9.5
Resolution
720p
1080p
Position
Top Center
Top Center
Privacy Cover
No
No
Face Unlock
Yes
No
Connectivity
Ports
4.5
8.5
Ports Photo
USB-A Ports
1
0
USB-C Ports
1
3
Thunderbolt
No
Thunderbolt 4
USB-C Charging
Yes
Yes
USB-C Display Out
Yes
Yes
HDMI
No
2.0
DisplayPort
No
No
3.5mm Jack
Combo mic/headphone
Combo mic/headphone
Card Reader
No
SD UHS 2
Ethernet
No
No
Proprietary Port
Surface Connect
Apple MagSafe 3
Security Lock
No
No
Wireless Communication
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)
Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)
Bluetooth
5.0
5.0
Configuration
CPU
Brand
AMD
Apple
Model
Ryzen 5 3580U
M1 Max
Core Count
4
10
Thread Count
8
10
GPU
Brand
AMD
Apple
Model
Radeon Vega 9 Graphics
M1 Max
Dedicated/Integrated
Integrated
Integrated
VRAM Size
N/A
N/A
RAM
Capacity
8 GB
32 GB
Modules
2 (Soldered)
Unknown
Type
DDR4
LP-DDR5
Speed
2,400 MHz
6,400 MHz
Storage
Advertised Capacity
128 GB
512 GB
Usable Capacity
74 GB
463 GB
Drive 1
SK Hynix HFM128GDGTNG-87A0A
Apple SSD AP512R
Drive 1 Type
SSD
SSD
Drive 2
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Drive 2 Type
No 2nd Drive
No 2nd Drive
Performance
Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)
4.9
9.7
Geekbench Image
CPU Single-Thread
478 points
1,784 points
CPU Multi-Thread
3,073 points
12,733 points
GPU Compute
11,953 points
68,226 points
Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)
6.9
9.6
Cinebench R23 Photo
Single-Thread
945 points
1,535 points
Multi-Thread
3,905 points
12,390 points
Blender (3D Rendering)
4.4
7.9
Blender Image
CPU Render Time
9.4 min
4.1 min
GPU Render Time
11.2 min
N/A
GPU Render Time (Optix)
N/A
N/A
Basemark GPU (Game Scene)
3.9
9.0
Basemark Image
Overall Score
9,566
80,945
Storage Drive Performance
8.2
9.5
Storage Performance Image
Sequential Write Speed
409.3 MB/s
4,506.1 MB/s
Sequential Read Speed
1,156.1 MB/s
4,846.1 MB/s
Random Write Speed
49.9 MB/s
54.2 MB/s
Random Read Speed
31.6 MB/s
57.5 MB/s
Battery
6.1
9.4
Capacity
46 Wh
100 Wh
Battery Life (Web Browsing)
6.6 hrs
15.0 hrs
Battery Life (Video Playback)
5.8 hrs
8.4 hrs
Battery Life (Gaming)
2.7 hrs
2.1 hrs
Charge Time
2.3 hrs
2.1 hrs
Borderlands 3
1.4
6.0
Borderlands 3 Graph
Avg. FPS
9 fps
48 fps
1% Low
4 fps
30 fps
0.1% Low
2 fps
16 fps
1% Low Delta
140 ms
12 ms
0.1% Low Delta
334 ms
43 ms
Avg. FPS On Very Low
48 fps
58 fps
Civilization VI
3.7
6.8
Civilization VI Graph
Avg. FPS
19 fps
52 fps
1% Low
10 fps
37 fps
0.1% Low
6 fps
33 fps
1% Low Delta
50 ms
8 ms
0.1% Low Delta
117 ms
11 ms
Avg. FPS On Minimum
76 fps
97 fps
Avg. Turn Time
9.21 s
9.69 s
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
5.5
9.1
CS:GO graph
Avg. FPS
52 fps
129 fps
1% Low
26 fps
N/A
0.1% Low
20 fps
N/A
1% Low Delta
19 ms
N/A
0.1% Low Delta
31 ms
N/A
Avg. FPS On Low
99 fps
162 fps
Counter-Strike 2
CS2 Graph
Avg. FPS
1% Low
0.1% Low
1% Low Delta
0.1% Low Delta
Avg. FPS On Low
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
1.9
6.0
SOTTR Graph
Avg. FPS
12 fps
93 fps
1% Low
3 fps
25 fps
0.1% Low
1 fps
11 fps
1% Low Delta
313 ms
29 ms
0.1% Low Delta
928 ms
77 ms
Avg. FPS On Lowest
23 fps
134 fps
Thermals And Noise
7.3
7.7
Keyboard Temps Picture
Keyboard Temp While Idle
32 °C (89 °F)
25 °C (77 °F)
Keyboard Temp Under Load
45 °C (113 °F)
45 °C (112 °F)
Fan Noise While Idle
25.0 dBA
25.0 dBA
Fan Noise Under Load
46.0 dBA
43.4 dBA
Power & Fan Control App
No
No
Performance Over Time
6.3
9.8
Performance Over Time Graph
Performance Over Time Image
CPU Temp (Cinebench)
66 °C
93 °C
CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)
10% loss
1% loss
GPU Temp (Heaven)
61 °C
88 °C
GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)
12% loss
0% loss
Additional Features And Software
Software
Operating System
Windows 10
macOS
Additional Software
Yes
None
Extra Features
RGB Illumination
No
No
Touch Pen
No
No
Secondary Display
No
No
Biometrics
Face Recognition
Fingerprint Sensor
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Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019)
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Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) vs Apple MacBook Pro 16 (M1, 2021): Main Discussion
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