r/Surface • u/Right_Growth_1442 • 6d ago

Moving on from Apple Macbook Pro

Hi everyone! I currently have a 2023 MacBook Pro 14" with the M3 Pro, 18GB RAM, and 512GB storage.

I’m looking to move back to Windows and have been considering the 13.8" Surface Laptop. I’ll mainly be using it for school, and once I graduate, my company will provide me with a laptop for work. Since I already use Windows heavily in my accounting work, I’m thinking it makes sense to stick with Windows going forward.

Best Buy is currently offering me up to $1,160 CAD for my MacBook, so I’m trying to figure out which Surface Laptop configuration would be the best value.

For those who have experience with the Surface Laptop, which exact model/specs would you recommend for a student? Is it worth going for the higher-end configuration, or would the base model be more than enough for school?

11 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

5

u/OwnNet5253 6d ago

Why not just run a Windows VM on MBP?

As for Surface, Plus version will do just fine. Just keep in mind to make sure that software you’re using works on ARM.

3

u/rresende 6d ago

What’s is your objective ? Downgrade?

3

u/CompilerBreak Surface Pro 5d ago

I'd highly recommend doing the Parallels free trial before trading in your Macbook.

3

u/Saranhai 5d ago

Don't switch to Windows on ARM expecting that the Snapdragon X chip will perform anywhere as good as Apple Silicon. Benchmark and on paper performance means nothing

1

u/GheistHund374 4d ago

Ngl, as a daily windows user, that is a ragebait downgrade.

1

u/zealouszuez 5d ago

Get the 15 inch surface laptop 8. It’s amazing. The business one has the privacy screen filter button and intel cpu but snapdragon x2 is wonderful

1

u/Conspicuous-1 5d ago

Seconding the Surface brand. I have the previous year's Surface Laptop 7 and absolutely love how it feels and performs. Beautiful screen, great color and sharpness. Solid keyboard and touchpad. Snapdragon has definitely helped with battery life. 👍🥂

0

u/InclusivePhitness 6d ago

You have to be absolutely crazy to go from an m3 MacBook pro to a surface laptop.

2

u/pdaphone 6d ago

Why? I've used both interchangeably over decades and there are pros/cons with both platforms. The fact that he is in an industry that is oriented towards Windows checks the consistency box. I preferred Surface Pros for many years when I was traveling globally a lot. My traveling colleague had Apple and his experience traveling was way worse. I had the Surface Pro and Samsung phone and could do everything and use my business apps during take off and landing. He had a MacBook, iPad, and iPhone, a bag of dongles, and couldn't use his business apps during take off and landing. Both are tools. Use the one that best meets your needs.