Watch the ad, embedded below, then read on.

I find this comparison ridiculous. And disingenuous. That price quoted in the ad gives you a weak-sauce Intel Core i3 processor, along with 128GB of storage and 4GB of RAM. It also includes a pencil and keyboard case. Drop the pencil and keyboard case and the price is $750. Just to make the comparison a bit more equal.

If you are going to compare that Surface Pro configuration against an M1 MacBook Pro or, better yet, against the M1 MacBook Air, you really do need to look at the bigger picture.

• Battery life on the MacBook Air is about twice as long.
• GeekBench on the Surface Pro 7 (Intel i3, 2 cores): 774 (single core) and 1851 (multi-core)
• GeekBench on the entry level MacBook Air: 1744 (single core) and 7685 (multi-core)

Want to bump your Surface Pro up to an Intel i7? Still much slower than the MacBook Air, but now the price floor (without pencil and case) is $1299.

MacBook Air price starts at $999. True, the Surface Pro gives you a built in touch-screen and Windows, if that’s your thing, but you pay a price for that.

With all that in mind, take another look through that ad.