Battle of the Ultra-Lights: Comparing Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 and Apple's 13-Inch Macbook Air

Microsoft announced the new Surface Pro 4 is 50 percent faster than Apple's latest 13-inch MacBook Air. Some might even say that it is a bold claim.

Both devices come with power-packed features. Spec-wise they tend to outdo each other constantly.

According to PC Magazine, Apple's MacBook Air doesn't back down when it comes to display. It has a 13.3 inches non-touch and non-Retina display, with a 1,440 by 900 resolution.

On the other hand, Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 has a screen size of 12.3 inches and a 2,736 by 1,824 resolution. The touch is protected by the Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

Coming to dimensions, the MacBook Air 13-inch is incredibly thin from 0.68 inches at the back to 0.11 inches at the front of the device. In contrast, Surface Pro 4 is 0.33 inches thick.

An open MacBook Air is 8.94 inches high and 12.8 inches wide. In Portrait mode the Surface Pro 4 has a height of 1.5 inches and a width of 7.93 inches.

The Surface Pro 4 includes a USB 3.0 port, a microSD card reader, and a Mini Display Port. The MacBook Air 13-inch has two USB 3.0 connections, an SDXC card slot, and a Thunderbolt 2 port.

Under the hood, the MacBook has Intel's Core i5-5250U processor last generation. The Surface Pro 4 has Intel's new Skylake CPUs, with available configurations of Core m3, Core i5, and Core i7.

According to iTech Post, the Surface Pro 4 has up to 16 GB RAM and features 5 MP front camera and 8 MP rear camera. The MacBook Air has 8 GB RAM and sports a 720p front camera.

The Surface Pro 4 has multiple storage option available including 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. The MacBook Air comes in two, 128GB and 256GB options.

As per Microsoft, the Surface Pro 4 can has a battery life of up to 9 hours. On the other hand, it has been reported that the MacBook Air 13-inch can run up to 17 hours.