Is There a Windows Equivalent of The M1 MacBook Air? (Speed, Weight, Temps, Battery Life, No Fans)

evadw on 20/11/2022 - 10:28
Last edited 20/11/2022 - 11:33 by 1 other user

Hi all,

I haven't been keeping up with laptops, so would appreciate any help.

I've had the M1 MackBook Air since it was released. It's my first Mac. In a lot of ways it's amazing: battery life is great, lovely (and colour-accurate) screen, it's nice and lightweight, and it's a shockingly fast computer for things like exporting multimedia (which I use at work).

Have any Windows PCs caught up in these respects? I don't love MacOS, the Mac Outlook is garbage, and not being Windows makes it incompatible with a few other little things I'd like to be able to do.

Cheers!

Computing Computer Laptop

Comments

  • prisonmike on 20/11/2022 - 10:40
    +2

    You can install windows on Mac now. It works fairly well, however app support for M series could be an issue though.

    • wasdw246 on 20/11/2022 - 19:31

      is this native? or just parallels vm?

      • prisonmike on 20/11/2022 - 19:42

        Boot camp is not support on m1 and m2 processor yet. I guess the only option for now is parallels…

  • RobBoss on 20/11/2022 - 10:42
    +3

    I feel your pain, love everything about the Mac except the OS. Maybe try parallels? Alternatively, some Windows options include XPS13, Surface Pro, HP spectre, Asus G14, and Razer Blade 14. From my time spent watching reviews and comparison however, hardly anything in the market can match the battery life and sound quality of Macbooks.

  • TimApple on 20/11/2022 - 10:43
    +5

    Surface is the closest but MacBook Air is still superior tbh.

  • nfr on 20/11/2022 - 10:43
    +1

    I'm not sure about this but isn't it possible to install Windows on Mac?

  • StraightGuy on 20/11/2022 - 10:46

    Dell Latitude or Dell XPS. They both are great.

    • GrueHunter on 20/11/2022 - 11:07
      -2

      Definitely. The i7-1260u Latitude is only 10% slower than the M1 and at the bargain price of over $4,000.

  • justdigi on 20/11/2022 - 11:07

    What do you mean Mac Outlook is garbage? Outlook 365 is exactly the same as the windows version?

    • RobBoss on 20/11/2022 - 18:26
      +1

      Put web-base 365 aside, OP is referring to the difference between Outlook app on the app store and the standalone Outlook software that is bundled with 365 sub. They are quite different.

      • justdigi on 20/11/2022 - 18:43
        -4

        I never said anything about the web version?

        • RobBoss on 20/11/2022 - 20:51
          +1

          The point being web-based outlook = same. Outlook of the two OSs = different…

  • Noblejoker on 20/11/2022 - 12:14
    +1

    Short answer is No there is nothing close at anywhere near the price
    It depends on what you use it for
    An XPS at double the price might meet most of your needs but it is not quite as good
    That said - I bought a MBP 16" and even though it was by far the best hardware I have ever owned, I sold it to go back to Windows

    • OzzyBrak on 20/11/2022 - 13:19

      I haven't used MacOS since it was OS X. I'm interested to hear why you went back to Windows, was it just a software compatibility issue?

      • Noblejoker on 22/11/2022 - 09:49

        Just familiarity with gestures and apps
        Copy and paste were frustrating - you can fix via software, but it isn't the same
        Windows things like alt-tab etc. don't work the same
        File manager etc. is different
        I also really missed some customisations I make - mostly via Autohotkey scripts etc.

        I honestly thought that with some much done in the browser now etc. that it would be close enough - but it just felt foreign
        Although I do have to use Windows most of the time at work - so I couldn't switch full time

  • djkelly69 on 20/11/2022 - 12:46

    I had an older Macbook Air (from 2014) but never got used to Mac OS so barely used it except when I needed the battery life.

    Got a Lenovo Ideapad 5 Pro last year (similar specs to this but the older model) and reckon it would tick most of your boxes. I don't believe it is fanless, but have never heard mine come on.

    • StraightGuy on 20/11/2022 - 13:07

      How’s the performance?

      • djkelly69 on 20/11/2022 - 13:12
        +1

        Great for my needs, but I don't do video encoding or much that I think is particularly taxing on it. FWIW I have the R7 5800U model.

  • freefall101 on 20/11/2022 - 13:39
    +1

    Depends on your budget, if it's unlimited I'd look at the Thinkpad Z13. Battery life is incredible, so is the laptop itself, although it's a lower resolution screen and the pricing makes Apple look good. Surface Laptop Studio has good battery life and a great screen, it'd be nice if Microsoft would update it though (still on 11th gen Intel).

  • nubix on 20/11/2022 - 14:59
    +1

    x1 carbon's pretty good. in many ways, i prefer the lenovo despite being a mac user 90% of the time

  • generalk on 21/11/2022 - 07:54
    -1

    The Surface Pro X uses an ARM CPU like the M1, so in some respects it is similar. I doubt it would come close for the multimedia work you speak of though.

    • Namesareapain on 23/11/2022 - 12:53

      Sharing an ISA means nothing, x86-64 processors are far superior to non Apple ARM based CPUs, with the latest laptop processors from AMD and Intel being pretty close to the M2 for performance and power usage.

  • srhardy on 21/11/2022 - 08:51
    +1

    Buy a use intel Macbook Air & just install windows with the boot camp drivers. It’s the best of both worlds and I’ll be honest, the best made Bang4Buck m Microsoft laptop is a used intel air!

    You only need to generate the usb drivers and then clean install windows (buy a cheap licence $20) and you’re golden!

    Dual boot if you have a 500gb model but man, windows is awesome on a intel mac and the prices on marketplace are amazing

  • H4nd0 on 21/11/2022 - 10:35
    +1

    Bootcamp doesn't work on M1 based Apple laptops. To run Windows you will need to purchase a Parallels subscription (~$A75/year) and a Windows 11 license (~$A150).

    If you want a new Windows laptop comparable to a MacBook Air and has an ARM-based CPU (similar to M1) then Microsoft Surface is the way to go. However, it must be running Windows 11 in order to support ARM64EC which will allow you to run Intel-only applications. Then you run the gauntlet of incompatibility. I did that for a while on my MBP and it just became painful, especially in relation to drivers which generally don't work.

    In terms of Wintel-based laptops similar to the Macbook Air from a form factor, price, and performance perspective consider looking at Dell XPS 13 Plus, Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Nano, and HP Elite Dragonfly G3. I'm sure there are many others. Low power, high-res, colour-correct screens. Ensure you patch the damned things (e.g. BIOS, OS, drivers). And be prepared to wipe them periodically to avoid Windows rot (however, M1 + Ventura has seen the end of macOS reliability for me with regular OS lockup, app hangs, and stalls).

    The downside of all these thin and light laptops is the lack of ports and finite battery capacity. So your laptop turns into cable spaghetti once you connect an external screen and various peripherals. For example, for photography and videography workflows … I need external USB1-4, SD, CF, and other connectivity which requires the purchase of a dock. They can get expensive (e.g. $A500-$A1000+) - with power delivery capability and power draw capability being the main thing to watch out for. For example, running external full-frame DSLRs requires a fair bit of juice on the USB bus and can exhaust a MacBook battery rapidly. OBS is another power draw offender if you are into casting. Clearly, Bluetooth peripherals mitigate cable sprawl at the expense of speed. I purchased a Cygnett ChargeUp (thanks OzB) and use that to charge drone, camera, and peripheral batteries, laptops, tablets, phones, and power a dock while on-site / on set.

    Hope that helps.

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