Microsoft Surface Laptop: A Better Alternative To Apple’s MacBook Air and MacBook Pro? By Laurence Hao | May 03, 2017 06:09 PM EDT The Microsoft Surface Laptop is specifically designed for college students whose education costs a fortune nowadays. With the newest Microsoft flagship device, students can have a powerful, and aesthetically pleasing computing device at a price that is much less than the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. According to PC World, the Microsoft Surface Laptop comes in 4 different variants, each having predetermined specifications and prices. The Core i5/4GB RAM/128GB variant is up for grabs for US$ 999 while the Core i5/8GB RAM/256GB SSD model is priced at US$ 1299. The Core i7/8GB RAM/256GB SSD is priced at US$ 1599 while the Intel Core i7/16GB RAM/512GB SSD is for sale for US$ 2199. The prices indicated above don't include the Surface Pen and the Surface Dial. BGR reports that the Microsoft Surface Laptop has enough juice to handle productivity tasks while being slim enough to be easily stored. The Surface Laptop, according to BGR, is still cheaper than even the most inexpensive MacBook Air and MacBook Pro in the market today. Incidentally, the Surface Laptop is equipped with Windows 10 S operating system which the users can switch to Windows 10 Pro for free until December 31, 2017. According to Tech Radar, the Microsoft Surface Laptop has a 13.5-inch PixelSense touch display and a smooth glass-coated Precision touchpad. The speaker system of the Surface Laptop is also marginally better than that of the MacBook Air due to speaker system being positioned directly below the keyboard. What sets the Microsoft Surface Laptop apart from both the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro is its battery with Microsoft claiming that the Surface Laptop can last up to 14. 5 hours on a single charge. While the prices are competitive, tech pundits believe that Microsoft is bound to offer a more inexpensive variant of the Surface Laptop. After all, these computing devices target the students who don't have that much in ways of finances. Still, the Surface Laptop fulfills the students need for a durable, quick, and responsive device, and a beautifully streamlined and designed laptop. It turns out that the Microsoft Surface Laptop could be a better alternative to Apple's MacBook Air and MacBook Pro especially at the prices they are offered. The Surface Laptop will start shipping on June 15.