Facepalm: It's been nearly 20 years since Apple launched the Microsoft-mocking "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" commercials, and the two companies continue to take shots at each other in their respective ads. The latest from the Redmond giant claims that top Copilot+ PCs are more than 50% faster than a Mac – specifically, the now-discontinued MacBook Air M3 that launched in March 2024.
Microsoft's 12-second ad, which doesn't exactly scream high-end production values, was shown on the official Windows YouTube channel. The announcer excitedly boasts that "Top Copilot+ PCs are up to 58% faster than MacBook Air with M3." Just to ensure the point is driven home, he adds, "That's right, faster than a Mac."
As most of the comments beneath the video point out, Microsoft seems to be taking an excessive amount of pride in the best Copilot+ PCs on the market being faster than an entry-level machine launched over a year ago.
The disclaimer in the ad notes that the figures are based on Cinebench 2024 multi-core CPU benchmarks. It directs viewers to a website stating that the 58%-faster claim comes from Microsoft-commissioned testing performed by Principled Technologies conducted in May 2024 and September 2024.
The tests compared the M3 MacBook Air to several Copilot+ machines, including the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and Microsoft's own Surface Laptop, both of which are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip. They also used HP's OmniBook Ultra 14 with AMD's Ryzen AI 9 HX 375.
Apple released the more powerful successor to the M3 MacBook Air, the M4 model, in March this year. Apple also made the latest MacBook Airs $100 cheaper than their 13- and 15-inch M3 predecessors and made 16GB of unified memory the standard.
Part of Microsoft's website states that in other Cinebench 2024 benchmarks carried out in April 2025, "several" Snapdragon X devices all scored higher than the 866 achieved by Apple's M4 10-core CPU. If you're wondering why Microsoft would choose to boast about the Copilot+ PCs being faster than an M3 MacBook Air and not an M4, it's because the Windows devices were only slightly faster than the newer SoC, as you can see below.
| Device | Processor | Performance Gain vs. M4 MacBook Air (866) | Cinebench 2024 Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS Vivobook S 14 | AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 | 5.3% | 912 |
| Dell XPS 13 9345 | Snapdragon X Elite | 8.9% | 943.3 |
| HP OmniBook Ultra 14 | AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 | 11.4% | 965 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 14" | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite | 18.9% | 1029.6 |
| Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x 14" | Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite | 19.4% | 1033.6 |
| Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 | AMD Ryzen AI 9 365 | 17.9% | 1021.3 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 15" | Snapdragon X Elite | 9.7% | 950 |
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8" | Snapdragon X Elite | 2.7% | 889.6 |
Laptops carrying the Copilot+ branding still only make up a small fraction of overall laptop shipments, with most consumers not sharing Microsoft's enthusiasm for these machines. It's unlikely that marketing campaigns like this one, comparing the top-tier Copilot+ models to a discontinued base MacBook Air M3, are going to increase their popularity.
