Surface Pro 3 vs MacBook Air 13' for University

[potroasted1]

Models i have chosen

Surface Pro 3
- i5
- 4GB Memory

MBA 13'
- i5
- 4GB Memory

I will be a Computer Science major and will be carrying this almost everywhere I go. I am considering the Surface because of it's good pen and touch screen for note taking. Considering th3 MBA because of it's battery and being a great 'ultrabook'. I dont have brand or OS loyalties. Also is the Surface's fan really loud when doing intense tasks compared to the Air? I might play a light game like LoL on rare occasions. Ive heard the Air and it gets pretty loud and was wondering if it was the same for the Surface.

Overall this is mainly for a uni CS student who plans on using this for all purposes university, inside and outside the classroom.

 

[iceblitzed]

i would choose other laptops besides those. whats your price range?>

 

[1shado1]

13"

 

[tlane]

I would recommend the SP3 over the Macbook Air. I would also suggest you take a look at the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga, and the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro. The Yoga 2 Pro has an almost 4k touch screen, but no pen support. The Thinkpad Yoga has a 1080p WaCom pen enabled screen. Both of them share the same patented Lenovo hinge that allows you to flip the screen 360 degrees all the way around backwards so that it is flat like a tablet. I think that in the end, the pen will be useful for you and so you should lean towards the SP3, Thinkpad Yoga, or other devices that have (precision) pen enabled technology.

One last note... If you are going to University, chances are they have some sort of deal with Microsoft that will allow you to get the latest Office 365 student stuff for extremely cheap or even free. That being said, going with the Windows ecosystem will benefit you more at University since the Windows versions of the office suite (especially version 2013) are far superior to Office 2011 for Mac.