It’s already common knowledge that Macs run more smoothly than Windows, after all, Apple’s closed ecosystem allows for the ultimate integration of hardware and software. However, one would think that Word, which Microsoft has been developing for over 30 years, should run faster than on a Mac, right? PhoneBuff’s recent automated tests on two sets of laptops, however, yielded a very awkward result. When opening the same 500-page Word document, both MacBooks took only 7 seconds, while the Dell XPS 13 and Microsoft Surface Laptop both required 12 seconds.
In the end, the two Windows 11 laptops took about 71% longer, and one of the MacBooks was even equipped with the iPhone’s A18 Pro chip.
Image source: Windows Latest
In a real-world test with a 500-page Word document, the MacBook took just 7 seconds, while both Windows laptops took 12 seconds.
According to Windows Latest Reportedly, this data comes from a comparison of two laptops conducted by PhoneBuff.
PhoneBuff has been known mainly for its phone speed and battery life tests. The testing process uses a robotic arm to operate the devices, keeping the timing and position of each tap as consistent as possible to reduce errors caused by manual operation.
Image source: Windows Latest
The first test pitted the MacBook Air with the M5 chip against the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch with the Snapdragon X2 Plus. Both laptops opened a 500-page Word document at the same time: the MacBook Air took 7 seconds to load, while the Surface Laptop took 12 seconds.
The second group was swapped to the more affordable MacBook Neo and Dell XPS 13, and the results were almost identical. The MacBook Neo, powered by the A18 Pro chip from the iPhone 16 Pro, also took just 7 seconds to open documents. The XPS 13, equipped with an Intel Core 5 320 and 8GB of memory, again took 12 seconds.
The MacBook Neo starts at NT$22,900, making it Apple’s most affordable laptop, and its A18 Pro chip was originally designed for phones. In contrast, competitor Dell uses the new Wildcat Lake processor, while the Surface Laptop has Microsoft directly handling both the hardware and Windows integration. Yet both Windows laptops fell 5 seconds behind the MacBook when opening Microsoft’s own Word — that’s genuinely embarrassing.
Image source: Windows Latest
Of course, this test cannot be directly interpreted as “Word opens slower on all Windows 11 computers.”
Foreign media outlet Windows Latest also used their own Windows computer to open another 500-page document containing images, completing it in under 3 seconds—faster than all four laptops tested by PhoneBuff.
This means the differences may also be related to document content, Office version, storage devices, memory capacity, or test machine settings, and it is currently not possible to conclude that Windows 11 loses to Mac based solely on two sets of comparisons.
In addition to Word startup speed, PhoneBuff also tests battery consumption, and Windows laptops manage to gain an edge in this area.
The productivity test continuously switches between Word and Excel, performing text entry, copying, and pasting, while playing music in the background via Spotify to simulate common usage patterns of an average person at work.
In the two-hour productivity session, the Dell XPS 13’s battery dropped 18%, while the MacBook Neo used 26%; in the other group, the Surface Laptop consumed only 16%, while the MacBook Air dropped 24%. Both Windows laptops used 8% less than their competitors.
Since the launch of Apple’s M series chips, long battery life has always been a MacBook advantage, and Windows laptops found it hard to compete head-on in the past. This time, at least, it proves that new-generation Intel and Qualcomm processors paired with Windows 11 have made substantial progress in battery efficiency for everyday productivity tasks.
Source: KOCPC Chinese