Apple's latest MacBook Air and Microsoft's Surface Pro 3 aren't brand new releases, but those watching football in the U.S. on Sunday may have thought so, as Microsoft pushed an ad campaign targeting the smallest MacBook for the benefit of the Surface Pro 3.

Of course, these commercials help raise the question of how these devices stack up against each other. It's clear that Microsoft is taking on the MacBook Air with the Surface Pro 3 and some reviews claim that it has put out a portable machine capable of just that.

Looking into price and specifications, these machines are fairly similar to each other. The MacBook Air starts at $899 for the 11-inch model, while the Surface Pro 3 starts at $799, according to their respective websites.

The Surface Pro 3 is 0.55 inches thick and weighs 2.4 pounds, compared to the MacBook Air, which is 0.68 inches thick and weighs 2.96 pounds.

In terms of processing power, each device comes with options. The MacBook Air comes with either an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, while the Surface comes with either of those and has the option of the i3 processor. Both machines have 128GB of flash memory and up to 8GB of RAM, depending of the specific setup, Geek reported.

The Surface comes with one USB port, a mini Display Port and a microSD slot, but users can buy a separate dock that comes with more connectivity. The MacBook comes with two USB ports, a Thunderbolt port and an SDXC port.

Microsoft has a leg up on screen resolution, as the Surface Pro 3 packs a 2160x1440 display, compared to the 1440x900 display on the MacBook Air, the only Mac without the Retina display.

That resolution does come at a cost, however. The MacBook delivers 10 hours of battery life, which the Surface cannot match.

One feature that may end up making a difference in deciding between the two devices is the Surface's touch-screen capability. Users on the Surface Pro 3 have the advantage of a touchscreen and can use a special stylus to improve the overall experience on the machine. The MacBook offers neither of these features.

Reviewers claim that the touchscreen and detachable keyboard make the Surface a more versatile device.

As is often the case between Apple and Microsoft, the choice between the MacBook Air and Surface Pro 3 could very well come down to user preference in software -- OS X versus Windows.