“For what conceivable purpose would you want to compare average thickness?”Along with length, width and depth, that’s what determines the volume of the object (=portability). The Surface Pro has 60% more volume as a MacBook Air 11". And yet, it gets hot, has loud fans, and has less battery life. That’s just bad engineering. As a replacement for a notebook and a tablet, it really should have at least as much battery life as an iPad. Given its volume, that would’ve been possible.
Surface Pro: 10.81 x 6.81 x 0.76" = 55.95 cubic inches
MacBook Air 11": 11.8 x 7.56 x 0.39" = 34.79 cubic inches
EDIT: in an earlier version I mistakenly wrote 'mass' where I meant 'volume'.
