When you land into to the market to get the perfect tablet, there are many questions that come to the mind – Microsoft or Apple? Windows 10 or iOS 9.2? Apple iPad Pro or Microsoft Surface Pro 4? But considering the market for a tablet, two options stand out and shine of all the other options; iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4. Till date, the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro 4 are the two most powerful tablets. But both these tablets are designed very differently and are not for the similar type of users.
Here is a comparison between Apple iPad Pro vs. Microsoft Surface Pro 4, powerful yet different beasts:
1. Design and Size:
Both these devices are two of the best-looking hybrid devices available in the market, but they are very distinct from each other. Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is big; on the other hand, the iPad Pro is almost ridiculously large.
iPad Pro: The dimensions of iPad Pro are 305.7 x 220.6 x 6.9mm which makes it a slimmer option when compared to Surface Pro 4. It comes with an aluminum casing and weighs about 713g. It has a 1 x Lightning slot and a 3.5mm headphone port.
Surface Pro 4: It comes with a Magnesium casing, and the dimensions are 292.1 x 201.4 x 8.4mm. It weighs about 786g, with a 1 x USB 3.0, a microSD slot, a 3.5mm headphone port and Mini DisplayPort.
2. Display:
Both these devices have excellent screens and are pretty evenly matched.
iPad Pro: It has a larger physical display with a 12.9-inch canvas and a pixel density of 264 PPI. The screen resolution is 2732×2048 pixels.
Surface Pro 4: It has a 12.3-inch panel, which is smaller than Apple’s iPad Pro. But the display packs have more pixels per inch than the iPad’s which is 267 PPI. Its screen resolution is lower than iPad Pro i.e. 2736 x 1824.
3. Processor:
The iPad Pro’s is powered by an A9X processor, which is certainly the fastest chip ever in an Apple tablet. While the Surface Pro 4 has a broad range of CPU options, which includes a 6th-Generation Intel Core M3, Core i5 and Core i7.
4. Operating System:
When we call these devices hybrid, it means that we don’t need laptops anymore.
Surface Pro: Runs on Windows 10, which is a full desktop OS along with desktop-class apps.
iPad Pro: Runs on iOS 9 and has quite a lot of apps for the same. But we can’t compare iPad Pro to be able to run as a full desktop OS like Windows 10 or OS X on the other Apple laptops.
5. Camera:
The camera doesn’t play an important role with professional and hybrid tablets like these. But if the front camera is good enough, it certainly helps a lot with the video calling features. Both these devices offer good front-facing cameras
iPad Pro: 8 MP rear camera and a 1.2 MP front-facing camera.
Surface Pro 4: 5 MP front-facing camera and an upgraded 8 MP rear unit on the back. It also has 1080p video recording features.
6. Battery:
The Apple iPad Pro comes with a built-in 38.5-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery, which is expected to last up to 10 hours. On the other hand, Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is supposed to last up to 9 hours. These estimations are made with the usage of Wi-Fi and watching videos and music. When compared we can expect a better battery life in iPad Pro while using many other features simultaneously.
7. Storage:
Again the storage requirement differs from user to user. Both the devices offer the below capacities.
iPad Pro: Options available are 32GB / 128GB
Surface Pro 4: Options available are 128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB
8. Audio:
The iPad Pro comes with a quad-speaker setup which produces a loud and surprisingly balanced sound, so it becomes hard for a two speakers to beat four speakers on a tablet. Apple iPad Pro’s two top speakers handle the mid and high frequencies, and all four speakers deliver bass.
On the other hand, the Surface Pro is powered by Dolby Audio; it has two front-facing speakers which provide a pretty good sonic punch. It somewhat lacks in producing bass when compared to the iPad Pro; it also doesn’t get that loud.
9. Stylus:
The main USP for both the pen and pencils is that they support palm rejection and pressure sensitivity. The iPad Pro comes paired along with the new Apple Pencil. It is not included with the device and is available at a price tag of $99. On the other hand, Microsoft Surface Pro Pen is included with the tablet itself.
10. Keyboard:
Surface Pro 4: The keyboard is priced at $129 and is a necessity if you want to turn your Microsoft’s tablet to a laptop. The design offers a more spacious layout, 1.4 mm of travel which is impressive. The Surface keyboard is backlit, and the Type Cover comes with a built-in touchpad.
iPad Pro: The keyboard is priced at $169. It lacks a touchpad, and the keys are smaller less travel space. It is not backlit, the only positive thing to go for this accessory is that its fabric design makes it water-resistant.
11. Connectivity:
Connectivity in these devices is as follows:
iPad Pro: Includes a lighting and smart connector
Surface Pro 4: Includes a full-size USB 3.0, mini display port, microSD card reader, cover port and charging port.
12. Applications:
This is another category which will help you take a decision.
- iPad Pro: Offers apps which are optimized for fun and creativity. The App Store has more than 725,000 apps. In fact, there is a section which is dedicated for iPad Pro and is called Amazing Apps.
- Surface Pro 4: It runs all of the most popular Windows apps, which include full-fledged Photoshop and Premiere photo-editing and video-editing programs. To access a wide range of this tablet, you can run Stream on the Surface.
Apple iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Price & Availability:
iPad Pro: The two options will cost you, $799 for 32GB & $949 for 128GB.
Surface Pro 4: The price for 128GB Intel Core M3 version is $899, $999 for the Core i5 128GB variants and further it goes on till the Core i7 16GB RAM and 256GB variant is priced at hefty at $1,799. The high-end Pro 4 with up to 1TB of internal storage is priced at $2,699 and can never be customized.
Verdict:
Despite the fact that Apple has taken some inspiration from the Surface Pro 4 for its iPad Pro, and is also targeting the professional market. Considering the total cost of the iPad Pro combined cost of with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard easily crosses $1,000 which is a price at which one can get the MacBook Air. The MacBook is a much more powerful workhorse.
On the other hand, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4 comes with a desktop OS and also with a desktop class processor and RAM configuration which is much more powerful. Consider all factors we can declare Microsoft Surface Pro 4 to be a better choice, but again it isn’t flawless either.
