Macbook vs New Surface 3

[windywalks]

The Surface 3 has an eMMC storage solution, which alone makes this device a non competitor.
I can understand eMMC on an Android/iOS device, but running a full desktop operating system off such a slow NAND will definitely produce a big performance hit. Then again it's supposed to be a budget solution but I wouldn't rely on it for my desktop needs if I was in the market for a tablet/laptop combo. I'd go the Surface 3 Pro route instead.

The rMB and the Surface 3 are both in two completely different classes.
One is a fully fledged laptop, the other one is somewhere between a laptop and a tablet spec wise but runs a full Windows OS.

 

[Souli]

yes eMMC is pretty awful to use if you are used to normal SSD speeds. I had a Lenovo Atom based Windows 8.1 for like a week before I returned it. The CPU could handle all the day to day tasks but it just feels so damn slow with the eMMC Storage. Programs take longer to load and the system is just not as reactive as you are used to from a normal SSD computer.

 

[Yr Blues]

MacBook 2304x1440

Surface 3 1920x1280

Surface Pro 2160x1440

I think the biggest difference is the price, which puts it in a different class. I don't want to say which is better. It's the individual needs that matter the most.

Capitalism rules.

 

[cbautis2]

Shouldn't this Surface 3 be compared to iPad Pro/Air 2? Just by looking at specs, putting a LTE chip automatically makes this device be used as a Tablet rather than a laptop that needs to be stationary and thus work well with only WiFi.

Atom is inferior to A8X in raw CPU power. RAM capacity (unless it's the 4 GB model) is barely adequate for desktop OS which implies that desktop apps are used only when a metro app isn't available (i.e. user will be all the time on metro unless he/she needs to use a desktop app such as VLC for Windows or ccleaner. It doesn't include keyboard and pen by default which makes it a pure tablet consumption by itself. It's like comparing Apples and Oranges IMO if this is compared to rMB.

 

[cbautis2]

MacBook 2304x1440

Surface 3 1920x1280

Surface Pro 2160x1440

I think the biggest difference is the price, which puts it in a different class. I don't want to say which is better. It's the individual needs that matter the most.

Capitalism rules.

Let's put the res in PPI:

rMB:226 ppi
SP3: 216 ppi
S3: 218 ppi

Pretty much negligible difference in terms of sharpness. You just get a nice hidpi display with pen and touch support for 1/2 the price of rMB

 

[Yr Blues]

Let's put the res in PPI:

rMB:226 ppi
SP3: 216 ppi
S3: 218 ppi

Pretty much negligible difference in terms of sharpness. You just get a nice hidpi display with pen and touch support for 1/2 the price of rMB

not sure if it's noticeable, though. i'm ocd about pixels

 

[dukebound85]

Compare the operating systems. Because at the end of the day that's all what matters. User's need to decide which operating system they want to use and which will fit their lives most efficiently.

you mean programs, not os's surely

 

[Mcdevidr]

Is the A8X really more powerful than the cherry trail atoms? I haven't seen any of the new atoms benchmarked yet b

 

[Rogifan]

Let's put the res in PPI:

rMB:226 ppi
SP3: 216 ppi
S3: 218 ppi

Pretty much negligible difference in terms of sharpness. You just get a nice hidpi display with pen and touch support for 1/2 the price of rMB

Where are you coming up with half the price? A Surface 3 with 128GB storage, 4GB RAM, Surface Cover and pen is $779. The rMB with double the storage and RAM is $1299. In no way shape or form is that half the price.

 

[cbautis2]

Is the A8X really more powerful than the cherry trail atoms? I haven't seen any of the new atoms benchmarked yet b

I highly doubt that cherry trail-t will be a huge speed bump from bay Trail-T. Still, A8X destroys Bay Trail-T and will sure outperform Cherry Trail-T.

Update: Geek bench has a benchmark for cherry Trail-T already. As you can see, A8X obliterates the Cherry Trail-T ATOM used by Surface 3:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/1954419?baseline=2219413

 

[cfedu]

Where are you coming up with half the price? A Surface 3 with 128GB storage, 4GB RAM, Surface Cover and pen is $779. The rMB with double the storage and RAM is $1299. In no way shape or form is that half the price.

Pretty easy, $500 is less than half the price of $1299. Even the higher end one is less than half the price. The higher end one with the optional keyboard is $730 which is still about half the price of the Macbook because you will need that $80 adapter.

The Base model Surface 3 is the same price as the base model iPad air 2. Saying that the iPad is more expensive because you have to include the 64Gb version $600, plus 30$ stand, $60 AV adapter, $35 SD adapter, 35$ usb adapter, for a total of $760 would be dishonest.

 

[Ismuz192311]

Mac Book Pro Retina 13 is better than [1/4 01:42] Isma: MSI GE60 2PE Apache Pro, HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G1 or other ultrabook?I need help!!!

 

[Rogifan]

Pretty easy, $500 is less than half the price of $1299. Even the higher end one is less than half the price. The higher end one with the optional keyboard is $730 which is still about half the price of the Macbook because you will need that $80 adapter.

The Base model Surface 3 is the same price as the base model iPad air 2. Saying that the iPad is more expensive because you have to include the 64Gb version $600, plus 30$ stand, $60 AV adapter, $35 SD adapter, 35$ usb adapter, for a total of $760 would be dishonest.

Why do you need the $80 adapter? And I'm sorry but nobody's buying the Surface without also buying the keyboard cover. Microsoft rarely, if ever, shows the device without the keyboard attached. And I'll bet most people are buying the pen too. Since the rMB has a full-size keyboard and trackpad it's silly to compare it to a Surface w/o keyboard. Plus the base level rMB comes with double the storage (256GB) and double the RAM(8GB). Shouldn't that be taken into account?

 

[maflynn]

I have the SP3, and its a great product, very portable, if you can deal with the smaller 10" screen its a great light use product. To be honest, I really don't see the Surface competing against the rMB. I think rMB's chipset is superior to the Surface, as well as the ram.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Yep that about sums it up

Why do you need the $80 adapter? And I'm sorry but nobody's buying the Surface without also buying the keyboard cover. Microsoft rarely, if ever, shows the device without the keyboard attached. And I'll bet most people are buying the pen too. Since the rMB has a full-size keyboard and trackpad it's silly to compare it to a Surface w/o keyboard. Plus the base level rMB comes with double the storage (256GB) and double the RAM(8GB). Shouldn't that be taken into account?

I have read and looked at many price comparisons with many products over the last 5 years and to be honest once you spec things out the same they all cost within 100 or so dollars of each other until you get down to the smaller tablets (there can be big differences there but this seems to be more about selling at cost to get apps and content sales).

Apples products are very reasonable for what you get, rarely the most expensive and never the cheapest but certainly reasonable.

 

[Serban]

lets not forget that HD5300 is pretty weak for the macbook resolution, so lets not talk about the GPU from surface 3..even worse
From laptop perspective the macbook has more RAM, more storage, more cpu power, more GPU power, a better keyboard, a better trackpad vs that touchscreen lag and a better resell value

 

[Ismuz192311]

The macbook lag or the HD5300? For the quality it's maybe the best in the field..but some informatic engineers advise me not to take this Apple product because of the problems with the sostitution of any pieces

 

[Serban]

the surface 3 lag

 

[Mcdevidr]

I highly doubt that cherry trail-t will be a huge speed bump from bay Trail-T. Still, A8X destroys Bay Trail-T and will sure outperform Cherry Trail-T.

Update: Geek bench has a benchmark for cherry Trail-T already. As you can see, A8X obliterates the Cherry Trail-T ATOM used by Surface 3:

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench3/compare/1954419?baseline=2219413

Thanks. Didn't know about that. Kinda a shame I thought the atoms would have been a little more powerful.

 

[cfedu]

Why do you need the $80 adapter? And I'm sorry but nobody's buying the Surface without also buying the keyboard cover. Microsoft rarely, if ever, shows the device without the keyboard attached. And I'll bet most people are buying the pen too. Since the rMB has a full-size keyboard and trackpad it's silly to compare it to a Surface w/o keyboard. Plus the base level rMB comes with double the storage (256GB) and double the RAM(8GB). Shouldn't that be taken into account?

Why would someone need the Microsoft keyboard but not Apple 80$ adapter.

Im sure people buying the 500$ model are on the cheaper side and will save the move and not buy it. The 500$ surface pro is way more useful than a 1300$ Macbook without the adapter in many ways IMO

Without an adapter the surface pro has 2 available usb port (1 can only be used for charging other devices) the Macbook can not really charge any other device without the 80$ adapter.

The Macbook can not connect to an external monitor without an adapter where the surface can and connecting with an Apple TV is an inferior solution it lags and unusable for anything more than powerpoint presentations.

A surface 3 can be used with any of the billions of USB keyboards that are on the market. It is easier to connect a surface 3 to a keyboard than a iPad which no one really uses with an external keyboard.

 

[bubbleboil]

Thanks. Didn't know about that. Kinda a shame I thought the atoms would have been a little more powerful.

If u Don look at bench mark, bay trail can run plenty of game off steam. Do a search on YouTube about atom tablet gaming and they will show u games like left for dead 2, modem combat 4 etc.
So the new atom shld be even better?

Plus best ipad game are usually a port of original pc games that can already run native in atom based tablet.

 

[Serban]

we all by now have wireless devices that can connect to that macbook...so not really a port issue
Surface is a portability thing..but you will use it with a lot of cables?

 

[Freyqq]

I have a dell venue 8 pro, which is basically the same specs as the low-end surface 3 except bay trail instead of cherry trail. I'm actually using it right now to type this. 2gb is enough for a couple programs running and 3 tabs in a browser. After that, it starts caching. MMC storage gets about 150mb/s read speed with full disk encryption on, so no SSD speeds. The advantage isn't in speed but in capabilities. I can run full desktop programs and it came with a full copy of office. So, I can take it on trips as my only device and not worry that I will need to do something that an iPad could not. The way it handles multitasking is also pretty novel. Windows 8.1 is a little rough around the edges as a tablet, though, compared to iOS. So, basically, this surface 3 is an iPad competitor. The surface Pro 3 is the rMB/MBA competitor.

 

[christophermdia]

I was lucky enough to get a work trip to LA and near a mall that has an Apple Store AND a Microsoft Store ... Apple store was the usual packed with people ... tried the new trackpad ... impressive but not game changing ... went to Microsoft store ... was bigger, and had like 3 people in it ... however! Got a chance to mess with a Surface 3 ... and with reduced memory, and obviously no fully loaded, was very very zippy ... surprisingly so ... if you load XP on this sucker it would crawl I'm sure! Still though, I wouldn't get anything less than the Surface Pro ... Even maybe for the kids this surface would be the best choice!

 

[Mcdevidr]

If u Don look at bench mark, bay trail can run plenty of game off steam. Do a search on YouTube about atom tablet gaming and they will show u games like left for dead 2, modem combat 4 etc.
So the new atom shld be even better?

Plus best ipad game are usually a port of original pc games that can already run native in atom based tablet.

Yep. I have a Dell venue 8 and it ran civ Ok. Way better than the old Acer netbook I had back in the day.