That Macbook Air looks more appealing than a surface. Its just free advertising for Apple. Now people who have never heard of a Macbook Air or a Surface Pro are going to go look at both.
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Microsoft Launches Three New Surface Pro 3 Ads Targeting the MacBook Air
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That's a good question. Let's look at the two models for the i5 and i7. Then let's look at the benchmarks (and by that, I mean FPS in some games). We will then determine which is "better".
i5-4300U- SP 3
i5-4260U- Macbook Air.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i5-4300U-Notebook-Processor.98838.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Core-i5-4260U-Notebook-Processor.115082.0.html
That tells me one is the 4400 and the other is the 5000 for GPU. Now let's look those up, shall we? At this point, you're right. The CPU is more powerful. Of course, you asked about gaming which is most GPU.
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4400.91979.0.html
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-5000.91978.0.html
Yep, looks like the i5 MacBook Air is better than the Surface Pro 3 for gaming. I wouldn't rely on either to play Watch Dogs, though.
There's no comparison between the i7 models, though. And by that, I mean they both use the same i7 chip.
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How many people haven't heard of a MacBook Air?
Microsoft has lost 1.7 billion $ on the surface
This is a very lively thread and many posters have their head up somewhere dark. Here are some facts: Computerworld - Microsoft continued to lose money on its Surface tablets throughout its just-concluded 2014 fiscal year, adding hundreds of millions of dollars in red ink and boosting total losses to $1.7 billion since the device's 2012 launch.
Time to pull the plug and stop wasting dollars on advertising this product. I thought with Balmers exit we were going to have a more intelligent leadership, guess not.
This is a very lively thread and many posters have their head up somewhere dark. Here are some facts: Computerworld - Microsoft continued to lose money on its Surface tablets throughout its just-concluded 2014 fiscal year, adding hundreds of millions of dollars in red ink and boosting total losses to $1.7 billion since the device's 2012 launch.
Time to pull the plug and stop wasting dollars on advertising this product. I thought with Balmers exit we were going to have a more intelligent leadership, guess not.
You (and many on here) are missing WHY these ads are coming out today and why they are focusing on the specs they are....
It is back to school time and students NEED a laptop for college. Apple does a very good job of selling their limited choices right in college bookstores. They are able to because they have a very focused offering and make it very lucrative for the schools to partner with them.
Dell could do the same, HP could do the same, and some do...but Microsoft only has the Surface as a hardware solution.
And believe it or not, the SP3 COULD be a much better solution for students (and let's face it, their parents) as it is two devices in one. Yes, there are kids that don't have their own tablet yet and would love to kill two birds with one stone. And the pen support/note taking capability with OneNote and the SP3 is simply unparraleled.
So..here is my issue with these ads....MS should actually SHOW what I just stated above. Show students using it in the classroom and then watching movies and screwing around on Facebook in their dorm room. There is another ad on right now (can't remember who) that shows the kid going from class to class with a hybrid laptop doing exactly what I'm talking about and it would be so much more powerful with the SP3. Oh well...they can hire me if they want to...
So the fact that they lost money now means the product is bad? Are we really going by the idea that sales now equate to quality?
Hmmm? That's a stretch.
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Loosing?
They are definitely not losing ground. Don't fall for the ads.
Not a honest ad at all, they know they can't beat Apple !!!
They showing how to zoom in surface.
Interestingly I can zoom too using my touchpad on my mac.
They showing you can type on screen with stylus.
I can do that with my iPad and synced to my mac via iCloud seamlessly.
They showing you can separate screen from keyboard.
I can have my iPad with me and I can leave my laptop on my desk.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Intel Core i5 256GB Storage 12" Tablet = $1299
Apple Mac Book Air 11" $899 + iPad mini 16gb $399 = MS Surface price tag.
Not to mention that Apple runs OSX and iOS, best OS ever !!!
They showing how to zoom in surface.
Interestingly I can zoom too using my touchpad on my mac.
They showing you can type on screen with stylus.
I can do that with my iPad and synced to my mac via iCloud seamlessly.
They showing you can separate screen from keyboard.
I can have my iPad with me and I can leave my laptop on my desk.
Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Intel Core i5 256GB Storage 12" Tablet = $1299
Apple Mac Book Air 11" $899 + iPad mini 16gb $399 = MS Surface price tag.
Not to mention that Apple runs OSX and iOS, best OS ever !!!
Not to crap on your comparison, but apparently the 12" Surface Pro 3 has about the same screen real-estate (whatever that means ) as the 13" MBA.
100% agree; The Apple MacPro and iMac ranges have always been pricey but included all the latest technologies in the past. Annoying to me as someone looking to upgrade my MacBook Pro 2011.
Touchscreen has been around in other laptops for so long now, pressure sensitive screens with pens too (like on that Surface, the ability to draw on the screen like a Wacom is why I bought a Surface 1 - it is AMAZING to be able to draw freehand).
MacBook Pro's MUST be due a massive refresh soon. The price is now so prohibitive for me to upgrade, stupid money to upgrade the SSD+RAM, and the $999 Thunderbolt display isn't even 4K!! If the refresh doesn't include some decent catch ups and more reasonable upgrade prices I'm heading back to a Windows Machine with my old MacPro as a slave only for building release and test versions of iOS apps.
Three ads ??
wow. Microsoft getting desperate.. They really want to tell how good Surface Pro 3 is, but what good is if the product they use on it is not widely used ?
lol..... write with a pen...
their getting outdated........ I don't even use one anymore..... we have "notes" for that on iOS as well as the Mac.
I can't remember the last time i used a yellow sticky
Seems MS may want to look into comparing things better..
Of course no one would tell you that the Surface Pro 3 is NOT 16:9/16:10... And that's actually the important part here. Personal choice.
But still, its a major one, MS left out.....
wow. Microsoft getting desperate.. They really want to tell how good Surface Pro 3 is, but what good is if the product they use on it is not widely used ?
lol..... write with a pen...
their getting outdated........ I don't even use one anymore..... we have "notes" for that on iOS as well as the Mac.
I can't remember the last time i used a yellow sticky
Seems MS may want to look into comparing things better..
Of course no one would tell you that the Surface Pro 3 is NOT 16:9/16:10... And that's actually the important part here. Personal choice.
But still, its a major one, MS left out.....
Wrong. The 11" has an absolutely rubbish 16:9 screen - see for example http://www.imore.com/macbook-air-11-inch-vs-13-inch-which-ultralight-laptop-should-you-get
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Actually, a LOT of us are (also) interested in the SP3 because of the significantly taller, 3:2 screen. We're sick of even 16:10 screens, let alone 16:9 ones.
Depends on the field, obviously. But yes, there are a lot of professions that work best with a pen.
Do you forget the "I'm a Mac" ads? I am a Mac user, I am typing this on a MBP, but the Microsoft commercials are great and successfully turn the "I'm a Mac" vs PC ads upside down.
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Well if you go by certain people the Surface Pro 3 is the absolute future of mobile computing and everybody wants one, even Apple fans. So technically these things should be selling like hotcakes.
Well, it can be the future without everyone wanting one. I'm not saying it is, but this could be one of those "ahead of its time" concepts. Kind of like we all love our MBA, but the first one was a joke.
I'm not going to say everyone wants one, since there isn't any single item everyone wants, but I can see how nice this product is.
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And yet due to a resolution difference, it apparently shows more things.
This would be a great comparison, but all of the ads conveniently neglect to mention that as configured the MacBook Air 11" is cheaper. Moreover, for $70 more than the configured price of the Surface, you can get a 13" MacBook Air which has a bigger screen.
The only advantage the Surface Pro 3 has is touch. I'm a programmer, my bash shell [defecates] on laptop touch interfaces. It was never meant to be, the Surface Pro 3 is only one step beyond this,
and this sucks, though for the price, it's probably still a better machine than the Surface. At least it sits on your lap, dammit.
If you really need the touch interface, buy a MacBook Air 11" and a Wacom. It'll be a better overall experience for only slightly more than the price of a Pro 3 at entry level.
The only advantage the Surface Pro 3 has is touch. I'm a programmer, my bash shell [defecates] on laptop touch interfaces. It was never meant to be, the Surface Pro 3 is only one step beyond this,
and this sucks, though for the price, it's probably still a better machine than the Surface. At least it sits on your lap, dammit.
If you really need the touch interface, buy a MacBook Air 11" and a Wacom. It'll be a better overall experience for only slightly more than the price of a Pro 3 at entry level.
When you have a tablet sized laptop then it's easier to move your whole arm and touch, but when you have a 20" touchscreen it gets annoying. Anyways the trackpad on the MacBooks is fairly big, bigger than almost all regular windows laptops that I've seen, I'm very happy with apple's multitouch trackpad, 4 finger gestures easily fit on it. And its not like you have to stop and click, I know other laptops do this or some don't, Im not sure, but I like that you can move the pointer with one finger and tap with the other to click without having to lift the other finger. Yeah it's something tiny to notice but little things make huge differences. Not sure about this on touchscreen but then again, you have the moving your whole arm thing, and when you don't want to I doubt the trackpad has the same functions. Point is you get the same functions but you use them differently it all depends wether you want to move your arm when you use the thing as a laptop or you wanna rest it on something and having the same functions as the screen