Microsoft Says New Surface Pro is 1.7× Faster Than iPad Pro With 35% More Battery Life

[skaertus]

Apple does need to increase the 10 hour battery life I feel like they haven't tried to improve the battery life very much, 13 hours does sound better.

I am curious on how Microsoft managed to increase battery life so much. Is the Kaby Lake processor that energy efficient? Was Microsoft able to put more battery inside a similar form factor? Is Microsoft considering this battery life running Windows 10s and not regular Windows 10?

I guess we will only know for sure when the reviews and tests come out. But 50% more battery life is, wow, a lot!

 

[skaertus]

Wow, the core i7 laptop grade processor is faster than an in house processor designed specifically for a tablet with a touch interface? You don't say!

Apple should be ashamed of having the iPad Pro with such a fast processor and still being able to do so little.

 

[BenTrovato]

Both products are garbage compared to the tech available to create something worthwhile. They keep releasing these products to slightly increase the bottom line and pad investors wallets.

 

[Mrumors]

I am curious on how Microsoft managed to increase battery life so much. Is the Kaby Lake processor that energy efficient? Was Microsoft able to put more battery inside a similar form factor? Is Microsoft considering this battery life running Windows 10s and not regular Windows 10?

I guess we will only know for sure when the reviews and tests come out. But 50% more battery life is, wow, a lot!

https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2017/05/23/meet-new-surface-pro/#5odXAwygq6WyMZzk.97

"Up to 13.5 hours for video playback. Testing conducted by Microsoft in April 2017 using preproduction Intel Core i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM device. Testing consisted of full battery discharge during video playback. All settings were default except: Wi-Fi was associated with a network and Auto-Brightness disabled."

The Surface Pro tested has a new display, U series i5 Kaby Lake processor with new cooling (fanless configuration in this case), new motherboard, new NVMe storage and a new battery configuration. I think it's a combination of all of those changes.

Surface Pro 4 inside:

Surface Pro inside:

 

[ValO]

Actually, the most expensive Surface is 1.7x faster than all 12.9" iPad Pros, since they all have the same speed.

Yes, i know. But since ms forgot to leave a part out, i decided to put one part in.

 

[skaertus]

https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2017/05/23/meet-new-surface-pro/#5odXAwygq6WyMZzk.97

"Up to 13.5 hours for video playback. Testing conducted by Microsoft in April 2017 using preproduction Intel Core i5, 256GB, 8 GB RAM device. Testing consisted of full battery discharge during video playback. All settings were default except: Wi-Fi was associated with a network and Auto-Brightness disabled."

The Surface Pro tested has a new display, U series i5 Kaby Lake processor with new cooling (fanless configuration in this case), new motherboard, new NVMe storage and a new battery configuration. I think it's a combination of all of those changes.

Surface Pro 4 inside:

Surface Pro inside:

Wow. And Windows 10, not Windows 10s? Then I am really impressed.

 

[ElCidRo]

I wish Apple did a hybrid Or at least add LTE do their laptops.

 

[tongxinshe]

The real focus here is the new kickstand and keyboard, then the new pen (the increased response rate)!

 

[mi7chy]

I wish Apple did a hybrid Or at least add LTE do their laptops.

Apple would rather you stick to buying two devices rather than one. It's more profitable.

 

[imacalot]

A lot of people comparing the ipad pro to the surface. 1.7x faster in your world of cruising the internet or drawing may not be noticeable, but try openning Adobe After Effects and render some motion graphics. Wait, you can't do that with the iPad pro. Why is it called a pro then? Apple has taken their eyes off the professional users, and Microsoft is taking advantage of that. With Apples lack of upgrades to their hardware(desktops and laptops), many professionals like me have moved on to Windows. And it's actually not that bad. I too use to be a hardcore apple fan, but those days are gone with Steve(RIP). Heck, I even switched phones (Pixel) and it's freaking awesome.

Back to the subject. The new surface is what the ipad semi-pro wish it could be.

 

[GoBengals]

well it would certainly be embarrassing if their new product was SLOWER than a 18 month old apple product, wouldnt it? and ill assume the new pro will be faster than the current surface.. yadda yadda.

 

[lyngo]

Yes, keep telling that story to yourself. Ipad is totally useless when it comes to serious work, just the basence of a small invention called "mouse pointer" proves that. If you really think that you can do serious work constantly, for 8 hours a day, just by smashing the screen with your fingers because there isnt even a normal mouse pointer, you need to rethink alot of things. And while you are searching for all possible excuses how its not needed, let me remind you that even Apple themselves have said that they intentionally made the new MacBooks without touchscreen, since its totally useless in vertical mode and totally unpractical for any serious work for longer periods.

Bull.

It depends what you do for work and the tools needed for effectiveness for it. Just because your perceived needs and uses are different than others doesn't mean that my productivity on my iPad is hampered for effective work.

 

[chukronos]

Looks nice. the i7 is pricey, tho. I like my iPad pro, I just don't like the pathetic iOS. Oh well... may be time to make the switch to windows. Windows 10 seems pretty nice.

 

[GoBengals]

A lot of people comparing the ipad pro to the surface. 1.7x faster in your world of cruising the internet or drawing may not be noticeable, but try openning Adobe After Effects and render some motion graphics. Wait, you can't do that with the iPad pro. Why is it called a pro then? Apple has taken their eyes off the professional users, and Microsoft is taking advantage of that. With Apples lack of upgrades to their hardware(desktops and laptops), many professionals like me have moved on to Windows. And it's actually not that bad. I too use to be a hardcore apple fan, but those days are gone with Steve(RIP). Heck, I even switched phones (Pixel) and it's freaking awesome.

Back to the subject. The new surface is what the ipad semi-pro wish it could be.

yes, the only "professional users" are those "rendering motion graphics in adobe after effects" .... or thats a far far less than 1% of users.

the delusion involved in convincing yourself that people using after effects on a tablet is even remotely a segment that needs addressed is mind boggling.

PS: EVERYONE is really excited you like the pixel. the pixel IS a great phone, funny how an OS functions without a manufacturer needing to add tons of bloatware to it, you know, like the iphone, you HAVE to see the OBVIOUS difference between a pixel and a standard android, clearly the pixel works far better than a samsung, LG, HTC blowing a gig of ram and 20% of the processing powering running said bloatware..

the ipad pro is exactly what it wants to be, a high end tablet that can do 99.9% of desktop tasks 99.9% of the world population need it to.

and frankly, if im going to be "RENDERING MOTION GRAPHICS IN ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS" id be more confotable on a macbook than a tablet. both cost the same. both weigh the same, the surface pro weighs double the ipad air 2 and 33% more than the ipad pro..

"man i wish my tablet weighed as much as a notebook so i could render motion graphics in adobe after effects." - no one.

 

[Rogifan]

cause Apple is marketing it as a "Laptop Replacement"
I have the iPad Pro to use it as a tablet which is very good, but a laptop replacement? no way!

I know what Tim foolishly said but is Apple really marketing it as a laptop replacement for professionals? Seems to me at most they might be marketing it as a replacement for people who use a laptop to do light productivity.

 

[falainber]

And I am really sure it is, the problem is Windows. Try to achieve something like "Target disk more and migration assistant" in Windows...

Are you implying that one can do it in iOS (on iPad Pro)?

 

[Eadfrith]

Wait.... a brand new Kaby Lake i7 chip is ONLY 1.7 times faster than Apples mobile chip?

 

[PalidinoDH]

We have a gaggle of the Pro 4s at the office, and I'm "lucky" enough to be assigned to one. 70% of the time it's docked at my desk, so no real difference from a desktop. 20% of the time I use it at meetings for notes/presentations, and it's indistinguishable from a laptop - other than the garbage keyboard, which is sadly worlds better than the crap on the 12" MacBook and the new MBP. The final 10% of the time I try to use it as a tablet. It fails miserably at this task.

The right answer, Tim et al, is a late-2015 MBP and an iPad Mini 4. I'm glad Microsoft is trying, and I'm not irate with it about 3/4 of the time, but the tablet experience on these Surface machines is just bloody awful.

Have you tried the keyboard on the new MBPs or are you basing it on the regular macbook keyboards? I own a surface pro 3, macbook air, older macbook pro, and a ntb macbook pro, and the surface pro keyboard is by far one of the worst keyboards I think I've ever personally used.

 

[shaunp]

Look guys, another opinion presented as fact! Guess what: you can have extensive knowledge and experience with Windows 10, with a fully open mind, and think it's utter junk. Similarly you can think it's great.

But telling somebody to 'open their mind' because they disagree with your opinion of Windows is conceited. There's plenty to hate about Windows and perhaps if you took your own advice and opened your mind a little, you'd appreciate why some may greatly dislike it.

Each to their own, of course! I'm pleased it works for you, but it doesn't personally work for me or personally work for other people either. Personally being the keyword.

Fair enough, at least you have tried it. There are many on here that haven't and instantly think Windows is junk, hence the open your mind comment. Too many people are blindly in love with Apple kit and as a result we have the crap hardware Apple are currently producing.

 

[rowspaxe]

How about software that can make the iPad act as a duplicate or even second screen? What about using the iPad as a drawing tablet directly to the Mac? What if we could ssh into a Mac and manage files? How about allowing one machine control the other? The imagination runs wild.

If the next ipad pro does not have usb-c for use as a wacom style graphics tablet, I will...sigh. Wish the oem Surface cloners would look into this

 

[ShufromChina]

The pen is no longer bundled with the new Surface Pro. It's a separate $99 purchase. Looks like Microsoft learned something from Apple. I wonder if it'll be able to draw straight diagonal lines this time around. That's far more important to me than 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. I don't even know how many levels of pressure sensitivity my Apple Pencil has. I just know that it feels miles better than the Surface pen that I tried.

13 hours of Microsoft claimed battery life is going to translate into... I'm guessing 7 hours of normal use at best, which is actually not bad for such a compact Windows machine, but still less than the iPad Pro.

It's lighter but still somewhat heavier than the 12.9" iPad Pro which is already on the heavy side. That's fine for a laptop, but not so great for a tablet.

From what I've been able to dig up, the I5 version is using a 15 watt TDP CPU. Surely that's going to throttle in a bad way without a fan?!? I guess we will see people employ the Surface Pro 3 trick of using a USB fan to blow air across the back of the device. On the positive side, we won't hear all those horror stories from people having their Surface Pro turning into a hairdryer at an important meeting because Windows decided it was time to update.

To be honest, this is just another incremental upgrade that Microsoft is trying to turn into a bigger deal than it is. It's not really going to change anything. It'll still be a decent, if overpriced, ultraportable laptop and a very mediocre tablet. I still find the Macbook + iPad combo to be a much better experience, but some people obviously prefer the 'one device to rule them all' approach.

I am with you. Jumped from the "one-device rules all" bandwagon to the iPad + MacBook bandwagon ever since I graduated.

 

[JMacHack]

If the next ipad prod does not have usb-c for use as a wacom style graphics tablet, I will...sigh. Wish the oem Surface cloners would look into this

That's another thing that baffles me about Apple, I think they should've switched everything to USB-C at once. That would take some serious "Courage". If they're going balls-deep with the MacBook and the MacBook Pro into the new standard, why not the iPhone and the iPad? Why not the Watch, Apple Mouse and Keyboard? The point of a standard is to be standard.

 

[ShufromChina]

Have you tried the keyboard on the new MBPs or are you basing it on the regular macbook keyboards? I own a surface pro 3, macbook air, older macbook pro, and a ntb macbook pro, and the surface pro keyboard is by far one of the worst keyboards I think I've ever personally used.

Surface Pro 3's keyboard indeed is garbage; Surface Pro 4's keyboard is much improved. I've experienced all of them and I'd say SP3 keyboard<1st gen Butterfly keyboard<2nd gen Butterfly Keyboard<SP4 keyboard<<<<<<<<2015 and previous Gen Mac Keyboard.

 

[falainber]

Wait.... a brand new Kaby Lake i7 chip is ONLY 1.7 times faster than Apples mobile chip?

Not, that's not all. It appears Kaby Lake is 1.7 times faster AND less power hungry. Is not it impressive?

 

[Substance90]

I don't care what the iPad runs, they cost roughly the same yet the Surface can do more, much much more than the iPad Pro.

How is the cost even remotely the same? Only the cheapest Surface Pro is in the iPad Pro price range, and it'll run Windows 10 like **** with those 4 Gigs of RAM.