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With Apple’s release of two ARM-powered MacBooks and Microsoft’s iteration of the ARM-powered Surface Pro X, it’s easy to make a comparison between the two platforms, as they both move away from Intel’s x86 architecture. And if all you want is the highest possible benchmarking result, it’s an outright win for Apple.
But there will be times when Microsoft’s Surface Pro X is the right choice.
Microsoft Corp.’s Surface Pro X Hybrid Laptop and Tablet Displayed During a … [+]
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The two machines are designed for different styles of computing. The MacBook Air is very much a traditional laptop, with a fixed keyboard, hinged display, touchpad, and no touchscreen. Surface Pro X is very much a 2-in-1 device, built on tablet principles, with a thin and light design combined with a touchscreen (and yes, the incredibly expensive dockable keyboard).
That’s not to say there isn’t a big crossover in terms of use cases for the two machines, and I suspect a good seventy percent of the assets could be done equally on the MacBook Air or Pro X. But the other thirty percent. one hundred, thirty percent that is situation specific, is where both devices have their own advantages.
The MacBook Air user will rely on the power available, the full range of creative applications available in macOS, and the ability to carry a traditional computer with them. When you need the grunt of media creation, video editing, app development, or other heavy duty tasks, Apple’s M1-equipped MacBooks are very attractive.
The Surface Pro X user is looking for a much more portable device with a different feature set. This is a tablet, but combined with the wide adoption of Windows 10. That opens up a wide range of applications that run as native ARM applications or under emulation. The adoption of progressive web applications increases the flexibility of the Pro X, and the inclusion of 4G LTE support on the device is another key difference.
Microsoft’s tablet is less about power and more about mobility. Yes, there are times when the raw power of a computer is needed, but there are other times when a greater focus on mobility and connectivity is the primary requirement. Benchmarks aren’t the only measure of a useful computer, and there will be times when the ARM-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro laptops will be surpassed by the ARM-powered Surface Pro X.
The catch for Microsoft is that Apple has a tablet-focused device with ARM technology that can challenge the Pro X … the iPad Pro offers a similar wearable device with 4G LTE connectivity. It’s a different set of apps, which will again play a big role in consumer choice – will iPadOS offer the right tools or will the Windows 10 app library be delivered?
There are circumstances where the iPad Pro is the right choice; where the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro is the right choice; and where Surface Pro X is the right choice.
Context, not benchmarks, is key.
Now read the latest Apple headlines in Forbes’ Apple Loop column …
