Apple's iPad Pro Spanks Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3

Frankly, this is not looking that great for Microsoft. Everyone knows I’m at loathe to give Apple a compliment, but here it is: the iPad Pro Spanks Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.

The New iPad or the iPad Pro is the “most powerful and capable iPad” ever created, according to Apple.

It certainly does have the biggest screen from any iOS device, 12.9-inches, which was made intentionally to have a width the exact size of the height from the iPad Air 2 – which means it has 78% more screen area than the predecessor. It has a pretty impressive resolution, with 2,732 x 2,048 pixels for retina display. It has by far the highest resolution of any iOS device.

But if Apple is calling it “Pro,” how does it stand up against the current pro on the market, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3? Frankly, this is not looking that great for Microsoft. Everyone knows I’m at loathe to give Apple a compliment, but here it is: the iPad Pro Spanks Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.

The Surface Pro has a smaller surface (which makes the name ironic), a mere 12-inches compared to Apple’s barely larger 12.9-inches. It has a full HD touchscreen display, 2,160 x 1,440 resolution display, which is also pretty wimpy in comparison to Apple’s newest tablet flagship. Soooo that’s embarrassing.

But what we really need to pay attention to on the latest from Apple is the overall improvement to graphics performance. Apple has finally realized that multimedia is the future, and so has improved its graphics overall by 2x.

The iPad Pro has a variable refresh rate which is brand new for Apple tablets, and a new A9X processor, which is a 3 generation 64-bit chip that has 2x memory bandwidth of A8X and 2x faster storage performance. For those wondering, Apple claims that it is 1.8x faster than the A8X it replaces.

But what we really need to pay attention to on the latest from Apple is the overall improvement to graphics performance. Apple has finally realized that multimedia is the future, and so has improved its graphics overall by 2x. Where the CPU is faster than 80% of most other portable PCs, the graphics are now 90% faster than most other portable PCs.

Where does the Surface Pro stand? Well, it’s Intel Core i5 CPU clocked way faster, at 1.9GHz, compared to Apple’s 1.5Ghz. So, for all those fancy statistics Apple mentioned last night, it seems that the remaining 20% performance is primarily Microsoft’s brand. As for the graphics, though, the Surface Pro has Intel’s HD Graphics 4400, but frankly, that doesn’t say much. Sadly, Apple knew its match and planned in advance. Apple completely dominates the graphics game - hands down, no contest. In fact, the iPad Pro was built primarily to be a multimedia powerhouse on the go. The Microsoft Surface Pro? Not so much.

Microsoft does have two 5 megapixel cameras, but Apple upgraded to a front snapper with 8 megapixels, so once again, Microsoft comes out looking like the loser.

As an addition to the graphics performance, Apple has installed for the first time ever, a 4 speaker audio system, which means it will be 3x the volume of iPad Air 2.

The iPad Pro was built primarily to be a multimedia powerhouse on the go. The Microsoft Surface Pro? Not so much.

All of this additional performance and Apple promises a 10-hour battery life - whereas the Surface Pro can only deliver 9 hours.

The iPad Pro is 6.9mm thin and weighs 1.57lbs, whereas the iPad Air is 6.1mm, and the Surface Pro weighs 1.76lbs.

It comes in Silver, gold, space gray and starts at $799 for 32G, which is actually the same price as the entry Surface Pro (with only an i3 chip - so even worse than what was currently reviewed here). Obviously, the value for money is clear: Go Cupertino, kids.