

The Microsoft Store has some essentials, like Netflix, Microsoft Office (of course) and Facebook's suite of apps.
Mac book pro replacement for ms office windows#
Microsoft's hybrid runs on Windows 10, which works exceptionally well as a laptop but relatively poorly as a tablet.Ī big part of the problem for Microsoft is its subpar app store. It works well as both a tablet and a laptop. Read more: iPadOS 14 turns Pencil and Siri into more helpful tools, but it needs more widgetsĪs a result, the iPad Pro offers a more consistent experience than the Surface Book. A new update, iPadOS 14, is coming later this year, with more Apple Pen functions among other improvements. It added proper multitasking, a more desktop-like Safari browser and improved Apple Pen functions. Introduced last year, iPadOS is an acknowledgement from Apple that the iPad has grown out from iOS, the iPhone's operating system, into something more robust and versatile. That's because Apple has made a dedicated operating system for the device. With some exceptions, the iPad Pro feels far more fluid and intuitive to use than the Surface Book. EcosystemsĪpple's greatest strength has always been the "it just works" quality of its best products. When I was reviewing the Surface Book, I would usually opt for my personal entry-level MacBook Pro for in-bed Netflix binges simply because the Surface's are just not loud enough. It's a real bummer, especially considering the Surface Book's big display. The iPad Pro's are far louder - but then again, even my phone's speakers are. That's mostly because the Surface Book's speakers are soft. The iPad is also audibly more competent than the Surface Book 3. (I confess: The 11-inch iPad Pro is by far the best e-reader I've ever used, even if it feels peak bourgeois to recommend a $799 tablet on the basis of its e-reader qualifications.) It's not that the iPad's screen is more resolute, it's that its blacks are deeper and, as a result, the colors are richer. The Surface Book 3 (3,000x2,000 pixels) has a beautiful, sharp display, but despite the resolution, it's outmatched by the iPad Pro (2,388x1,668 for the 11-inch model 2,048x2,732 pixels for the 12.9-inch one). These things feel especially good on the iPad Pro.

It's not that the iPad Pro can "just" do these things. Productivity is added on top via accessories: Artists can buy the Apple Pen office types can add a Magic Keyboard. The iPad may have Pro in its name, but it's undoubtedly still about consumption. Broadly speaking, the iPad Pro is better for the former and the Surface Book the latter. But which gives you more reason to diverge from tradition? The iPad Pro is still a consumption deviceĭo you want to look at stuff or do you want to make stuff? That's the consumption versus creation debate.
Mac book pro replacement for ms office portable#
The iPad Pro is more of an ultraportable device you can carry with you everywhere you go, and that finally works as a full-time laptop replacement, while the Surface Book shoots at being a portable desktop replacement or even a tabletized gaming PC.ĭespite their different aims, the iPad Pro and Surface Book 3 compete over the same territory in that they're alternatives to traditional laptops. That's a step beyond the original Surface Pro, which is much closer to an iPad - a component-packed screen with a simple sold-separately clip-on keyboard accessory.īoth devices are ambitious, and could be the future of laptops - one day. Instead, the Surface Book line lets you press a button and separate the fully featured laptop base from its display, which then acts as a standalone tablet. Other Windows hybrids, such as Lenovo's Yoga line, are laptops in which the display can swivel behind the keyboard to form a tablet. Meanwhile the Surface Book is a unique take on two-in-one computing. But it helps make the iPad Pro a legitimate laptop replacement, in most ways, at least. Starting at $299 - yes, for just the keyboard add-on - it's not cheap. The Magic Keyboard the company launched in May for the iPad Pro features not only a keyboard (duh), but also a trackpad. IPads have long been able to connect to keyboards, but this year Apple upped the ante. These two luxe devices encapsulate the two different major types of hybrid, and are both viable choices in a year when work has been upended and you may be in the right frame of mind of invest in a singular work and home (and often work-from-home) device that's more than a laptop and also more than a tablet. Apple's 2020 iPad Pro and Micrsoft's Surface Book 3. Which brings me to two modern versions I've tried this year.
