Surface Book vs. MacBook Pro 13: Comparison Of Specs, Features, Price

The Microsoft Surface Book that was unleashed during the launch event on Oct. 6 is the first ever laptop manufactured by the company. It has been built to take on the Apple MacBook Pro 13.

The Surface Book is an innovative product that comes with a detachable keyboard. Here is the comparison of the specs, features and pricing between both the small-sized high performance laptops from Microsoft and Apple.

Dimensions And Display

The Microsoft Surface Book has a sleek and sophisticated design like the MacBook Pro 13, PC Mag reported. It measures 12.3 x 9.14 x 0.9 inches while the MacBook Pro measures 12.35 x 8.62 x 0.71 inches. Both the devices weigh 3.48 pounds and come with dual stereo speakers at the front.

The Surface Book features a 13.5-inch display, and supports a display resolution of 3,000 x 2,000 pixels along with a pixel density of 267 ppi. The PixelSense technology allows the device understand whether the user has touched the screen with a finger or the Surface Pen stylus to deliver optimized feedback. Also, it comes with a detachable keyboard.

The Apple MacBook Pro 13 comes with a 13.3-inch LED-backlit IPS screen. The Retina display offers a screen resolution of 2,880 x 1,800 pixels. Like a typical laptop, the MacBook Pro features an inbuilt keyboard.

Chipset And Storage Variants

The Surface Book is powered with Intel Skylake chipset featuring sixth generation Core i5 and Core i7 processors along with RAM options of 8 GB and 16 GB. It is available in three SSD storage versions of 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. The Core i5 and i7 variants are available with Nvidia GeForce graphics. The Surface Book is also available in another Core i5 variant that features Intel HD graphics. According to Microsoft, the performance of the Surface Book is two times faster than the MacBook Pro, Business Insider reported.

The different variants of the Apple MacBook Pro 13 are powered by the fifth generation Intel (Haswell) Core i5 processor and 8 GB of RAM, Slash Gear reported. Like the Surface Book, the Apple device also features SSD storage options like 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. All the variants feature Intel iris graphics 6100.

Camera And Connectivity

The Surface Book comes with an 8-megapixel rear camera that supports full HD recording and 5-megapixel front-facing camera. The MacBook Pro features a 720 pixels FaceTime camera at the front, but it lacks a rear camera.

The Surface Book is enabled with two USB 3.0 ports, a SD card slot, Surface Connect, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a mini DisplayPort. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi 802.11 ac and v4.0 Bluetooth. Microsoft Surface Book also comes with an intuitive Surface Pen stylus, a feature that is not available on the MacBook Pro 13.

The connectivity options present on the MacBook Pro 13 include MagSafe 2, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a HDMI port, a 3.5 mm audio jack, and a SDXC memory card slot. It also features Wi-Fi 802.11 ac and v4.0 Bluetooth.

Battery And Price

The exact details on the battery performance are not available yet for the Surface Book. However, the technical specifications page of the Surface Book and the MacBook Pro 13 states that both the devices can last for about 12 hours with continuous video playback.

The lowest configuration model of the Surface Book that features Intel Core i5, 128 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM is priced at $1,499, whereas the highest configuration model featuring Intel Core i7, 512 GB SSD and 16 GB of RAM along with Nvidia graphics is priced at $2,699.

The pricing of the MacBook Pro 13 starts at $1,299 for the lowest configuration model that features Intel Core i5, 128 GB storage and 5 BG o RAM. The highest configuration model features Intel Core i5, 512 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM is priced at $1,799.