{"id":1984,"date":"2017-10-18T11:25:18","date_gmt":"2017-10-18T11:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/?p=1984"},"modified":"2017-10-18T11:25:18","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T11:25:18","slug":"surface-book-2-vs-macbook-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/surface-book-2-vs-macbook-pro.htm","title":{"rendered":"Surface Book 2 vs MacBook Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"

This morning, Microsoft announced the second generation of removable laptops: surface Book 2 (published in November this year). This machine not only can use Intel’s eighth generation CPU and VR ready-made discrete graphics, Microsoft also claims that the notebook charging time is longer than the same type of MacBook 70%.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But\u00a0how do\u00a0Microsoft and Apple’s notebooks stack up in other categories?\u00a0Both share certain similarities (RAM, storage size), but you\u00a0might be surprised\u00a0by which has a lower starting price,\u00a0and which\u00a0has the higher resolution.<\/p>\n

Performance and Pricing<\/h2>\n

For starters, the 13-inch models show that\u00a0while you might spend more for\u00a0a Surface Book ($1,999) than a\u00a0MacBook Pro\u00a0(up to $1,799), that PC makes it worth your money. Not only is it rocking a mighty powerful\u00a0Nvidia GTX 1050 GPU, but its 8th-Gen Intel Core i7 CPU will deliver speeds and benefits\u00a0that Apple doesn’t offer in any models, as it’s still using 7th Gen CPUs.<\/p>\n

13-inch Surface Book 2 vs 13-inch\u00a0MacBook Pro<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSurface Book 2 (13-inch)<\/strong><\/td>\nMacBook Pro (13-inch)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Starting price<\/strong><\/td>\n$1,499 \/ $1,999 (discrete\u00a0graphics)<\/td>\n$1,299 \/ $1,799 (Touch Bar)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Screen size (resolution)<\/strong><\/td>\n13.5-inch (3000 x 2000)<\/td>\n13.3-inch (2560 x 1600)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CPU<\/strong><\/td>\nCore i5-7300U, Core i7-8650U<\/td>\nCore i5-7267U, Core i7-7660U<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n8GB, 16GB<\/td>\n8GB, 16GB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GPU<\/strong><\/td>\nIntel HD \/ UHD Graphics 620, Nvidia GTX 1050<\/td>\nIntel Iris Plus Graphics 640, 650<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage<\/strong><\/td>\n256GB – 1TB<\/td>\n128GB –\u00a01TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Battery life<\/strong><\/td>\n17 hours (estimated for laptop); 5 hours (estimated for\u00a0tablet)<\/td>\n8 hours, 40 minutes (tested)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ports<\/strong><\/td>\n2 USB Type-A, 1 USB-C, SD Card, 3.5mm audio<\/td>\n2 – 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, Headphone jack<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cameras<\/strong><\/td>\n5-MP Front, 8-MP Back<\/td>\n720p FaceTime HD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimensions<\/strong><\/td>\n12.3 x 9.1 x 0.9 inches<\/td>\n12.0 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Weight<\/strong><\/td>\n3.38 \/ 3.62 pounds<\/td>\n3.02 pounds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tablet weight<\/strong><\/td>\n1.59 pounds<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The 15-inch versions of these machines\u00a0tell a similar story, with the Surface Book 2 starting at a $100\u00a0higher price, but packing the VR-ready\u00a0Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 card, which\u00a0is\u00a0far more powerful than the Radeon Pro 560. Again, Microsoft is offering 8th-Gen\u00a0Core i7 speeds while the 7th-Gen Core i7 in Apple<\/a>‘s\u00a015-inch MacBook Pro\u00a0already feels outdated in comparison, even though it only came out 4 months ago.<\/p>\n

While the 13-inch Surface Book 2 features a higher starting storage of 256GB to the\u00a0MacBook Pro’s 128GB, the 15-inch model has a lower maximum capacity,\u00a0with 1TB to the MacBook Pro’s 2TB.<\/p>\n

15-inch Surface Book 2 vs 15-inch\u00a0MacBook Pro<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nSurface Book 2 (15-inch)<\/strong><\/td>\nMacBook Pro (15-inch)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Starting price<\/strong><\/td>\n$2,499<\/td>\n$2,399<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Screen size (resolution)<\/strong><\/td>\n15-inch (3240 x 2160)<\/td>\n13.4-inch (2880 x 1800)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
CPU<\/strong><\/td>\nCore i7-8650U<\/td>\nCore i7-7700HQ<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
RAM<\/strong><\/td>\n16GB<\/td>\n16GB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
GPU<\/strong><\/td>\nNvidia GeForce GTX 1060 with Intel UHD 620<\/td>\nRadeon Pro 555 (2GB) or Radeon Pro 560 (4GB) with Intel HD 630<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Storage<\/strong><\/td>\n256GB – 1TB<\/td>\n256GB – 2TB<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Battery life<\/strong><\/td>\n17 hours (estimated for laptop); 5 hours (estimated for tablet)<\/td>\n10 hours, 59 minutes (tested)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ports<\/strong><\/td>\n2 USB Type-A, 1 USB-C, SD Card, 3.5mm audio<\/td>\n2 – 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports, Headphone jack<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cameras<\/strong><\/td>\n5-MP Front, 8-MP Back<\/td>\n720p FaceTime HD<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Dimensions<\/strong><\/td>\n13.5 x 9.9 x 0.9 inches<\/td>\n13.8 x 9.48 x 0.6 inches<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Weight<\/strong><\/td>\n4.2 pounds<\/td>\n4 pounds<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Tablet weight<\/strong><\/td>\n1.8 pounds<\/td>\nn\/a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Design<\/h2>\n

The Surface\u00a0Book 2 looks nearly identical to\u00a0its predecessor, though Microsoft claims\u00a0it redesigned the machine’s hinge for strength and durability. Unfortunately, it still shows an awkward gap when docked and closed.\u00a0This year’s MacBook Pro is sporting a look\u00a0Apple launched last year that we still appreciate but didn’t shake things up from its predecessor.<\/p>\n

While the Surface Book 2 may endear itself to those who want to transform their laptop into a detachable tablet,\u00a0that functionality seems to come at the price of portability. Not only is the Surface Book 2 noticeably thicker than the MacBook Pro (0.9 inches vs 0.6 inches), it’s also the heavier of the two,\u00a0with an up to 0.6-pound weight differential.<\/p>\n

Display<\/h2>\n

The Surface Book 2\u00a0notebooks\u00a0feature super high-res screens\u00a0in both the 13.5-inch (3000 x 2000) and\u00a015-inch (3240 x 2160) models. While we loved\u00a0the beautiful screens in both of Apple’s notebooks, our hands-on time with the Surface Book 2 suggested its PixelSense screens, which feature a 1600:1 contrast ratio, will be just as\u00a0vibrant.<\/p>\n

Battery Life<\/h2>\n

Microsoft is claiming that the Surface Book 2 will last up to 17 hours on a single charge, which \u2014 if true \u2014 is amazing.\u00a0 Apple’s\u00a0MacBook Pros with Apple a1278 laptop battery<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>on the other hand, lasted between 10 hours and 59 minutes (15-inch) and 8:40 (13-inch).<\/p>\n

Keyboard<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Our hands-on time with the new Surface Book 2 notebooks suggest its keys have retained their 1.5 millimeters of travel, which we love, but noticed lost some of their snappiness.<\/p>\n

The MacBook Pro keys, on the other hand, have a lower 0.7 to 0.8 millimeters of travel, but still manage to offer enough clickiness to make for tons of typing (though the 15-inch MacBook’s\u00a0got the better keys).<\/p>\n

Ports<\/h2>\n

“One step forward, and one step back” is the story here, as Microsoft’s finally added a\u00a0USB Type-C port\u00a0to the Surface Book, but it’s not a\u00a0Thunderbolt 3 port, the superior flavor of this connector that allows for higher-speed connections.<\/p>\n

The Surface Book 2 still beats the MacBook Pro, though, as it also offers 2\u00a0USB Type-A ports and an\u00a0SD memory reader, which the MacBook (which\u00a0includes 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports) does not. Both offer 3.5mm headphone jacks.<\/p>\n

Outlook<\/h2>\n

It appears that Microsoft’s\u00a0new laptops beat the MacBook in performance, though they do make you pay for that zippiness. The Surface Book’s also neck-and-neck with the Apple notebooks in every other category, suggesting that it will be the high-end flagship notebook to beat. Of course, we need to\u00a0put it through the\u00a0rigors of testing to be sure, so stay tuned to Laptop Mag for our full reviews of the 13 and 15-inch Surface Book 2.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This morning, Microsoft announced the second generation of removable laptops: surface Book 2 (published in November this year). This machine not only can use Intel’s eighth generation CPU and VR ready-made discrete graphics, Microsoft also claims that the notebook charging time is longer than the same type of MacBook 70%. But\u00a0how do\u00a0Microsoft and Apple’s notebooks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[774,747],"class_list":["post-1984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-battery-knowledge-base","category-laptop-batteries-tips","category-laptop-reviews","tag-apple-a1278-laptop-battery","tag-apple-a1280-laptop-battery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1986,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1984\/revisions\/1986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.battaussie.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}