All of the Apple fans are happy to see the 12.9-inch tablet released on September 9. The tablet is work-focused tablet which enables users to do a lot stuff with. People can also purchase the Apple Pencil and the smart keyboard to make the writing or drawing work easier to be done.
But people will have a first impression that iPad Pro is somewhat like the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. In fact, Apple’s latest yet biggest tablet may be regarding the Surface Pro as a prior rival, and also might want to offer better performances when comparing with Microsoft Surface Pro 3. So when iPad Pro vs. Microsoft Surface Pro 3, what are the differences?


We can get a clear comparison between iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 from table. With a lighter weight and thinner thickness, iPad Pro will bring a better experience when people take them, but as both iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 are not suitable for using when walking or lying in bed, so this difference can be subtle.

12.9-inch tablet and 12-inch tablet can show little difference in size, but the resolution of iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 can be a big difference. iPad Pro owns the resolution of 2732*2048, while Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has a resolution of 2160*1440, so it may make a difference when watching videos or viewing pictures with the two tablets. When people view pictures on their iPad Pro, they will want to save the pictures from iPad to computer for a backup, and this post How to Backup Pictures from iPad Pro to Computer may provide you some help.

Apple didn’t mention what kind of RAM iPad Pro uses, but according to a post from Adobe blogs, iPad Pro runs with 4GB RAM, and this is a great improvement than its predecessor. But Microsoft Surface Pro 3 provides 4GB and 8GB RAMs for different storage space of the tablets. Speaking of the storage options, iPad Pro provides 32GB and 128GB, and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 offers 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. Plus, Microsoft Surface Pro 3 enables microSD slot expand up to 128GB, while iPad Pro doesn’t have that option.

The battery life of iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro 3 aren’t very different. Apple claims that iPad Pro can last 9 hours for general uses, and several tech blogs tested Microsoft Surface Pro 3 and give a conclusion that the tablet lasts about 8 hours for web browsing, so the battery of iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro are just enough for daily uses.

iPad Pro is equipped with A9x 64-bit chip, which Apple claims faster than 80% of all the portable PCs last year. Microsoft Surface Pro 3 runs with i3, i5 and i7 processors, and most of the portable PCs last year are running with i5 and i7 processors. So, can we say iPad Pro is faster than Microsoft Surface Pro 3?

Still, the prices are the most concerning part. People need to pay $799 for 32GB iPad Pro, and $949 for 128GB iPad Pro. To get Microsoft Surface Pro 3, people have 5 options, $799 for 64GB, $899 for 128GB, $1149 for 256GB with i5 processor, $1399 for 256GB with i7 processor, and $1799 for 512GB. Obviously, Microsoft Surface Pro 3 offers more options, but whether people need a 512GB tablet is still considerable.

The utilities for iPad Pro are Apple Pencil and a smart keyboard, and people will pay extra $99 for the pencil and $169 for the smart keyboard. Microsoft Surface Pro 3 provides the stylus for free, but for the keyboard, people will need $129.

Conclusion

After comparing iPad Pro with Microsoft Surface Pro 3, we can find out that iPad Pro has many similar parts as Microsoft Surface Pro 3, and the former is a totally new tablet. Microsoft Surface Pro will update to the 4th generation in a few weeks, and at that time, the comparison between iPad Pro and Microsoft Surface Pro may be a little fairer. But still, I will probably buy iPad Pro for a try.