Recently, Microsoft release two tablet: Windows RT Surface and Windows 8 Pro Surface. It really catches many eyes. Many people thinks the two new Windows tablet will be a strong competitor to Apple iPad. We also believe that Microsoft had known they are going to compete with iPad before they started the Surface project.
Since there are still time before Surface stars shipping, we listed the revealed hardware specifications to make brief comparison between Microsoft Surface and the new iPad. The main specs are like following:
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| Type | Surface RT | Surface Pro | new iPad |
| CPU | NVIDIA Tegra 3 | Intel i5 (Iye Bridge) | A5X |
| RAM | Unknown | Unknown | 1GB |
| Storage | 32/64GB | 64/128GB | 16/32/64GB |
| Screen | 10.6″ | 10.6″ | 9.7″ |
| Resolution | 1366 x 768 | 1920 x 1080 | 2048 x 1536 |
| Thickness | 9.3mm | 13.5 mm | 9.4mm |
| Weight | 676g | 903g | 652g |
| Battery | 31.5Wh | 42Wh | 42.5Wh |
| Price | Unknown | Unknown | $499 + |
Compared to the new iPad, Surface RT can not win on screen resolution or battery life, while these two features are important points when customers considering a tablet. What worse, the Surface Pro has a 13.5mm thickness with 903g weight, these will make it a ponderous tablet. People are now more likely to purchase a light-weighted and small sized mobile devices when the specification are the same. So this is also a deadly shortcoming of the Surface Pro.
In contract with iPad’s 30 pin port, Surface RT support MircorSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD. The Surface Pro provides microSDXC, USB 3.0 and Mini Display. These makes Surface a little advanced than iPad. With Mirco HD and Mini Display port, users can connect their Surface tablet to television for watching video or playing games. Considered Windows 8 supporting Xbox games, these ports on Surface tablet is more likely a strategy of Mcrosoft to expand their Xbox business to tablet market. These games will help Mircrosoft trying to create a different market to compete with Apple.
Meanwhile, the new released Type Cover and Touch Cover also attracted many customers. This is a quite good idea and fully beaten iPad. The Touch Cover have a slightly scratchy surface to make users’ fingers a bit more anchored. But it is difficult to tell one key from another on the lifeless keyboard. Maybe the actual product can tell you more.
Those the Microsoft Surface is not so powerful as iPad on hardware specification, some advantages suggest Microsoft has pay more attention on tablet. This is a good news for customer as they will have more choices when they are going to compare tablets.
According to techshout’s supose, Microsoft Surface release date will be on Autumn. Price is unknown. But the Surface Pro is expected to set fetch similar prices as Ultrabooks.