The most affordable laptops from Microsoft and Apple

May 13, 2020 05:47 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has recently refreshed its Surface Book lineup with the third-generation model, and unsurprisingly, this one comes with welcome upgrades under the hood.

In other words, the Surface Book 3 is all about hardware upgrades, as in terms of design, nothing has changed from the previous generations.

And this is actually a good thing, as aesthetically, the Surface Book has won the hearts of so many people, especially thanks to the signature Surface design that promises premium build quality.

As the top Microsoft Surface laptop (Microsoft even says the Book 3 is the company’s most powerful laptop ever manufactured), it goes without saying this is one expensive product, so the top-of-the-range model gets close to $4,000 with all extras included.

And of course, the Surface Book 3 remains a competitor to the Apple MacBook Pro, even though at first glance, Microsoft’s device is a completely different beast thanks to its detachable display.

Both the Surface Book 3 and the MacBook Pro come with base models that are more affordable than their top variants, and today we’ll compare the two to see which one is the better buy.

First and foremost, the cheapest Microsoft Surface Book 3 is the 13.5-inch version, still boasting touch support and working with the Surface Pen and the Surface Dial. The display features a 3:2 aspect ratio and a maximum resolution of 3000 x 2000.

Power on the base model comes from the quad-core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G7 processor that is paired with just 8GB RAM, which is something that makes sense given it’s supposed to be an affordable configuration. The graphics have been upgraded on the cheapest model from the previous generation, so it now comes with an Intel Iris Plus Graphics.

When it comes to storage, the cheapest Surface Book 3 comes with a 256 GB SSD.

The base Microsoft Surface Book 3 is available for $1,599.

Micrsoft Surface Book 3

Then, it’s the base Apple MacBook Pro. This one features a 13-inch Retina display with True Tone and is powered by a quad-core 8th Gen Intel Core i5 processor. In other words, the Surface Book 3 processor is much newer, albeit this was something to be expected since it’s a device that’s just been released.

The base MacBook Pro features 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, just like the base Surface Book 3. It also comes with a series of extras that are missing on Microsoft’s device, such as two Thunderbolt 3 ports. Touch ID is also offered, while the Surface Book 3 features Windows Hello facial recognition.

The base MacBook Pro is available for $1,299.

Apple MacBook Pro

At the end of the day, choosing between the two appears to be more or less a matter of choice, as the hardware on the two is very similar and one wins where the other one loses. In terms of hardware, the Surface Book 3 appears to be the winner given its newer processor, although it’s still lacking Thunderbolt. The MacBook Pro obviously doesn’t have a touchscreen and sticks with a traditional laptop form factor.

The table below compares the key specs of the two base models side by side:  

Microsoft Surface Book 3 Apple MacBook Pro
Processor Quad-core 10th Gen Intel Core i5-1035G7 1.4GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor
RAM 8 GB 8 GB
Storage 256 GB SSD 256 GB SSD
GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645

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Micrsoft Surface Book 3
Micrsoft Surface Book 3Apple MacBook Pro
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