Which of these tablet devices is the ideal purchase for consumers to have? We pit Apple's iPad 4 against the Microsoft Surface Pro to see which is the better device.
For the design and display, the Microsoft Surface Pro is an IPS LCD measuring at 10.6 inches that can render a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels. Its dimensions are 275 x 173 x 13 mm and it weighs 907 grams.
As for the iPad 4, it is an IPS LCD LED-backlit measuring at 9.7 inches and the resolution of this tablet is at 1536 x 2048 pixels. It is wider than the first tablet with dimensions of 241.2 x 185.7 x 9.4 mm, and is a lot lighter weighing 652 grams.
In terms of Hardware and OS, the Microsoft Surface Pro has a dual core processor (Intel Core i5, 3rd Generation) working at 1.7 GHz. The tablet also features an Intel HD Graphics 4000 and it supports a 4GB of RAM with two options of internal storage: 64GB and 128GB. It runs on the Microsoft Surface Pro is Windows 8.
Meanwhile, the iPad 4 is a dual core processor as well that is clocked at 1.4 GHz. The tablet comes with the Apple A6X chipset and it supports 1GB of RAM with multiple variants for internal memory: 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB (there is no microSD card slot, hence the memory is not expandable). It runs on iOS 6 (upgradable to iOS 7).
For the battery usage and camera specs,the Microsoft Surface Pro has a 42 Wh battery unit, while Apple's i[d 4 has a 42.5 Wh battery unit (Li-Po 11560 mAh).
The iPad 4 has some impressive camera features with 5MP rear-facing camera (autofocus) and a 1.2MP front-facing camera. The Microsoft Surface Pro on the other hand has a 1MP rear-facing camera and it also featured a front-facing camera.
The Microsoft Surface Pro (128 GB) cost $598.00, while the iPad 4 (128 GB) costs $565.50.