Surface, iPad & TF700T: Compared

Three all-star tablets, one price (well, pretty much). The Surface 32 GB, iPad 32 GB and Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700T 32 GB all run from around £450 to £500.


This is a straightforward, spec-by-spec look at how the Surface compares with its similarly priced rivals. We deliberately chose to use the RT model with the ultra-thin Touch Cover keyboard for our comparison, because that's what Microsoft seems to be pushing as the ultimate Windows 8 tablet experience.

First things first. The Surface's 16:9 display has lower resolution than its Asus and Apple counterparts and, accordingly, lower pixel density (148 dpi, compared to the iPad's 264 dpi and the TF700T's 224 dpi). But Microsoft says it's still "HD Ready". It has 5-point multi-touch only, whereas the iPad and Infinity offer twice that. Microsoft hopes to compensate for the inferior resolution by having added a gig of RAM and its Word and Excel productivity powerhouses.

The Transformer Pad Infinity is the only of these tablets to have an extra battery, which is lodged in the physical keyboard dock and gives it the longest pre-charge life of the three. The Surface's keyboard is more basic, its main selling point being that it's extremely thin. Microsoft is the first to admit it: the Surface has less battery life than the competition, even less than the TF700T without the dock.

Then there's the bizarre choice of camera sensor, which Microsoft has craftily labelled 720p; in reality, it's just a meagre 1 Megapixel. You may recall when Apple did the exact same thing with the iPad 2's camera (1 Mpx, 720p).

The Surface RT and Transformer Pad TF700T have the same processor. What remains to be seen is whether Windows 8 will be able to exploit the full potential of the Tegra 3 and whether it will turn the Surface into a lean, mean gaming machine comparable to the Tegra 3 Android tablets that feature optimised games via TegraZone. As for the iPad, it can still count on its benchmark-beating CPU and killer catalogue of dedicated games.

When it comes to Windows 8 Pro, the inclusion of Microsoft's ubiquitous productivity software is an undeniable plus. Redmond says it has created an intuitive interface for Word and Excel (to be confirmed), whereas Android's solutions are sadly under-exploited. Asus does have Supernote, its own advanced document editing app, but the experience doesn't match the potential of an optimised MS Office.

Let's not forget Apple's productivity suite, iWork (Pages, Keynote and Numbers). It's perfectly suited for a touchscreen, although the iPad obviously lacks the practicality of the physical keyboard. Accessory makers have been dutifully churning out their own iPad-ready keyboards, with some even almost as thin as the Surface's.

So it's a steep hill for Microsoft. But even so, the combination of a colossal firm, an aggressive pricing strategy and a purportedly cross-functional operating system just may tickle the consumer where it counts.

> Read our touchscreen tablet reviews