Benchmark Test: Apple iPad Air 2 Still Can’t Beat Microsoft Surface Pro 3

Apple’s latest and greatest tablet has only just hit the shelves at retails stores nationwide, and although sales of the device have been outstanding — as has come to be the expectation of new Apple products — tech analysts say the iPad has only one competitor across the gamut of devices on the market today.

Despite being host to a throng of new features and sporting a lighter, thinner build, Apple’s newest technological must-have can’t seem to escape the shadow left by the Surface Pro 3, of all things. It’s not surprising considering the Surface Pro 3 is more laptop than tablet, and therefore has the beefier specs to back it up. But benchmark tests posted by Laptop Mag show the iPad Air 2 has some ground to gain before it can be called “a Surface Pro 3 killer.”

This isn’t to say that it’s not a threat to Apple’s tablet market share. Sales figures of Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 indicate there is a strong market of consumers looking for a fuller-functioning hybrid, and it’s been kicking iPads out of businesses since the original Surface Pro. The NFL is even using them on the gridiron to analyze plays and coordinate with coaches.

It’s not exactly an even match, however. The iPad Air 2 carries a price tag starting at $499 whereas the Surface Pro 3 comes in starting at $799, which doesn’t include the nifty Type Cover accessory that’ll add another $130 to the bill. Additionally, the two devices are in two different classes. As mentioned earlier, the Surface Pro 3 is a laptop disguised as a tablet, and the iPad is purely a tablet that isn’t designed to replace anything other than another tablet. Apple is hard at work on an iPad Pro that should fare better against the Surface Pro 3, but that shouldn’t be hitting shelves until sometime in 2015, armed with an upgraded version of the iPhone 6’s A8 processor.

If the iPad Pro benchmarks higher than the Surface Pro 3, it should be noted that it did so against a device launched over a year prior. By that time, however, Microsoft may have released or will be releasing a Surface Pro 4 to tip the scales back into its favor.

In short, it means that Apple is now playing catch-up in a field it had essentially built. After the flubs they’ve recently made, like the iPhone 6 launch in which almost every aspect of the phone was pulled from Samsung, and the disastrous idea to force the new U2 album onto every single iCloud user’s music storage whether they wanted it or not, they’ve essentially become the monolithic, unfeeling corporation they were rebelling against in their famous TV spot. They seem to be upgrading rather than innovating, something they used to be able to say about their competition. Their ability to remain ahead of the technology curve has fallen completely flat, and now they’ve got a lot of work to do to gain ground to beat the Surface Pro line.

Im thinking about fairly new scanners that will not work as soon as microsoft issues a new version of their op system because nobody eill uodate the drivers.

Well, I did have some of that, too, though I tend to blame the vendors. In our old prepress operations, we had a high-end Canon proofing fiery laser setup ($20,000) supporting both MacOSX (Power & Intel) and Windows XP boxes. I installed XP 64 bit on the Windows box, and it was completely unsupported by Canon. Now, I understand that XP64 was never a barn burner in sales, and was a niche product, but the $20,000 Canon setup was supposed to serve that niche! Outside of full blown animation and some types of scientific modeling, nothing needs the 64-bit overhead more than high-res publishing. I blamed Canon, not MS, but the user still gets stung.

I chuckle at this, because when I go to a “mall” about twice a year, there is an Apple store over-run with people and a Microsoft store with cobwebs growing on the two bored-to- tears employees.

While we don't have a Microsoft Store, we do have a Best Buy where they sell both Apple and Windows products. The Apple section is basically one table and a couple of racks of accessories and the Windows section is several rows.

There are always people crowded around the Apple table every time I go in. Maybe half as many wandering among the Windows stuff.

Makes me smile.

I noticed this too. I stepped into a near-empty Microsoft store earlier this year, and a couple employees nearly knocked each other over trying to corner me. But I was there to look at the Makerbot 3D printer and didn't bother to look at Microsoft computers. All Apple stores are always crowded with customers.

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