Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Which is the Better Laptop Replacement?

Are you in search of a tablet that can serve as an alternative to a laptop? If you are, you will find this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro comparison useful.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: At First Glance

Over the past few years, tablets have evolved to a phase where they can effectively multifunction as proper laptop alternatives. For the most part, Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets have been at the forefront of this tablet-laptop alternative movement.

With their 2-in-1 design and the laptop-like experience they offer, the Surface Pro tablets have always stood toe to toe with the best laptops. At a reasonable starting price of $774.95, the Surface Pro 7 is no different from the other Surface Pro tablets.

However, at a more affordable price of $489.99, there’s another big name around the block that aims to serve the same purpose the Surface Pro 7 serves. Which other device, other than Apple’s iPad Pro tablet!

Since the moment Apple hinted at a possible introduction of trackpad support to its iPad Pro, it became clear that they were edging towards the laptop territory. That said, which of the two tablets will serve better as your next laptop replacement?

Read this section-by-section comparison to help you decide which one will suit your needs best.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Design, Dimension and Weight

Even though the iPad Pro is the older device between the two, it looks more modern and stylish than the Surface Pro 7.

Don’t get me wrong though. Both the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro ooze off class in every bit of their build and design.

However, a closer analysis of both devices’ designs reveals a few shortcomings in the Surface Pro 7’s design. To put it in a less technical way, the iPad Pro’s design makes the Surface Pro 7’s look slightly boring.

If we are being honest, the usual Surface Pro design the Surface Pro 7 features is gradually becoming stale. Aside from its new platinum and matte black color options set, the Surface Pro 7 looks unchanged from its 4th generation predecessors.

If you’ve used or seen either of the Surface Pro 4, 5, or 6, you would agree that the Surface Pro lineup design needs some upgrades. Even the iPad Pro that came into existence a few years ago has seen some physical upgrades since its first iteration.

Before I highlight the modern design features that set the iPad Pro apart from the Surface Pro 7, let’s consider their exterior builds first.

As you’d expect, the Surface Pro 7 features the usual magnesium-alloy chassis. You get a device with clean-cut lines, rounded corners, and a simple overall design.

There’s just one form of pattern on its smooth appearance and it is the Microsoft logo on the surface of the kickstand – I will talk more about the kickstand later.

One of the good things about the unchanged Surface design theme is that the Surface Pro 7 has the same high-quality build as other Surface Pros. Despite how light it is, the Surface Pro 7 feels rigid and sturdy.

You will be stunned to find out that the incredibly sturdy Surface Pro 7 weighs just 790 g. Depending on your processor configuration option, the Surface Pro 7 could also weigh 775 g.

Regardless of its weight, the Surface Pro 7’s rigidity remains the same.

Sounds impressive right? Wait till you hear about the iPad Pro.

The iPad Pro, on the other hand, weighs just 468 g and it also feels like a device with a solid build. Not only does the iPad Pro feel solid, but it also looks stunning.

There’s no way you would look at the iPad Pro and not be left starstruck by its design. Its beautiful aluminum chassis is painted in a shiny silver color that can also be Space Gray depending on the color option you decide to purchase.

As I’ve hinted earlier on, the iPad Pro features some design changes from the ones on its previous model. Instead of the rounded soft corners on its previous model, this iPad Pro features hard corners and flat sides.

On its back covering, there’s a thick line over the top and bottom sides. At the top left corner of the iPad Pro’s back, you’ll notice a big back camera bump.

Move to the middle section of the iPad Pro’s back cover and you’ll meet the iconic Apple logo gracing the center of the aluminum chassis.

The other notable patterns on this same back cover include an “iPad” inscription written below the Apple logo. This inscription is much closer to the bottom.

Now let’s move over to the front of both devices.

Unlike the Surface Pro 7 which still features unsightly bezels that are too thick for today’s standards, the iPad Pro features thinner ones.

The iPad Pro’s bezels aren’t very tiny though. After all, a certain amount of bezel is understandable on tablets since they need to be thick enough to prevent accidental screen inputs.

While a slightly thick bezel is excusable on tablets, the ones on the Surface Pro 7 are simply too thick.

The bezels on the iPad Pro are small with enough width to give you room for holding the tablet without accidentally touching the screen. Its bezels are thin enough for Apple to boast of an “all-screen design” that “goes from edge to edge”.

To be honest, I don’t agree with this claim because the iPad Pro’s bezels aren’t edge-to-edge despite their 0.3-inch sizes. Apple’s iPhone 11 models, with 0.1-inch thick bezels, are more in line with the edgeless screen concept.

One thing that’s sure though, is that the Surface Pro 7 has no place in this edgeless screen conversation. Where it claims a more prominent presence is in the discussions that concern the display.

This is one of those areas where the Surface Pro 7 literally took the battle to the iPad Pro. In terms of image details and sharpness, the Surface Pro 7 is slightly better than the iPad Pro.

The Surface Pro 7’s 12.3-inch 2K display has a 2736 x 1824 resolution that offers a pixel-per-inch density of 267 ppi. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro’s 11-inch display has a resolution of 2388 x 1668 and a pixel density of 264 ppi.

Though the Surface Pro 7’s display is slightly sharper than the iPad Pro’s, the iPad Pro’s display is better in terms of brightness. The iPad Pro is capable of offering 600 nits of maximum brightness.

Hence, it is brighter than the Surface Pro 7 that has a maximum brightness of 400 nits.

The sound production on both devices is also great, but it appears that the iPad Pro mildly bettered the Surface Pro 7 in this aspect too.

The Surface Pro 7 has a pair of 1.6-watt stereo speakers located inside its top bezel. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro’s four sets of speaker grills are located around its edges.

You will enjoy the service of the Surface Pro 7’s speakers when watching movies or videos. Its speakers are loud and clear.

However, they do not produce sounds with enough bass. You will notice this mostly when you play music on the Surface Pro 7.

The iPad Pro’s speakers, on the other hand, produce a reasonable thump of bass. You would almost confuse the sound coming from the iPad Pro as one coming from a boom box.

Its speakers produce sounds loudly and clearly with thick bass.

As for the keyboards, they are sold separately for each of these devices. If you really want to use either of these devices as a laptop replacement, you will need to purchase their keyboard features.

The one you get for each laptop is different though. For the Surface Pro 7, you get an Alcantara Surface Type Cover whereas, you get Apple’s Magic Keyboard for entering inputs on the iPad Pro.

These attachable keyboard covers automatically make both devices more laptop-like. The Surface Type Cover attaches to the Surface Pro 7’s bottom via a magnetic strip, making its laptop transformation a swift process.

Meanwhile, the iPad Pro uses a smart connector pin to pair the Magic Keyboard to itself.

In use, the Surface Pro’s Type Cover has always been and still remains one of the best detachable keyboards on the market. The Type Cover offers an incredibly comfortable typing experience and a good 1.3 mm key travel.

For those wondering what key travel means, it is the distance the keyboard’s keys travel from their state of rest to fully pressed positions.

The springy feel this Type Cover’s keys offer ensures that you feel comfortable when typing no matter how fast you type. Also, the Type Cover’s Alcantara fabric clothing keeps your wrists comfortable no matter how long you observe your typing session.

In addition, this Type Cover offers several levels of backlighting brightness. This feature will enable you to burn the midnight oil for your late-night work or studying sessions.

Furthermore, the 4-inch-wide touchpad below the Type Cover’s keys isn’t very large, but it provides enough space for scrolling and swiping commands. It also responds perfectly to Windows 10’s multi-finger trackpad gestures.

The only issue I have with the Type Cover is its flexible bottom which makes it difficult to use on your laps. This issue is one of those things Microsoft tries to solve with the kickstand.

However, the kickstand is not firm enough to hold the Type Cover firmly when you use the device on your lap.

Instead, it has a flexible hinge that allows you to bend the device’s display through an angle range of 165 degrees. The good thing about this kickstand’s hinge flexibility is that it makes the Surface Pro 7 flexible enough to be used in different forms.

However, this flexibility doesn’t serve a good purpose for its Type Cover. In contrast, Apple’s Magic Keyboard has a more sturdy hinge design, but that’s the only aspect where it beats Microsoft’s Type Cover.

To start with, the Magic Keyboard’s keys are more shallow than the ones on the Type Cover. Furthermore, the fabric cover surrounding its wrist rest area feels very cheap.

Compared to the Type Cover, the Magic Keyboard attached to our review unit doesn’t come with a touchpad. However, as of the time of writing this article in February 2022, there are Magic Keyboards that do come with touchpads.

Regardless, I find them to be too expensive compared to the Type Covers.

Microsoft and Apple also sell stylus pens separately for these two devices. You can buy Microsoft’s Surface Pen for the Surface Pro 7 and you can buy the Apple Pen for the iPad Pro.

It is hard to pick between these two optional pens because they seem to be evenly matched, performance-wise. Both pens are very pressure sensitive and they are great for drawing or taking notes.

Subjectively speaking, the Apple Pen feels slightly better, but the Surface Pen isn’t bad either.

Inputs aside, there finally seems to be an advantage to the Surface Pro 7’s older design and that’s its better port array. To be frank, the Surface Pro 7’s port array isn’t particularly exciting since it comes with just a USB Type-A and a USB Type-C port.

However, compared to the iPad Pro’s single USB 3.1 Type C port, the Surface Pro 7’s port selection is a bit better.

In case you are wondering about the exact difference in both devices’ sizes, I will compare their measurements for you. While the Surface Pro 7 measures 292 x 201 x 8.5 mm (W x D x H), the iPad Pro measures 247.6 x 178.5 x 5.9 mm (H x W x D).

Overall, my comparison of the design of Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro ends in a tie. The reasons for this verdict are spread across different criteria.

Firstly, even though the iPad Pro is a year older than the Surface Pro 7, its design looks like the more recent one. The iPad Pro’s simple design and thinner bezels make the Surface Pro’s design look outdated.

Though it seemed like the iPad Pro was heading for victory due to these reasons, the Surface Pro managed to overturn the odds in other areas. First of all, the Surface Pro 7’s display compares well to the iPad Pro’s.

In addition, the Surface Pro 7 has a better port selection and its sound output is equally fair.

Most of all, the Surface Pro’s Type Cover offers a much better typing experience plus a backlighting feature. It also comes with a touchpad at a more affordable price compared to the iPad Pro’s Magic Keyboard which doesn’t have a touchpad.

To round off, the Surface Pro 7 closes down the gap in this round with a close margin. Hence, both devices score a nine in this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro design comparison section.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Processor (CPU) Performance

The Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro diverge significantly in terms of their processor configurations.

Microsoft offers potential buyers the flexibility of choosing between a range of 10th generation intel processors. Meanwhile, Apple equips the iPad Pro with a single processor configuration.

The iPad Pro features an octa-core Apple A12X Bionic processor. According to Apple, this processor has a 2.5 GHz Vortex + 1.6 GHz Tempest.

Basically, the Vortex and Tempest are synonymous with regular processor frequencies. While the Vortex can be regarded as the maximum frequency, the Tempest is the base frequency.

On the other hand, you can buy the Surface Pro 7 with a dual-core Intel Core i3-1005G1 processor or a quad-core Intel Core i5-1035G4 processor. There’s also an extra option to buy the laptop with a quad-core Intel Core i7-1065G7 processor.

The Core i3-1005G1 processor offers a base frequency of 1.20 GHz and a boost frequency of 3.40 GHz. Meanwhile, the Core i5-1035G4 processor has a base frequency of 1.10 GHz and a boost frequency of 3.70 GHz.

As for the Core i7-1065G7 processor, it has a base frequency of 1.30 GHz and a boost frequency of 3.90 GHz.

In case you don’t understand what all these technical terms mean, I will explain them to you. The base and boost frequencies are indicators of the processor’s performance speed.

To be precise, the base frequency is the speed at which the processor runs under a regular workload. Meanwhile, the boost frequency is the maximum speed the processor can attain when under a more intensive workload.

For the record, our Surface Pro 7 comparison unit features the Intel Core i5-1035G4 processor.

In general usage, both the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro’s processors are efficient performers. Both devices can easily handle your regular computing tasks.

Computing operations like word processing, sending of emails, and web surfing are light work for the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro.

Aside from the regular light computing operations, these devices are also capable of executing your highly demanding operations. With the amount of power these devices possess, they are viable options for professionals like digital artists and video editors.

In fact, if you are a digital creative of any kind, these devices are excellent options for you to constantly utilize your creativity on the go.

Even the benchmark test results I obtained attest to their performance efficiency. This benchmark test is known as the Geekbench 4 synthetic benchmark.

For clarity, the Geekbench 4 is a benchmark tool for testing a laptop’s processor. This tool accesses how efficiently a laptop’s processor can handle both regular workloads and more intensive ones.

Just so you don’t get confused, you should know that this test is often divided into two sections. The first section is the single-core aspect where it tests for when only one of the processor’s cores is subjected to run under a computing workload.

There’s also the multi-core section where the benchmark checks for when more than one of the processor’s cores is made to run under a workload. This benchmark rates the processor’s efficiency with a score in both sections.

Generally, the higher the laptop scores in both sections, the better its performance efficiency.

The Surface Pro 7 scored 5,904 points in the single-core aspect of this test. It did even better in the multi-core aspect where it scored 17,512 points.

On the other hand, the iPad Pro scored 4,984 points in the single-core aspect, coming slightly short of the Surface Pro 7’s score. However, it was able to outperform the Surface Pro 7’s multi-core performance.

To be precise, the iPad Pro achieved a score of 18,041 points in the multi-core test.

These results make the process of deciding the winner between the two devices inconclusive. As a result, this section also ends in a tie.

Both the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro score a nine in this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro processor performance comparison.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Memory (RAM) Performance

Microsoft continues to offer flexible configuration support to its potential customers. Just like with the Surface Pro 7’s processor, you get to choose between three distinct memory configuration options if you want to buy the Surface Pro 7.

You can buy the Surface Pro 7 with either 16 GB, 4 GB, or 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM. There’s one disappointing thing about the Surface Pro 7’s memory configuration though.

Once you have configured your Surface Pro 7 with either of these memory configuration options, you can’t upgrade the configuration. The reason for this is that the Surface Pro 7 has only one memory slot soldered to its motherboard.

Hence, the maximum amount of RAM you can get with the Surface Pro 7 is 16 GB. This is not bad at all, especially when you compare it to the iPad Pro which comes equipped with just 4 GB RAM.

Surprisingly, the iPad Pro doesn’t seem to be slow at handling multitasking operations despite being equipped with 4 GB RAM. You can load up to 13 Safari tabs while playing a 1080p YouTube video and you won’t notice the iPad slowing down at all.

The chances of noticing any lags while transitioning between the tabs are very low. You can still further stress its multitasking capabilities by running a few applications like Outlook, Slack, or Twitter.

During the process of simultaneous operations, you will discover that this device will still continue to run smoothly.

The Surface Pro 7 is equally a multitasking beast of the iPad Pro’s kind – if it’s not a wilder one. With this device, you can switch between 20 Chrome tabs, while streaming five YouTube videos along with running Slack and Google Docs software.

Keep in mind that this multitasking capability is attributed to our review unit with the 8GB RAM configuration. Obviously, a Surface Pro 7 equipped with the 16 GB RAM configuration will be capable of offering a more efficient memory performance.

When I analyzed both devices’ performance in the benchmark test I considered, I was glad to record another good performance efficiency. Just to be clear, the benchmark test I considered for this section is referred to as the PCMark 10 benchmark.

This benchmark tests a laptop’s memory efficiency by simulating different real-world productivity and content-creation workflows. It assesses a laptop’s overall system performance for various office-centric tasks like word processing and web surfing.

This test generates a numeric score that indicates the laptop’s performance efficiency. Basically, the higher number, the better the laptop’s performance.

Both the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro’s performance were impressive in the PCMark benchmark test, but the Surface Pro 7 had the better performance. While the iPad Pro scored 8159 points, the Surface Pro 7 scored 8847 points.

Hence, we can conclude that the Surface Pro 7 outperforms the iPad Pro in this memory performance section. It also offers more flexible and powerful memory configuration options.

With that being said, the Surface Pro 7 scores a nine in this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro memory performance comparison. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro scores an eight.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Storage Options and Performance

The Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro switch traits in this aspect. Unlike the usual multiple configuration options it has offered so far, the Surface Pro 7 comes with only one storage configuration option.

Meanwhile, the iPad Pro offers a range of storage options to choose from.

The Surface Pro 7 comes with a 1 TB SSD storage drive. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro can come with either a 1 TB, 256 GB, 512 GB, or 64 GB internal storage.

However, the iPad Pro doesn’t support microSD card storage expansion. The Surface Pro 7, on the other hand, supports storage expansion with the MicroSDXC Card Reader.

In use, the Surface Pro 7’s SSD drive helps to speed up its overall performance. The iPad Pro’s drive is not slow either, but the Surface Pro 7’s drive is faster.

We normally use the CrystalDiskMark benchmark test to differentiate a device’s average read and write speeds from that of another. Unfortunately, I couldn’t retrieve an accurate CrystalDiskMark benchmark test result for the iPad Pro.

This limits our usual comparison of storage drive speeds. If it is of any help, my research suggests that the iPad Pro has fast loading times and it loads data quickly.

As for the Surface Pro 7, I was able to retrieve its CrystalDiskMark benchmark result. In case you don’t know what the CrystalDiskMark benchmark is, it is a tool for checking the read and write speeds of a storage disk drive.

If you are not familiar with what read and write means, I will explain what they mean to you. In computing terms, “read” is used to describe opening a file, while “write” means saving a file.

On the CrystalDiskMark test, the Surface Pro 7 achieved sequential read and write speeds of 1589.92 MBps and 713.9 MBps respectively.

Based on this result, the Surface Pro 7 wins this round. It scores a nine in this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro storage performance comparison.

Meanwhile, the iPad Pro scores an eight.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Graphics Card Performance

The graphics card configuration on both devices is completely different. Aside from the difference in their configuration types, the flexibility they offer in their configuration also differs.

While the iPad Pro comes with a 7-core Apple GPU graphics card, Microsoft offers two graphics card configuration options for the Surface Pro 7.

You can equip your Surface Pro 7 with an integrated Intel UHD Graphics 615 GPU or an integrated Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 GPU.

Just so you know, neither of these configuration options comes with a dedicated VRAM. Hence, the device totally depends on the device’s RAM for handling graphical workloads.

To give you a hint of these graphics card options’ performance capabilities, let’s consider their performance speeds. The Intel UHD Graphics 615 GPU has a base frequency of 300 MHz and a boost frequency of 900 MHz.

Meanwhile, the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 GPU offers the same base frequency of 300 MHz but a better boost frequency of 1100 MHz.

For this comparison, we considered a Surface Pro 7 with the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 650 GPU.

On the graphics performance test, I was surprised to see the iPad Pro outperform the Surface Pro 7. The test I considered is known as the 3DMark Ice Storm graphics test.

This test simulates graphically intensive tasks like gaming and video rendering in order to ascertain the efficiency of a laptop’s graphics card. The result of this test is always in numerical score form and higher scores indicate better performance.

On this test, the iPad Pro scored 105,770 points, surpassing the Surface Pro 7’s 68,398 points.

As for real-world gaming, neither of the devices is designed for gaming, but they can certainly handle a few light gaming sessions. One thing you can be sure of is that both devices can play non-intensive games smoothly at decent settings.

For example, the Surface Pro 7 can play Asphalt 9: Legends at frame rates of 40 frames per second. It runs the game better than the iPad Pro that is only capable of playing the game at maximum frame rates of 29 frames per second.

On another gaming test, the Surface Pro 7 performed better than the iPad Pro once again. The results of the test showed that the Surface Pro 7 can play a game known as the Arena of Valor at frame rates of 87.3 frames per second.

This frame rate is better than the 59 frames per second that the iPad Pro offers.

When you consider the results of the graphics tests, you will notice that it is difficult to conclude which device is the winner. While the iPad Pro had a better performance in the benchmark test, the Surface Pro 7 does better with real-world gaming.

As a result, I will end this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro graphics performance comparison as a tie. Both the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro score nine in this section of the comparison.

Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro: Battery Life and Performance

The Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro feature two very different batteries. While the Surface Pro 7 comes with a 43.2 Wh Lithium-ion battery, the iPad Pro features a 7812 mAh battery.

According to their manufacturers, these devices can last you through a day’s working hours activities. To be precise, Microsoft promises that the Surface Pro 7 will last for as long as 10 hours and 5 minutes.

On the other hand, Apple’s iPad Pro promises a battery runtime of 10 hours.

As always, I cross-checked these promised runtimes with what the battery runtime test results say. On the continuous web surfing test that tests how long a device can last, the Surface Pro lasted for 9 hours and 57 minutes.

It fell just 3 minutes short of the battery runtime Microsoft promised.

Surprisingly, the iPad Pro lasted even longer than the runtime Apple promised. On the continuous web surfing test, the iPad Pro lasted for 15 hours and 20 minutes.

This result shows that the iPad Pro has a much longer battery runtime than the Surface Pro 7. I considered another test to further confirm the iPad Pro’s longer battery runtime.

The other battery runtime test I considered checks how long a device can last when it is operating under the maximum workload. On this test, the Surface Pro 7 ran out of battery power after 1 hour and 56 minutes.

Meanwhile, the iPad Pro didn’t run out of power until after 3 hours and 28 minutes. Judging based on these results, the iPad Pro certainly has a longer battery runtime compared to the Surface Pro 7.

As a result, the iPad Pro scores a nine in this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro battery life performance comparison. The Surface Pro 7, on the other hand, scores an eight.

Our Rating Summary

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

Though the iPad Pro turned out to be a formidable competitor, it couldn’t beat the Surface Pro 7. The Surface Pro 7 wins this comparison by a narrow margin.

One of the major reasons for this is because the Surface Pro 7 seems to be a more ideal laptop replacement for professionals. It offers a more seamless tablet-to-laptop transition, a broader range of ports, and it runs on the Windows 10 operating system.

Overall, one can conclude that the Surface Pro 7 is built to offer the best of both tablet and laptop worlds.

Meanwhile, the iPad Pro is more of a tablet that’s targeted towards a specific market of professionals and creatives. All things being considered, the iPad Pro is a perfect tablet for professionals, but it doesn’t offer as much versatility as the Surface Pro 7.

Hence, based on our comprehensive comparison of the Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro, we recommend:

However, If you are already deeply engaged in the Apple ecosystem, the iPad Pro is a good tablet for you to consider.

I hope you found this Surface Pro 7 vs iPad Pro comparison helpful.  If you found the review helpful, we would love to hear from you.

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