MacBook vs Surface Pro 3 Specs Comparison: Features, Price Review - New Apple Laptop Takes on Hybrid from Microsoft

The brand-new MacBook was announced last week by Apple and it quickly caught the imagination of people looking for a redesigned device.

However, the device from Apple is getting a good amount of competition from the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, which is still very popular for those looking for a hybrid between a laptop and tablet. Here's how the two compare.

Design

The major difference between the two devices is that the Surface Pro 3 does not come with a keyboard, which has to be purchased separately. However, the MacBook, which is a full-blown laptop, has one keyboard with an all-new "butterfly" key design. As for their build, the Surface Pro 3 has a magnesium body while the MacBook uses aluminum. In terms of colors, the Surface Pro 3 comes in silver while the MacBook comes in gold, space grey and silver.

Display

The MacBook and the Surface Pro 3 are surprisingly quite similar in terms of their display as both of them have a 12-inch screen. When it comes to pixels, the MacBook has a resolution of 2304 X1440 pixels with a density of 226 pixels while the Surface Pro 3 has a resolution of a 2304 X1440 pixels and a density of 216 pixels per inch. However, a major difference between the devices is that the Surface Pro 3 has a touchscreen and a stylus which are not present in the MacBook.

Specs

Powering the MacBook is a dual-core Intel Core M processor. Users have the option to choose between two versions – one version of the processor is clocked at 1.1GHz while the other is clocked at 1.2GHz, which can be upgraded to a superior processor clocked at 1.3GHz. As for the Surface Pro 3, it comes with a dual core Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 processor. Depending on the configuration, the processor is clocked between 1.5GHz to 3.3GHz. As for RAM, the MacBook has 8 GB while the Surface Pro 3 ships with 4 GB or 8 GB. Comparing their internal storage, the MacBook has two versions, one with 256GB and the other with 512GB. The basic Surface Pro 3 has 64 GB of storage which can be increased to 512 GB. The Surface Pro 3 also has a microSD slot which allows for the addition of external storage.

Price

The 256 GB Surface Pro 3 without a keyboard can be purchased for $1,299. The 256 GB MacBook costs exactly the same amount -- $1299.