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The MacBook Pro.
When it comes to high-end laptops, you can’t get much more different than the Microsoft Surface and Apple’s MacBook.
One is designed to be an ultraportable touchscreen model, almost a tablet with higher ambitions in life. The Surface not only allows a multitude of screen orientations, but its extreme portability also makes it a natural option for work.
MacBooks aren’t just for diehard Apple fans anymore, however. The new MacBook Pros are light, solidly built and offer sleek styling that works as well in a corporate setting as it does in a classroom. You do have to get used to using Apple’s MacOS operating system, but truthfully both MacOS and Windows offer the ability to use the same productivity and office apps and tools.
I always recommend both—for different reasons—and have chosen several representative models of each:
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 13.5-inch
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 entry-level model (mouse not included).
Microsoft Surface laptops typically come in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, suitable for their primary feature: the ability to disconnect the keyboard and use these fully featured laptops as tablets on steroids.
Unfortunately, the detachable keyboard feels a little flimsier as a result of being removable, but the tradeoff—particularly if you enjoy the handwriting recognition feature for taking notes in those long meetings—may be worth it.
This Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 model includes a basic Intel i7-3960X processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB solid state drive. It’s not going to run video-processing applications or any but the simplest of games, but this laptop will handle all your browsing and office software needs in an extremely svelte package.
Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5-inch
This Microsoft Surface Book 2 13 inch model includes an upgraded Intel i7 processor.
If the Microsoft Surface is like the Ford Taurus, this model is the GT of Microsoft’s 13-inch line. It’s a lot more expensive—more than double the price—but includes a beefy internal lineup.
This Surface packs in an Intel Quad-Core i7-8650U processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and separate graphics processing using a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with 2GB of video RAM. I probably still wouldn’t recommend this machine for gaming, but its 3000 x 2000 PixelSense Display is quite pretty, making this a machine that can handle video and photo editing without hanging up too much. That’s quite an accomplishment in a package this small.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 15-inch
The Microsoft Surface Book 2 15 inch model (pen sold separately.)
This is among the fastest Surface laptops on the market, and its been bumped up to a 15-inch screen. Inside, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 15-inch includes an eighth-generation Intel Quad Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD and separate graphics processing using an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 with 6GB of graphics RAM.
Truly, this is a standard laptop with a touchscreen where the keyboard detaches, rather than a more-traditional 2-in-1 device. While the hinge still offers the ability to flip back, most will use this Surface in traditional laptop mode or ditch the keyboard entirely, turning it into a truly high-powered tablet.
The Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch.
Apple’s core MacBook Pro 13-inch model comes with middle-of-the-road processing specifications at a little over $300 more than a similar Surface Book 2. The tradeoff is in the ultra-high-quality build construction, Apple’s legendarily simple MacOS operating software, and the knowledge that you’ll fit in just fine with the hipster crowd at the office.
Included in this model are a quad-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. This model comes with Apple’s famous Retina display, which is gorgeous, particularly in comparison with the equivalent Surface Book 2.
MacBook Pro 15-inch
The 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro, showing the Touch Bar.
This Macbook bumps up to the 15-inch screen on the MacBook Pro, pairing it with some truly fantastic hardware. At this premium price tag, you’ll get Apple’s Touch Bar—a touch strip on the keyboard that allows you access to the most-common functions, changing based on the program you’re using onscreen—plus an 8-core Intel Core i9 processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD.
The graphics processing is a little disappointing for this price tag, using an onboard Intel Graphics UHD 630, though that’ll handle about anything business-related you want to throw at it. But this is a flagship MacBook model, and it shows; the build quality is gorgeous, and the specs are beefy enough to last you a long time, assuming you like working in MacOS.
