Microsoft and Apple are the big daddies in the rat race of gadget invention, and ‘necessity’ is not really the mother over here. Well, today let us commit the sin of comparing these two giants and see who is better in every skill set required for this race.

Microsoft started off as an operating system developer for various hardware manufacturers. The first OS they developed was called MS-DOS and was built for the IBM PC. The first version of ‘Microsoft Windows’ was launched on Nov 20, 1984 and since then Microsoft saw a perpetual upward graph of growth.

On the other hand, Apple was more-of-a hardware manufacturer and sold motherboards along with the CPU, RAM and some basic textual video chips. Apple invented and released its first computer called ‘Lisa’ invented by Steve Jobs with an in-house competition of ‘Macintosh’ in 1983, but was a commercial failure due to its high price tag and limited software titles. Apple then launched the first ‘Macintosh,’ invented by Jef Raskin in 1984 and was the first commercial success for the company after the failure of ‘Lisa.’

Considering the background of both the companies, it is very foolish to compare them. But, Microsoft has now entered into the hardware market by releasing their own hardware along with their latest operating system; Windows 8. There are two versions of the Windows Tablet which will be launched; the first one is with Windows RT (built for ARM powered devices) and the second is with Windows 8 Pro (for Intel core processor powered devices)

Let us compare the features of Microsoft Surface and fourth generation iPad and see which one suits you better.

Build

The Surface comes with a VaporMG casing which is very strong and is capable of resisting a few drops here and there. The Microsoft Surface with Windows Pro 8 measures 10.8 x 6.8 inches and weighs 903 grams which is lighter than any laptop out there while Surface with Windows RT weighs a mere 676 grams. Surface has an additional touch sensitive keyboard as compared to the iPad which lets you type if you’re using a desk. The tablet automatically turns the external keyboard input off when flipped behind the screen.

The iPad 4 on the other hand comes with an aluminum casing similar to the previous models. While the iPad 4 stands at 10.5 x 7.3 inches, which is smaller than Surface, it hardly measures 662 grams and is quite handy as compared to the Surface.

Surface here stands with a strong stance as it is a bit larger and sturdier compared to the iPad 4. The difference hardly matters because, you are not going to take these tablets and go for a jog right?

Display

The bigger the display, the better it is! But is it handy? Well, you can definitely make space for a tablet which has a Cleartype Full HD display of 10.6-inches which will give you the feel of using a tablet as well as a laptop. Surface with Windows Pro 8 has a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels and offers 10-point multi-touch input system. In short, you can use all your fingers at once on this screen (not lucky enough to use all the toes as well). On the other hand, Surface with Windows RT comes with a resolution of 1366×768 pixels which offers a 5-point multi-touch input system. The display ratio stands at 16:9 for both tablets.

iPad 4 sports a Retina Display of 9.7-inches with IPS technology and gives a resolution of 2048 x 1536 at 264 pixels per-inch (ppi) with a 4:3 display ratio. That simply means, it is better than Surface. If the size of the display doesn’t matter to you, the iPad wins the race in terms of the display quality.

Storage

Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 Pro is available in two models which are 64GB and 128GB while Surface with Windows RT will come with a storage capacity of 32GB and 64GB. Guess what? Yes, you can increase the storage capacity by the microSDXC slot provided in the tablet.

The all new iPad 4 is available in the same options as the previous models which are 16GB, 32GB and 64GB.

Storage is not necessarily the key factor when making a buying decision, but the 128 GB along with the additional storage capability via a microSDXC card sounds quite tempting.

Camera

The Microsoft Surface has two 720p HD LifeCams both front and rear with TruColor. Other features of the camera are yet to be explored.

The iPad 4 on the other has a 1.2 megapixel front camera which enables you to record HD video in 720p. The secondary camera captures photos with the 5 megapixel iSight camera and has features like autofocus, 1080p HD video recording, tap to focus (even while recording videos) and photo and video geo-tagging.

The obvious winner here seems to be the iPad, however the Surface camera is yet to be tested in comparison to that of the iPad.

Power

The smart-looking Surface with Windows Pro 8 is also powerful from the inside as it includes the 3rd Generation Intel Core i5 processor along with the Intel HD Graphics 4000. It has 4GB of RAM with dual channel memory architecture. It means that the data is being transferred at twice the speed compared to our conventional single channel memory architecture. On the other hand, Surface with Windows RT comes with a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and 2GB of RAM.

The iPad 4 runs on the Dual-Core A6X processor developed by Apple and has quad-core graphics capabilities. The hardware of the Microsoft tablet sounds heavier than the one in iPad. But we shall come to know which one compliments its operating system better than the other only when these machines are in the hands of the consumers.

OS

The operating system is the biggest thing here for both the players. Microsoft is launching Surface with the launch of Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro. It is believed that the new operating system is going to take the stress out of using personal computers. All the glitches and errors might not be visible in this new Windows operating system.

The new fourth generation iPad will come with the much-criticized iOS 6. This operating system has updated version of Siri, which is a virtual personal assistant software. Added to this, there are real-time Apple Maps for iOS 6 users which shows the 3D image of every building out there. Still, there exist some glitches in applications like Maps and App Store which will eventually be cleared.

Let us experience the all new Windows OS system and we can comment which one stands better. But so far, all the early reviews of Windows 8 have mixed opinions and many also suggest that Microsoft has failed in terms of the software. However, we want to try it out ourselves before we reach the final verdict.

Battery

Surface with Windows 8 Pro comes with a 42 W-h battery while the one with Windows RT comes with a 31.5 W-h battery. That means, the Windows 8 Pro version will provide you with a battery life of up to 10 hours (video playback) while the one with Windows RT will provide you with a battery life of up to 7.5 hours.

Comparatively, the iPad 4 has a 42.5 W-h battery which will provide you with a battery-life of up to 10 hours, similar to the Windows 8 tablet.

Microsoft Surface seems to be a better deal than the iPad 4 considering the hardware and the additional features one can have, but it is obvious that Apple has a huge eco-system surrounding its tablet and already there are a bunch of apps and accessories to choose from.

There are some individual features of both the machines which we can only discuss after we get our hands on these machines. Stay tuned till then and read on…