The war between Microsoft and Apple rages on with the battle of the new all-in-one's: the
iMac Pro versus the
Microsoft Surface Studio. Both machines are high-end pieces of equipment targeting professionals in the media or creative fields. As appealing as that may be to
any user, most of us will choose one brand over the other. Most users by now have had experience with each brand, but with each time Apple and Microsoft go at it with products aimed at the other's demise, certain features will outweigh others causing consumers to make their decision. For others it's less dramatic, they already know what they're looking for in a new device. It can come down to the need of a certain feature, being familiar with the standard workflow or simply getting the one with the cheaper price tag. Then there's those that need to know all aspects of both models, the designs, the specs, looking to see what exactly separates the two from each other. That's why
Macworld's contributing writer
Dominic Preston put the two head-to-head in this breakdown.
Display
The iMac Pro is an all-in-one Mac computer with a 27in display. The body is essentially the same as the normal 27in iMac, though it only comes in Space Grey - with matching peripherals - to differentiate it from the core iMac line.
The Surface Studio takes a slightly different approach. Its 28in display doesn't actually contain any of the computer's processing power, for one - that's all packed into a small box built into the base of the stand, which allows the display to be just 12.5mm thick.
Having said all that... the displays between the two are actually pretty similar. The iMac Pro is using the same screen as the current 27in iMacs, which means it's a 5K Retina display with a 5120x2880 resolution.
The Surface is packing a slightly larger 28in display, but in turn it offers an ever so slightly lower 4500 x 3000 resolution at the less common 3:2 aspect ratio. Either way though, these are both very high quality displays.
Storage
When it comes to storage, there's less of a difference again. The Surface Studio offers 1TB for the two cheaper models, going up to 2TB in the top specs - either way it's a hybrid drive.
The iMac Pro also begins with 1TB, but goes up to offer either 2TB or 4TB. All of those are SSDs though, so you can probably expect faster performance than the Surface can offer.
Ports and Connectivity
The iMac Pro comes loaded with ports: there's 10Gb ethernet, four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports, another four USB 3.0 ports, an SDXC card slot, and (because we know you weren't sure) a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The Surface Studio has four USB 3.0 ports, an SDXC card slot, Mini DisplayPort, ethernet, and a headphone jack. So what's missing? USB-C - Microsoft hasn't really backed the new format, so if you're an early adopter with a host of USB-C gadgets, you'll need adapters to hook them up to the Surface.
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