2013 MacBook Air (11-inch) vs. Microsoft Surface Pro

 

                                 Source: gizmag.com

Mobile devices have turned the traditional PC market upside down. While Apple's "post PC" strategy is all about the iPad, the Mac still gives it a horse in the traditional PC race. Microsoft's strategy is more convergent: it wants hybrid devices like the Surface Pro to become our primary computers. How do the two measure up? Let's find out, as we compare the specs (and other features) of the 2013 MacBook Air to the Microsoft Surface Pro.

Before we get started, note that Apple offers configurable (and more expensive) Macs with faster processors and more storage. But, for simplicity's sake, we're only comparing the standard models. Microsoft doesn't offer any built-to-order options for the Surface.

The MacBook Air also comes in a 13-inch model, but we're just dealing with the smaller 11-incher here. Additionally, Microsoft sells the cheaper Surface RT, which doesn't run traditional (x86) Windows apps. We're focusing on the full Windows 8 Pro version.

Tablet mode

This probably goes without saying, but in case you're new to all of this, we're looking at two fundamentally different machines here.

The MacBook Air is a laptop through-and-through. The Surface Pro, meanwhile, is basically a laptop in a tablet's body, but then you can add one of Microsoft's keyboard covers to use it as something closer to a laptop. Got it?

Size

As you can see, the MacBook Air is quite a bit larger than the Surface Pro. Of course we're comparing a laptop to a tablet, so that shouldn't be too surprising.

One thing to note here, though, is that the MacBook Air's depth is only counting its thickest point. Unlike the Surface, its side is tapered, so you'll want to take those measurements with a few grains of salt.

If you're adding one of Microsoft's keyboard covers to the Surface (almost essential to get your money's worth), it will become a bit thicker, totaling 16.75 mm with the Touch Cover attached, and 19.5 mm with the Type Cover.

Weight

When using the Surface Pro as a tablet, it's about 16 percent lighter than the MacBook Air. When you add one of Surface's keyboard covers, though, it becomes four percent heavier (with Touch Cover), or 12 percent heavier (with Type Cover).

Build

The MacBook Air has an aluminum unibody build, while Microsoft is branding the Surface's custom metal alloy as VaporMg. The "winner" here will come down to your personal preferences, as both devices have high-end finishes and are a pleasure to hold.

When you're using Surface as more of a laptop, it has a built-in kickstand, which will prop your device up at a fixed 26-degree angle. Like all laptops, the MacBook Air's screen angle can be easily adjusted.

Display

The first thing to know about the displays is that the Surface's tablet screen is, naturally, a touchscreen (with 10-point multitouch). Apple has never made a MacBook with a touchscreen.

Both screens are in the same 11-inch ballpark, but the MacBook Air's is a bit larger. The Surface Pro's display gives you 84 percent as much real estate as the MacBook Air's does.

The Surface does, however, give you a much sharper screen. The MacBook Air only has 51 percent as many pixels as the Surface's 1080p display. If you want a MacBook with a razor-sharp screen, you'll want to look at the MacBook Pro with Retina Display (or wait for the inevitable MacBook Air with Retina Display).

The Surface Pro also employs Microsoft's "ClearType" tech, which is the company's version of subpixel rendering. It can make text look a bit sharper than its (already impressive) resolution would suggest. Surface's screen also gives you impressively deep blacks.

External displays

Both Apple and Microsoft know that an 11-inch screen probably won't cut it as your primary PC. So both devices will let you plug into an external monitor to better serve as a desktop replacement.

If you're balking at the high costs of both machines (see below), this is something to keep in mind. You can have a workstation waiting on your desk – complete with monitor, external hard drive, mouse and keyboard – to instantly transform your laptop or tablet into a fairly powerful desktop PC.

Stylus support

If you like working with a stylus, then you'll want to look at the Surface Pro. Its touchscreen ships with a Wacom-based stylus that gives you a finer, pressure-sensitive input method for apps like Photoshop.

If you want to use a stylus with the MacBook Air, you'll need to buy a separate graphics tablet.

Processor

Both the MacBook Air and Surface Pro pack Intel Core i5 processors, but the new MacBook has a leg-up here. Intel's new Haswell microarchitecture gives it a huge battery life advantage over older Ivy Bridge-based computers, like the Surface. More on battery life in a minute.

Graphics

The MBA also gets updated Intel (integrated) graphics. We've yet to put both through their paces side-by-side, but, for what it's worth, Intel advertises twice the power performance of the previous generation that is found in Surface.

RAM

Both devices have 4 GB of RAM.

Storage

This was a big upgrade for the new 11-inch MacBook Air. It doubles the storage options of both the 2012 MBA and the Surface Pro.

You can, however, expand both devices' storage easier than you could with, say, an iPad. The MacBook Air has USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt ports that you can use for external drives. Surface Pro has both USB 3.0 and a discreet microSD card slot to help make up for its somewhat cramped storage.

Cameras

The MacBook Air has Apple's standard 720p front-facing "FaceTime" camera. The Surface has two 720p cameras.

Wireless

Here's another one of the new MacBook's big updates. It supports 802.11ac Wi-Fi, while the Surface maxes out at 802.11n. This won't matter unless you have an 802.11ac compatible router and an internet connection that keeps pace, but it's still nice for future-proofing.

Many tablets ship with LTE mobile data options, but no such luck for Surface. You'll need to tether your smartphone or invest in a portable mobile hotspot in order to get internet on the go for the Surface Pro. Ditto for the MacBook Air.

Battery

The battery hardware favors the Surface, but you can basically forget about that. The MacBook Air's new Haswell chip gives it insane battery life. You're looking at the cutting edge of laptop uptimes, with an estimated nine hours of web surfing.

Battery life isn't the Surface Pro's strong suit. You'll be lucky to get five or six hours out of it with regular use. We'd be surprised if we didn't see a second-generation Surface Pro with a Haswell processor sometime in the next year, with much improved battery life.

Software

Software might be as important as all of these hardware features combined. Comparing Mac OS X and Windows is beyond the scope of this relatively brief comparison, but there's a good chance you already know which platform you prefer anyway. If not, the internet is full of facts and (often very angry) opinions on the subject.

The biggest thing to remember about Surface is that it runs full Windows 8 Pro, not the limited Windows RT found on the Surface RT. So any app you could run in, say, Windows 7 will run on the Surface Pro. That's not something that an iPad, or many other tablets, can give you.

In addition to legacy desktop apps, Surface also has the Windows Store, which favors apps that are geared more towards touchscreens. This isn't the Surface's strong suit, but the Windows Store will continue to improve. You can also use an emulator to load many Android apps onto Surface.

Both devices will get big updates later this year: Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks for the MBA (it will probably cost US$20), and Windows 8.1 for the Surface Pro (a free update).

Starting prices

The Surface Pro technically undercuts the MacBook Air by $100, but we'd may as well call this about even because there's little point buying the Surface without one of its keyboard covers. That will add an extra $120 (Touch Cover) or $130 (Type Cover) to your checkout price.

Remember also that the entry-level MacBook Air gives you 128 GB of storage, while the cheapest Surface Pro only gives you 64 GB.

Wrap-up

It's a lot to consider. Do you want a traditional laptop, or a more futuristic hybrid device? Do you want a device that's really good at being one thing, or one that can potentially serve as a tablet, laptop, and a desktop? Stellar battery life and a built-in keyboard, or a sharper screen and greater portability? Mac OS X or Windows? These are the questions you want to be asking yourself.

Whichever you prefer, this is an interesting time to be shopping for a new PC. The entire definition of PC has been thrown into question, along with the future of a multi-billion-dollar industry. Hopefully this comparison will help you to narrow down your priorities, and find which kind of computer works best for you.

Smartphone Comparison Guide 2013

 

                                Source: gizmag.com

Shopping for a new smartphone can be overwhelming. Even after you’ve chosen a wireless carrier, there are so many phones – many of which look almost the same – that you might not know where to begin. The choice is made even more difficult by the constantly shifting sands of the smartphone marketplace and this year has already seen a number of major new players enter the fray. So how do you sort through it all? Look no further, as Gizmag breaks down the top smartphones of (early) 2013.

If we included every smartphone, you’d need to read this on a wall-sized computer. So we narrowed it down to a field of eight. They are (pictured, left to right):

• Samsung Galaxy S 4
• HTC One
• Apple iPhone 5
• LG Optimus G Pro
• BlackBerry Z10
• Sony Xperia Z
• LG/Google Nexus 4
• Samsung Galaxy Note II

We tried to include at least one phone from the biggest manufacturers. The biggest omission is Nokia and Windows Phone, but stay tuned for separate comparisons that give Lumia phones some love.

Specs aren’t everything, but they can suggest what a device can do. We organize our comparison by the measurable, but we also try to put our fingers on those harder-to-define intangibles. If a phone is greater (or lesser) than the sum of its parts, we want you to know that too.

So, without further ado, let’s break down the top smartphones of early 2013.

Size

For this comparison, we’re lumping smartphones and phablets together. You could argue that half of these phones are phablets, but the Galaxy Note II and Optimus G Pro are the only two that are no-question, through-and-through phablets.

The iPhone 5 looks positively puny in this group. BlackBerry’s Z10 isn’t much bigger. This is where the balance of hand size to screen size comes into play:

Are you uncomfortable holding a giganto-phone? Then the iPhone might be the best bet for you. Don’t mind some bulk if it gives you more screen real estate? Then phablet ahoy, matey.

If you’re still on the fence, hop into a store, pick a few of these up, and see how they feel in hand. And don’t be afraid to refer back to Gizmag when the wide-eyed salesperson tries to push you in a commission-friendly direction.

Build

Glass, aluminum, or plastic? Those are your choices when it comes to external build materials. The build of the phone’s chassis can affect how it feels in hand. Since you might be gripping this phone in your hand for the next two years, it’s an important consideration.

Weight

The iPhone 5 is – by far – the lightest phone in this group. If you want something that will disappear in your pocket, it wins that prize hands-down.

The Note II and Optimus G Pro – the fabulous phablets of the group – are the heaviest. Considering their hulking sizes, though, they should still feel relatively light. The Galaxy S4 also feels extremely light when you take its size into account.

Display

In the last few months, the pixel counts in high-end smartphones shot into the stratosphere. The only caveat is that your eyes probably won’t notice a huge difference between 330 pixels per inch (PPI) and 430 PPI. It’s extremely sharp vs. ridiculously sharp.

If you want the very best display at any size, then the HTC One probably wins that prize. The Galaxy S4 is right up there too. Even the Note 2 – with the lowest pixel density in this group – doesn't have a bad screen.

If you aren't so picky about display quality, then your decision may come down to size. Here too the iPhone is the smallest, and the two phablets the biggest – they each sport an enormous 5.5 inches of real estate.

Processor

Much like screen size, the iPhone and BlackBerry are the only throwbacks to the days of dual core processing. We wouldn’t worry too much about performance with either of those phones though. Their hardware/software integration (made by the same company) helps them to squeeze more performance out of a dual core chip than you might expect.

The Galaxy S 4 has two processors listed, because that will vary depending on where you live. U.S. customers get the quad core version, and much of the rest of the world will get the octa core (yes, eight cores) edition.

Honestly, we wouldn’t worry too much about this category. Like pixel density, processing has gone past the point of concern. Every phone in this batch is going to be very fast ... some just push that a little farther. There are much bigger differences to think about – like size, software, and app selection.

... but with that said, the octa-core version of the Galaxy S 4 is the fastest phone in the world right now. The quad-core version is probably the second fastest, with the HTC One hot on its heels.

RAM

It’s 2 GB of RAM across the board, with the iPhone 5 the lone exception. Again, though, there isn’t much to worry about with it – the Apple integration between phone and software makes performance zippy and smooth.

Storage

Do you keep full-length HD movies, thousands of photos, and console-quality games on your phone? If so, you’ll want to max out your storage.

For most customers, though, 16 GB is probably a safe mark to shoot for. Remember you can store lots of apps and data in the cloud, so it isn’t likely you’ll need to have everything stored on your phone all the time.

Also remember that the phones with microSD slots let you store much more than their internal memory suggests. Typically you can add up to 64 GB with an SD card.

Cameras

Take these numbers with grains of salt. When you’re making an easy-to-digest visual about camera specs, megapixel count is the best metric to use.

But it’s an imperfect measurement. Sensors, pixel sizes, lenses, and lots of other factors also play into actual image quality. The HTC One, for example, has a crummy megapixel count, but it uses larger pixels. So image quality might be quite good.

The best way to make up your mind here is to take some shots yourself, and look at them on a high-res display. Failing that, look at some full-resolution sample shots in reviews from Gizmag or another reputable tech site.

Battery

Here’s another spec that’s not exactly cut-and-dry. The amount of juice a phone holds is extremely important. But processor, display resolution, and software can also play into actual battery life.

There shouldn’t be much to worry about with any of these phones. With regular use, they should all last a full day.

Several of them also have removable batteries: the Galaxy S 4, Optimus G Pro, BlackBerry Z10, and Galaxy Note II. Notice anything? Yep, it’s the phones with plastic bodies: a nice bonus that aluminum and glass phones don’t provide.

Wireless

LTE – the fastest and best 4G technology – is now the norm with high-end smartphones.

The lone holdout here is the Nexus 4. The politics of selling a phone without carrier intervention led to Google passing on LTE. If it’s available in your area, though, the Nexus 4’s HSPA+ is a pretty fast 4G network in its own right.

It’s possible some of the other phones here won’t ship with LTE radios in your region. The best avenue here is to check with your local carrier.

The best questions to ask: “does the phone I want have LTE radios?” and “Does my area have LTE coverage?” Failing that, “is HSPA+ available?” If the answer to all of these questions is no, then you’ll be stuck with 3G (or worse) speeds.

Software

This is one of the most important questions to ask in your smartphone buying decision. Do you want iOS, Android, Windows Phone (not included in this edition of our guide) or BlackBerry?

... and if you choose Android, which manufacturer-specific software do you prefer? Samsung has TouchWiz, HTC has Sense, LG has its own Optimus flavor, and Nexus devices run “pure Google” (stock) Android. Each offers something a little different on top of the Android core.

Each platform also comes with its own app store:

Apple’s iOS App Store and Android’s Google Play Store have the best selections. Apple’s is still a little better for games. It also often favors simple, user-friendly apps with minimalist designs. Google Play has a leg up with customization-oriented apps and tweaks that Apple wouldn’t allow in its store.

BlackBerry’s App World and the Windows Phone Store have a lot of catching up to do. Finding your favorite apps might be a crapshoot in their app stores.

Mobile operating systems have come a long way, and get better every year. We’d recommend tuning out all the fanboy fanaticism and playing around with each. Find your favorite, then narrow down your search from there.

Release cycle

Most device-making companies like to keep their plans secret. And for good reason. If customers know that a new iPhone is coming in September, they’re less likely to buy the old model in July. Secrecy has financial ramifications.

But you can often make a pretty solid guess just by looking at the older version’s release date. If a phone gets upgraded once a year, the safe money is on its follow-up arriving at around the same time. The dates above show when all of these smartphones originally shipped.

The Galaxy S 4, HTC One, and Optimus G Pro are still hot off the press, so it’s a safe bet we won’t see their follow-ups for quite a while. But we could see a new iPhone and Galaxy Note by August or September of this year.

The older phones listed here are still among the cream of the crop. But this is something to keep in mind, especially since newer models usually ring up for the same prices that their predecessors sold for.

Intangibles

So what about everything else? Those harder-to-define intangibles, and extra goodies that each phone brings to the table? Let’s break down a few things to consider about each phone.

The Galaxy S 4 has a ridiculous amount of new software features. Some of them might be gimmicky, but you don’t have to use any of them – so no harm done, right? Some of the more notable S4 features are Smart Scroll (scroll emails and web pages with facial recognition), Smart Pause (automatically pause a video when you look away), and S Translator (translate foreign tongues in real time).

The HTC One probably won't come close to outselling the Galaxy S 4, but that doesn’t mean it’s an inferior phone. Some have knocked Samsung for sticking with a plastic design and relatively minor updates for the Galaxy S 4. Many of those same people are cheering HTC for the One’s bold new design, amazing screen, and terrific user experience. It’s one hell of an effort from a company that desperately needs a hit. We think it and the GS4 are in a league of their own, battling for Smartphone of the Year honors.

Then there’s the iPhone 5. Apple’s recent “troubles” have been blown out of proportion, but I think that stems from a general impression that its product line is growing stale. The iPhone – once the revolutionary groundbreaker in the field – has become the solid, reliable, “you know what to expect” candidate. Still, millions of customers embrace this familiarity. The iPhone is smooth, simple, and easy to use. It may no longer be on the forefront of innovation (at least for the time being) ... but everything just works.

Of the two 5.5-inch phablets, the Optimus G Pro has the better specs: 1080p screen, faster processor, higher-res camera. But it is missing a stylus, making for a very different experience than using the Note 2. If you want cutting-edge specs and a stylus, you might want to wait for the inevitable Galaxy Note 3.

BlackBerry finally delivered an iPhone/Android competitor in 2013, with the Z10. It runs BlackBerry’s slick new OS, BB10. Apart from the company’s reputation for business use and security, it offers some cool gesture controls. No home button, no on-screen navigation keys. Just a few simple swipes to get where you’re going. Gesture controls aren’t for everyone. But once you get the hang of them, you can get a nice swipe-centric workflow going.

Sony’s Xperia Z (and its U.S.-bound sibling, the Xperia ZL) got a lot of buzz at CES 2013, but got quickly overshadowed by the One and Galaxy S4. It’s still a solid Android phone, though. Its killer feature just might be its water and dust resistance. You can soak it in a bowl of water for half an hour, and it will come out as good as new. You won’t want to try that with any of these other phones.

The Nexus 4 just might be the best dollar-for-dollar buy on this list. You can order one from Google Play for US$300. Yes, that’s the off-contract price. No commitments or subsidies: just a terrific stock Android phone with no strings attached.

As we already touched on briefly, the Galaxy Note II is the only smartphone/phablet on this list that uses a stylus. Samsung did some truly innovative things with its S Pen. Scribble notes from anywhere. Scroll through pages by hovering the stylus over your screen. Take full advantage of the huge display by opening multiple apps in multiple windows. The Note 2 is a productivity beast, but also pretty fun to boot.

Wrap-up

The Smartphone market moves quickly. Six months ago, we did a similar comparison – and most of the phones were different. If we do another one six months from now, there will probably be an entirely new line of high-end phones competing for your dollars.

The bottom line is that there will never be one single phone that’s the be-all-end-all for everyone. Even if it looks like there is, something else will come along a month or two later to push it out of the spotlight. Technology is always moving on to something bigger, better, faster, stronger.

So find a phone that you love, and enjoy your two years (or however long) you spend with it. Hopefully this guide makes it a little easier to find one worthy of that long-term relationship.

... and if you want more on the two biggest Android phones of the year, check out our in-depth – and hands-on – comparison of the Galaxy S4 and HTC One.

iPhone 5 vs. iPhone 4S vs. iPhone 4

 

The budget iPhone: rumormongers have obsessed out the possibility for years. Though Apple hasn't – and likely never will – manufacture a new iPhone just to tackle the economy market, the company has covered that segment nonetheless. The recipe is simple: continue selling previous years' iPhones in decreasing increments of $100.

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Rather than complicating its product lineup with an "iPhone Lite," Apple is now selling last year's iPhone 4S for $100 and 2010's iPhone 4 for free (with new two-year contracts, of course). This gives Apple an "in" with economy-minded shoppers and emerging markets – without betraying its premium allure.

So, on store shelves this year, the iPhone 5 is joined by its previous two ancestors. There's no question which phone is the best - the iPhone 5 is a phenomenal smartphone – but is it worth saving a few bucks on one of the older models?

Specs aren't everything, but they can suggest a device's raw capabilities. With healthy grains of salt in hand, let's see how the last three iPhones compare:

Dimensions

Dimensions of the three most recent iPhones

The iPhone 5 is longer and significantly thinner than its identical-looking forerunners. This means that it's more comfortable to hold, and it practically disappears in a pocket. This is only accentuated by its aluminum back: the backs of the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 are made of glass.

Weight

The iPhone 5 is significantly lighter than its predecessors

The iPhone 5 could have easily been called the iPhone Air. The two older models feel like paperweights after using the incredibly light iPhone 5.

Display

All three iPhones sport 326ppi Retina displays

Though the pixels-per-inch (PPI) are identical, the iPhone 5 display gains an extra half-inch of real estate. This ups the resolution and shifts the aspect ratio to an oblong 16:9. Longtime iPhone users may find it strange at first, but will soon appreciate the extra room for apps, photos, and web pages.

Apple also opted for a thinner display in the new model. Combining a layer of touch sensors also brings those pixels closer to the surface. The company also boasts of 40 percent greater color saturation in the iPhone 5.

Processor

The A6 in the iPhone 5 offers unprecedented performance

There are noticeable boosts of speed in each successive model. The A6 chip in the iPhone 5 is a screamer, breaking smartphone benchmark records. Though the A6 was originally believed to run at 1GHz, 9to5Mac and TLDToday report that it dynamically clocks itself up to 1.3GHz (it may also underclock too, to save power).

The iPhone 4S still performs well for a modern smartphone. The two-year-old iPhone 4 is a bit sluggish for 2012 standards.

RAM

The iPhone 5 doubles the 512MB of RAM in the older models

The iPhone doubles the RAM of its two predecessors. This is another factor in its blazing-fast performance.

Storage

The discounted iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 models offer one option each for flash memory

Though the older iPhones originally shipped in different storage models, the cheaper models sold at present are more limited. The $100 iPhone 4S offers 16GB, while the free iPhone 4 gives you 8GB.

Wireless

LTE comes to the iPhone

The iPhone 5 takes Apple's handset into true 4G speeds, with LTE (where available). Actual LTE download speeds can range from 8Mbps to upwards of 40Mbps, with low latency to boot. It may be faster than your home broadband connection.

The older iPhones are confined to slower 3G speeds, though AT&T likes to label the HSPA+ 14.4 in the GSM iPhone 4S as "4G." I prefer to call it "3G+": faster than other 3G, but not in the same league as LTE.

In the US, Verizon can brag of the best coverage and widest LTE footprint, AT&T promotes its faster 3G speeds and growing LTE network, and Sprint - though its LTE is in infancy - is the only carrier to offer unlimited data.

Battery

Battery life is similar on all three models

Uptimes are similar across all three devices. That doesn't, however, make this category a wash: maintaining battery life while improving performance and adding LTE is no small feat.

Camera

The iPhone 5 camera is a subtle - but pointed - improvement over the shooter in the 4S

The camera in the iPhone 4S was a big leap ahead of the shooter in the iPhone 4. The difference between the iPhone 5 and the 4S is relatively small. Apple did improve a key area in the iPhone 5: low-light shooting.

The front-facing (FaceTime) camera also got an upgrade in the iPhone 5. This was likely done to make video calls look better on the longer screen.

Intangibles

Each option brings something different to the table

You could call the iPhone 5 the Rolex of smartphones. Its combination of lightness, thinness, performance, and beautiful design make it a significant upgrade.

One key upgrade that the iPhone 4S offered over the iPhone 4 was Siri. In addition to the faster speeds and improved camera, the virtual assistant is the top reason customers chose the 4S over its older sibling. iOS 6 adds to Siri's capabilities, letting it book dinner reservations, check movie listings, and get sports scores.

The only reason to choose the iPhone 4 over its successors is to save money. Considering that in September of 2011, you could have argued that the iPhone 4 was the best smartphone on the market, free in 2012 isn't a bad buy.

Summing Up

So do you splurge for the latest and greatest, or save a few bucks with Apple's older budget iPhones? That's your decision, but remember that the upfront cost is merely a fraction of what you pay during a two-year contract. Also consider that buying the iPhone 4 today means you'll be rocking a four-year-old smartphone when your contract ends.