The original Odd Couple – Oscar and Felix, played by Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, living together despite their clashing personalities
(c) 1968 Paramount Pictures
After 4 years of loyal service, my Dell laptop is showing the signs of age and I’ve been considering a Microsoft’s Surface Pro, even though I am apprehensive about Windows 8. I want the power of my desktop combined with the weight of a tablet able to support 12 years of legacy data. I am tired of lugging a heavy bag through customs and the Surface Pro seems to fit the bill. I was tempted by the Surface RT, but the lack of true Windows support and the mixed reviews and slow sales changed my mind. RT is strictly for family use, despite views to the contrary.
The Microsoft Surface Pro is a very nice machine; a quantum leap in terms of design when compared with the efforts of its own OEMs. Despite their protests, Microsoft had no choice but to set the example. Otherwise Apple would have romped home with all the prizes and more importantly the market share too. Heaven knows why this was necessary – Apple has been teaching the industry about good design for decades.
Imagine shrinking your desktop computer to a very portable 10.8″ x 6.8” (27.4cm x 17.3cm) high-definition screen weighing only 2 pounds (.9Kg). That’s the Microsoft Surface Pro, a true desktop in your briefcase. It substitutes for a tablet, ultrabook, and laptop.
It’s powerful and disguised to look like a tablet. It supports full Windows 8, an ultra-fast internal SSD drive, a 1.7GHz i5 Core, 4GB RAM, a high-speed USB 3 port, SD memory expansion, multiple input options (keyboard, mouse, touch, pen), HD DisplayPort video out, Multi-WiFi, Bluetooth. There’s also an accelerometer and a gyroscope for games and a compass. Its specs are impressive and mostly state-of-the-art (for example, its Micron SSD is far faster than the NAND flash memory found in most tablets).
And for road warriors like me, it easily slips in and out of your briefcase for those all-too-regular, less-than-reassuring security checks. It can easily replace your primary desktop – just plug in a full keyboard and monitor.
And at $999 (€879), it’s good value too – although the 3.5 hour battery life with Office is a little short compared to other ultrabooks and tablets.
So, ready to sign the check?
Not yet…
Last Monday, Apple announced the new MacBook Air sporting Intel’s Haswell i5 chip with double the graphics speed of the outgoing model and 45% faster flash storage. It also comes with the latest 802.11ac WiFi delivering a maximum throughput of 1.3Gbps – 3 times faster than the outgoing model and rival laptops. And the battery life at between 9 and 12 hours is impressive. There’s no tactile screen like the Pro, but this is an ‘Office’ machine, I don’t need or want ‘touch’. There’s that digital pen too which looks nice, but I don’t need it.
The MacBook Pro vs
the Surface Pro
So now I am scratching my head; even though these two devices have different design goals, for what I need, they both do the job. Maybe I should go with an Air and just install Office with Windows 7; after all some people claim Macs to be the best PCs money can buy, and Microsoft’s fire sale is not reassuring. And I think (know) I prefer Windows 7 over Windows 8. Or maybe I should just stick with what I know, even though Windows 8 will be a struggle to begin with. Both units are similarly priced – even though the Air is a little heavier by .38 pounds (.172Kg).
How strange to be thinking of an Apple MacBook Air to do Office and how strange to govern my refresh by the need to run Office. Especially when there is OpenOffice, Google Docs and iWork – all paying particular attention to Microsoft compatibility. Apple and Microsoft – clashing personalities I instinctively want to couple together. Over the years a bit of each has rubbed off on the other, like Oscar and Felix, driving the innovation that’s forging the digital revolution we enjoy today.
Whatever the analysts might be saying at the moment, don’t let them fool you into believing Apple has lost its touch. And as for Microsoft – it still appears to have a very firm grip on its core business.
Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon
The Fourth Column 
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