Mikey Campbell
After wide-ranging media reports bashed Microsoft over questionable claims regarding the new Surface Pro's built-in flash storage, a side-by-side comparison between the tablet and Apple's 11.6-inch MacBook Air reveal the two devices share the same amount of disk space.
A test from ZDNet's Ed Bott pitted Redmond's newest device against Apple's thin-and-light MacBook Air, arguing that the comparison is more than fitting given the Surface Pro's ability to run a full-featured operating system.
"Unlike the Surface RT, which is a tablet that does a few PC-like things, Surface Pro is a real, no-compromises PC," Bott wrote. "It can power a 2560x1600 30-inch display, it runs Windows 8 Pro, it supports Hyper-V virtualization, you can run PhotoShop and AutoCAD on it. It deserves to be compared head to head with another full PC like the MacBook Air."
It was reported in late January that the 64GB Surface Pro would ship with as little as 36 percent of its advertised storage accessible to users, mostly due to the installation of Windows 8 and a recovery partition. The 128GB model tested on Thursday was said to leave 83GB, or 65 percent, left for customer use.
With a few simple calculations, and accounting for the two different methods Windows and OS X uses to report storage capacities, the Surface Pro and MacBook Air were found to have nearly identical amounts of free space. In fact, after moving the Windows 8 Recovery partition to a USB drive, the Surface Pro actually bested the Air's addressable storage by over 5GB.
Bott noted the MacBook Air with 128GB of flash storage ships with 92.2GB (approximately 99 billion bytes in pre-Snow Leopard Base 2 calculations) available, while the 128GB Surface Pro with Recovery partition installed offers 89.7GB (approximately 96.3 billion bytes). Removing the partition brings the Surface's capacity up to 97.5GB.
While Microsoft is marketing the Surface as a hybrid device, many consumers and reviewers are comparing it to other tablets. It can be argued that the slate form-factor, lack of built-in keyboard and touch-driven interface put the Surface Pro in the basic tablet category, but the device's full Windows 8 OS and ability to install Windows programs brings it more in line with so-called Ultrabooks.
Although Bott did not have access to a 64GB Surface Pro for testing, he estimated a 64GB MacBook Air would "compare more favorably to a Surface Pro in this configuration."
"I consider the 64 GB Surface Pro and MacBook Air pure companion devices, designed for people who don't care about carrying around large amounts of personal data," A storage capacity of 30-40 GB is more than adequate for current work, especially when it's supplemented with external devices (SD cards, USB flash drives, external hard drives) and cloud storage."
Malcolm Owen
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
Amber Neely
100 Comments
They're both bloated. OS X is an entertainment delivery system by Apple.
On the Macbook Air, notice how the display can be opened and tilted to a wide range of angles. You can actually use a Macbook Air on your lap, if you wish. Isn't that amazing? Yet, the Surface can not perform such a simple task. Does somebody using a Surface have to walk around with a fold up table in order to use it? Or do they have to lie down in the middle of the street if they wish to quickly check something?
One of the biggest drawbacks though is the fan IMO. I can't imagine ever using a tablet that has a ridiculous fan inside of it. I demand absolute silence from any mobile device, such as phones and tablets.
Surface pro is DOA but not because of storage. It's really a non-issue for most people
True, both cram a desktop OS into 64 GB, leaving enough storage for most people's needs EXCEPT for music/photo libraries. However... The Air has a real keyboard (typing tests on both Surface covers have shown it to fall short). Backlit no less. The Air has MUCH longer battery life. The Air doesn't try to cram two totally different platforms into one confusing mess. The Air's screen angle is adjustable. The Air has OS X and the iTunes store. The Air has a much bigger and better trackpad. The Air is a good laptop. Not a poor laptop combined with a poor tablet. But if you consider the Surface Pro to be a tablet (after all, the keyboard/trackpad isn't even included in the price, it's optional) then you'll be comparing its free space to the iPad, not the Air. P.S. My 128 GB Air is not a companion--it's a full professional production machine for Photoshop, programming, office tasks, everything. It can drive a big external display and its storage is unlimited when I'm at home (external drives). I chose less internal storage to save money: SSD is well worth the performance, but it costs more per GB. If I saved even more money and got a 64GB, I'd use my Air for all the same things... but I'd rely a bit more on cheap, high GB Western Digital pocket hard drive beside it. P.P.S. The Air has a recovery partition too--and [URL=http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/30/deleting-the-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-recovery-hd-partition/]you can delete it [/URL]for more space (less than a GB).
Consumers are happy that OSX is an entertainment delivery system. That's why they're buying more Apple computers and less Windows PCs.