Ipad is for entertainment and surface is for work

I got my aeronautical engineering degree with my Surface Pro (the original!). I ran Solidworks, MATLAB, and a host of other engineering programs using the i5 processor and 128GB HDD. I LOVE OneNote. It's functionality was incredible. Being able to record the audio from lectures and play it back at the time I wrote the corresponding notes was so valuable.

I started university with a gaming laptop. Bought the M1 ipad pro later that year, was very happy with it. Next year I got fed up with the very poor battery life on my laptop (around 2 hours) so I bought a M1 macbook air. I'm now considering selling my laptop, ipad and macbook and buying the surface pro 9 with an egpu (the egpu is mainly for gaming). I didn't enjoy macOS like I thought I would. The file manager is horrendous and small things that annoy me, like not being able to move a window without making it smaller first, add up to the less enjoyable experience. I'm overall happy with the ipad but don't expect to do more than note taking and some basic word or excel use. I would highly recommend buying the surface pro as an engineering student. You don't need to bring 2 devices if you need an actual laptop and all my courses are windows based and I Did run in some problems with needing windows-only programs while I was using macOS which forced me to use a windows VM (which was a very bad experience as well). Imo, if you've used windows your whole life, don't switch to mac. ipad is not so bad but it's the first step in being pulled in the Apple ecosystem. P.S. arguably ipad's best note taking app, goodnotes, is coming to windows as well so unless you already have a mac and iphone, there is not really a reason to buy the ipad over the surface

Great comparison! I made the leap from a Lenovo X1 laptop to a Surface Pro2 many years ago (now up to an SPro 7). In both cases, they were my main computer with dual monitors at the office via the Dock. I use MS Office, AutoCAD/Revit BDS, an SQL program that wraps around AutoCAD and other stuff. My current config at the office is based on a Samsung 34" curved monitor, which has a resolution that is very close to the SPro7 (a few hundred pixels). I agree with you that if your "tablet" is your only computer then the range of Windows tech apps and real multi-tasking makes it a no brainer. The idea of having a phone OS on a tablet for serious technical work freaks me out! Good video - keep it up.

Came super fast and I love that I had to sign for me instead of them leaving it on the porch. The pink is so cute and I can’t wait to use it more!

I have both. iPad Pro 11 and Surface 9 Pro for business w/1TB SSD which just arrived at my house today. To PiperCub49's comment, I use OneNote extensively. I found when going overseas several times now for long periods, the iPad Pro 11 was great until I needed to write documents and then I found over time it fell short. Pros and Cons to both but this Surface 9 Pro for business is very light nor did I want to buy two of everything in important apps. One for the iPad and one for the windows device for example

The “Final Thoughts” section was very helpful and carefully thought out

Great Video! I was an engineering student as well. I used, and still use, the Surface pro 2 when I was in school, and it handled SolidWorks 2014 pretty decently with an i5 processor. Note taking was amazing with it because of One Note's ability to have all your notes organized and searchable. With math and physics courses, it was helpful because I did not have to waste time sharpening pencils or have illegible marks, or waste time turning a page. I did a little bit of Coding with Visual Studios, so the Surface pro did a great job handling it with ease. I now have the Surface pro 8 with an i7 processor and it handles SolidWorks great, and for fun, can run Rocket League very nicely.

I have a dell xps and a Ipad Air. Honestly it's the best of both worlds. Using the ipad for the hand written notes while using the Dell for computational work makes life easier. This keeps the load off the laptop and helps that I have onenote synced up so I am never without my notes.

well done buddy, thank you for the great overview.

Thanks very much for this video. Best review video on iPad vs surface.

amazing video.....thanks for the detailed information

Useful observations, thanks. Subbed

Very informative comparison review.

Love my Surface Pro 8 but can't wait to upgrade to a blue surface pro 9!

i did my masters in Electrical Engineering 2 years ago on a 150€ used Thinkpad T430. Its solïd as a rock even after 10 years and you can upgrade/replace every single components in it.

Just FYI (to the audience): windows's air-drop equivalent is called nearby sharing, which supports windows-to-windows. For mobile, there is no such wireless feature yet (phone link only supports photos as of now), but USB PTP is always an option.

I bought an iPad Pro and i’ll explain my choice. I have a laptop bought in 2017, at the time a Great device… but in the years it has become heavy and the battery life inneficient. From a software point of view it’s still perfect, i’m a student of phisics and all i need is in the pc , it basically became a home pc. On the other hand the iPad Pro is a light and durable device with an optimized battery life and a very smooth os for note taking and studying. But the surface pro still remains a fantastic device.

Hi, thanks for your information. I'm a math PhD student with a disability in my hands. So, I use my legs to do all my tasks. I'm considering buying a device with which I can take notes and run mathematical software. I have taken notes with an iPad and a pencil which was very smooth. I also worked with a Surface some years ago and I couldn't take notes with it. Since I have an iPad Air2 with which the apple pencil is not compatible, I don't know what to choose. I can either buy an Adonit dash4 stylus and work with my ipad air 2 for note taking, and buy a wacom intous as a substitute for my mouse and keyboard, or I can buy Surface pro 8. As you mentioned, note taking with an iPad is much easier than that with Surface pro 8. I wonder if the quality of note taking with surface pro 8 has drastically improved in comparison with the older versions.

I really liked my Surface Pro 4 especially when it was working well. It was great for taking notes, light development, and other tasks like just leisure reading. When the processor started getting dated, I was able to use a low latency remote desktop app called Parsec to remedy the situation and it fit most purposes well -- extending the battery life, doing power tasks, and even some light gaming (not that there aren't caveats: the internet actually stutters when it was on battery, and touch doesn't feel like the way it natively does through the app). Around the 2-3 year mark, it developed flickergate and then the battery started swelling making it unsafe to use. As it was a very common issue, I am very hesitant to buy another Microsoft Surface product (I have two surfaces and both of them have flickergate). :(

The reason I chose my iPad Pro 11' was purely because it was never intended to be a substitute for my laptop. I have a powerful laptop that I use for simulations and other software, and I now have an iPad to take notes so I don't have to carry around 5kgs of books! If you're looking for one device to do everything, go for the surface pro, if you're looking for something to just take notes and do other light work, go for the iPad.

Nice comparison.. iPad pro is still a No No mostly for us engineering students. iPads are more like giant iPhones and killer factor is with the ipadOS maybe in the future if apple can use MacOS instead, then iPad pro will be best on till that happens the Surface pro is by far the best option

So what do you think for the new samsung tab s9 ultra for engineering? I will go to the college next year and I need some advice please.

Does anyone know if you can use the lasso function with a samsung tablet? Very insightful video, tbh I havent even considered surface pro before... now I really dont know what to choose :/

is there any way would combine two devices in a lecture? I am considering buy a 2-in-1 window tablet and Ipad mini for study, I know these two devices above have the OneNote app, are they could be syn without any bugs? thanks.😀

That structures video at 1:50 looks familiar 🤣

Nice video What i don’t understand is why no tech reviewer does a comparison with a Surface Pro and a MacBook Air Laptop VS Laptop The user base of iPad Pro is not someone that doesn’t have a laptop as well. Shouldn’t reviews be based on user type? Of course Surface Pro is more suitable for engineering users. iPad Pro will never be a university tablet for engineering. Even Macbook Air is not suitable Nice review but the dilemma for students in engineering is MacOS vs Windows + portability. Im sure a comparison like this will give you tons of views! Good job anywayz mate

Okay, one uses an iPhone, iPad, and a MBP. Notice each have their own OS and in many cases the same app has different features on each device setting oneself for frustration. Using Windows on the tablet and their PC all apps behave the same having the same feature set. Frustration and anxiety eliminated.

Summary: if you already have a good computer, go for the ipad, but if you don't, go for the surface pro

I have a big rig at home, a macbook and an ipad for uni

What app do you use to draw structural elements? Is there a note taking app that has a ruler? Thanks

Hey man,is Ipad (air or pro) good for ui/ux design? (Figma specifically),I am looking to buy one but I have never Used apple products before tbh and idk if it is good enough for this task. I would love to hear Your thoughts on it as it will help me a lot. (Also I have got a windows laptop which is really powerful but the battery isnt that good so I want the ipad in order to use Figma on the go)

I was fortunate to have a Surface pro 7 and entry level ipad during my computer engineering undergrad. Lots of engineering programs only run on Windows so it was an easy win for the Surface. When it came to notetaking, ipad was best and loved it. Quick things I had to do was done on the ipad. Everything else, the Surface.

MS Surface 8 Pro has the best of the Entertainment and Engineering worlds in a single powerful device indeed. If you want to expend your money purchasing more hardware, it's up to you.

KInda unfare on microsoft surface that you are compaing new gen I pad with fairly old outdated surface with old outdated microsoft pen esp when in comes down to note taking. would be fair if you compare surface 9 with slim pen with new gen Ipad.

Is the surface pro 8 good for aerospace engineering in doctoral section?

Hmmm... Did I hear you right? Did you say that you are not able to use the split screen option with One Note on the iPad? Because I use One Note in split screen on my iPad all the time.

Thanks for this nice comparism, I am radiation oncologist thinking to buy Samsung GS8 ,because I notice something that I need during making simulation on anatomy & patients videos that I can write while I watching the screen recording video during my reviews for cases with my colleagues that I didn't find such option neither in surface or ipad , please if any one can help me to find this feature on any surface or ipad , I watching many like your videos before going to buy the suitable device for me , thanks for any reply,,,

Save yourself time and get the Surface Pro 7/8 or MacBook Air. MacBook Air if you plan on being a front-end web developer or study Java programming language. If your college focuses on C++ or C#, go with the Surface Pro 7/8.

I really like mi iPad Pro, its my main computer BUT I am 99% sure that the Surface will be the Winner in this comparison.

As an engineering student, are you telling that Word and Excel on the iPad is comparable to the same experience in Windows (try to write complex equations or macros that doesn't work, for example)? Word and Excel in IPad on a real engineering scenario is useless. In Autocad terms, the iPad is garbage. So, avoid the iPad is you want to use it in a real engineering student scenario.

If you had to pick one and only one, obviously its the Surface Pro. The iPad simply cannot do everything you will need it to do. There is really no argument or debate. One can do all the things, the other one cannot. That is not to say the Surface Pro is perfect. The battery life is not that great. Its thermal design does throttle the CPU back quite a bit for heavier tasks despite spending more on the i7 or whatever. The SSD is not the fastest. And a few other gripes. However, if you can only buy one device, the Surface Pro is the one. Everyone thinks they are a power user. Truth is all these devices are overkill for any student in any field of study until you get well into the graduate level. By then whatever you bought will need to be replaced/upgraded anyway.

Which is good sketch up editor

I also always ask the question if this is your only device or you already have a computer? because an iPad can't replace a real computer.

If your major is computer engineering or electrical engineering, you definitely don't want an iPad. You would want to get a nicely configured Windows computer or MacBook pro.

Is planswift works on surface pro?

Obviously the surface pro It has more memory, upgradable and can run windows Android and chrome

Basically there's no comparisn here. iPad is just a big phone with pencil that doesn't even do it's job as a phone. Surface Pro is a computer that's also a tab and both does it's job well.

Macros on the iPad though?

U need to switch to the sp8 With slim pen 2. Another world, completely different from sp7 and before... Sp8 with slim pen 2 is far far better than sp7

With the new Surface pro 8 and 9 ....the ones most people will buy considering the others are not available anymore, the note taking and pen experience is better than the ipad. Your review should have come out in 2019/2020 then yeah I would have agreed with you but in 2022 come on....

I need a Surface Pro 8 and it's not available in India.

Definitely all about the OS rather than the device. I love Apple hardware, but their OS is not my forte. There I said it.

No brainer. With its desktop OS, Surface Pro is by far the better device for serious computing tasks than a tablet.

In theory I agree with this video. But in practical terms I don't anymore having lived with a surface pro for 3 years. My recommendation (and what I'm doing now in my master's degree) is to get a good PC or Laptop for the heavy lifting in labs or at home and an iPad for class and note taking. Some thoughts and observations of mine as to why: Yes the surface is a Windows PC that can run the necessary engineering programs, but it's not that great at it and frankly you will run into problems when files are getting larger and the computing more demanding (simulations and the like - mechanical, aerospace, automotive engineering etc.). The writing experience on a surface is sadly nowhere near as good as on an iPad. Windows is a buggy mess. Even more so if you use it for a year or two. It gets in the way. Clutter, constant updates, driver issues and all the fun things that you get with windows are all here. For me the kickstand was an annoyance that I never used, because yes it's sturdy, but it flexes a bit and you don't have anywhere to place your palm while writing on the right side of the page. Battery life is HORRIBLE on a surface if you're actually doing demanding things. If you have a long day at uni and plan on using it like a PC / laptop at times you'll run out of juice 100%. Its "half life" is worse then an iPad. With the way windows and programs in the PC world are developing the computing power of the surface won't last you as long as on the iPad.

ipad meant to be a sidekick for every PC/macosx...so it's not apple-to-apple with surfaces

Good notes coming to windows 🤩

I have both. Surface pro is a full blown cpu. iPad is tablet. Enough said.

Surface Pro maybe. But definitely not iPad.

No solid works on ipad. Its only on windows. however surface cant last whole day for taking notes. better to have both;.

Simple… surface…

so... basically get the Surface.

iPad is the best media consumption and children's toy . It's actually blasphemy to even compare iPad with surface pro for any serious work .

Get a surface pro for god's sake!

This is bias cuz Im using a desktop pc and a MacbookPro 16inch. Depends on your needs and how u work.

just buy a laptop , cheaper and better than both , i own 2 ipads and macbook air and a windows laptop , i prefer macbooks and laptops over tablets

Just put linux on surface pro and you have the best tablet ever!!!

You talk too fast ...

The surface pro is shit! ive got one.. the batery runs out quick, The screen flickers, and it runs slow! Apples the best..

how long does the surface pro 8 last?