Microsoft Surface Pro 3 VS. iPad Air 2: The Windows 8.1 Pro tablet Microsoft Surface Pro 3 is being touted as the ultimate laptop replacement, while the iPad Air 2 continues to be thinner and lighter in many aspects. We compare these two units in terms of their built, display and other specs.

First of, the weight – as tablets are deemed to be the more portable producitivty suite compared to the laptop. The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 weighs 798 grams, while the iPad Air 2 is much lighter at 437 grams. Although the Surface Pro 3 is on the heavier side, it must be noted that this unit is typically compared to an Ultrabook or a MacBook Air. As a tablet though, the Surface Pro 3 is on the bulky and heavier-end.

But what the Surface Pro 3 makes up for despite it requiring a bit more effort to carry around is that it has a bigger size than the iPad Air 2. Gizmag noted that, “The Surface Pro 3 is big enough to make the iPad Air look like an iPad mini.” The Surface Pro 3’s dimensions are 201 x 292 x 9.1 mm, while the iPad Air 2’s dimensions are 170 x 240 x 6.1 mm. The Surface Pro 3 has a magnesium construction while the iPad Air 2 has an aluminum body. There’s only one color variant available for the Surface Pro 3, which is silver while the iPad Air 2 is available in silver, space gray and gold.

In terms of display, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has a huge 12-inch display with a resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels and a pixel density of 216 ppi. The iPad Air 2 has a 9.7-inch display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 and a pixel density of 264 ppi. Both panels are IPS, with Surface Pro 3 having an official stylus, which the iPad Air 2 doesn’t have. However, there are two things that the iPad Air 2 display has, an anti-reflective display and also a fingerprint sensor.

In terms of camera, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has a 5MP rear and 5MP front-facing snapper. The iPad Air 2, on the other hand, has a 8MP rear camera and 1.2MP front-facing camera.

Storage options for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 are 64 GB, 128 GB, 256 GB and 512 GB. The iPad Air 2 has 16 GB, 64GB and 128GB. Micro SD support is available for the Surface Pro 3, which allows you to further expand its storage, while the iPad doesn’t have Micro SD support.

Under the hood, the Surface Pro 3 has different options. You can have the Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 dual-core processors, which clocks in from either 1.5 GHz-3.3 GHz. The iPad Air 2 has the Apple A8 processor which is tri-core 64-bit processor and clocks in at 1.5GHz. Internal memory of the Surface Pro 3 starts at 4GB RAM and can be as high as 8GB RAM while the iPad Air 2 has 2GB RAM.

Battery life differs on how heavy or light you use the device. According to Gizmag, the Surface Pro 3 can last for 9 hours with web use, presumably on a single charge, while the iPad Air 2 can stay a bit longer, 10 hours.