Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 or Apple’s Macbook Pro 15? A Face Off

While there are many premium laptops that can outperform the MacBook Pro 15, only a few can actually claim to be “better.”

It’s difficult to contest with Apple’s build quality and engineering expertise, and so it boasts only a few competitors… until Microsoft released its Surface Book 2.

The New Surface Book 2 is well-built,slick, and bit as skillfully(if not better) engineeredthan the MacBook Pro 15. In many ways, it’s the height of Microsoft’s questfor premium hardware, and it is definitely slick and elegant enough to sway some MacOS die-hards.

Let’s go intothe Design, Hardware, and Display to find out for sure in this quick Surface Book 2 vs. MacBook Pro 15 face off.

The Design

If you sit them on a table, both laptops are amazingto look at. The MacBook Pro exemplifies a slimmed down updated elegance, an inventive refinement of the old-fashioned laptop. Looking at the Surface Book 2, on the other hand, will make you feel like looking at the future.

Handled, both devices feel sturdy and solid, like they were built from a single compact piece of metal — or in the Surface’s case, magnesium. You’ll notice no give, no flex, and nothing moves when it shouldn’t. Both devices feature robust, firm hinges, and fantastic build quality.

However, the Surface Book 2’s built is ingenious. The display can be detached from the base to transform into a fully-featured Surface tablet. Used this way, it offers full support for the Surface Dial and Surface Pen.

Its versatility means that the Surface Book 2 works how you want it to. Sitting at adesk, or laying on a couch, it is designed to fit your needs. While the MacBook Pro 15 offers an exceptional desktop and laptop user experience, but you can’t actually pop its screen off and read a book while relaxing in bed.

Although these devices are equally matched when it comes to engineering and aesthetic design, the Surface Book 2 the win in this category. Its awesome design allows it to do things the MacBook Pro 15 just can’t.

The Hardware

Processor performance wise, the MacBook Pro 15 has an advantage on the Surface Book 2. MacBook Pro 15’s processor earns a score of 4,644 in single-core performance and 15,665 in multi-core performance based on Geekbench. The Surface Book 2’s 8th-generation processor has 4,547 in single-core performance while having 13,900 in multi-core performance.

This means they’re going to be about evenly matched in regular performance. The MacBook Pro 15’s processor may be older but is quicker since it’s built to use more power than Surface Book 2’s processor.

In any case, The MacBook Pro 15’s victory in CPU power isn’t truly close to the performance difference between the Radeon Pro 560 and the GTX 1060.

The Display

Apple is hard to beat when it comes to display quality. Their glassy displays offer a clarity and complexity that very few manufacturers can match. Microsoft has done an awesome job with Surface Book 2’s screen as well, so it might be a close contest.

The Surface Book 2 hit a contrast ratio of 1,410:1, while the MacBook Pro 15 has 910:1. Both are great scores and allow each display a sense of depth and character. Display gamut or the breadth of colours the display can produce takes a side on the MacBook Pro 15 while having an impressive 0.61 colour error.The Surface Book 2average colour error is 3.96. The colours are vibrant, but a bit too vibrantto some.

Our overall winner is the Surface Book 2, because of its superior hardware, versatile design, and fantastic display that matches MacBook Pro 15. And hey, it’s a LOT CHEAPER than MacBook Pro by a wide margin. You can check out and buy Microsoft surface tablets at Harvey Norman to get your hands on the Surface Book 2 and see why it’s simply better if you look from a logical standpoint.