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The Criteria

I began writing this December 2016, so it’s a little outdated… but some of the info may still be helpful to those who are interested in either models….

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There are a lot of reviews and comparisons online between the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and the iPad Pro, but I’ve found very few that will 1) give you a final honest recommendation for one over the other (instead of simply concluding with “it depends on your needs”) and 2) include all of the aspects that a graphic designer is considering, namely the stylus comparisons in respect to the apps available as well as impact on daily workflow due to software needs.

Before we begin, let’s come to terms with our limitations: no matter how Apple tries to pitch it, there’s no way that an iPad Pro can replace a laptop for a professional graphic designer—not if that’s your only computer—not if you need to genuinely work away from your desktop. We all need access to the full versions of Adobe apps and can’t do a whole lot with the lite apps that the Pro features. We also need legitimate file organization—while you could certainly adapt to the cloud, most of us aren’t going to be comfortable not having any desktop file access and you can’t hook it up to an external drive.

So if we choose to purchase an iPad Pro—we’re choosing that as an additional gadget—there’s no way of getting around the fact that for the small-town, sole proprietor: this is a luxury item.

This comparison is not meant to be an “apples to apples” (so to speak) but rather an “I really want a tablet in my life — so should I go for the full-blown (more practical) could replace-my-laptop Surface Pro option? Or should I go for the (more fun) what-I-know-may-be a glorified sketchpad but possibly worth sacrificing some workflow-ease if I can find the right workarounds for iPad Pro option?”

Here’s where I’m coming from: I currently own a 2011-era MacBook Pro that is on its last legs. I am enamored with the tablet experience: the ability to sketch on-the-go in a vector format that I can easily import to Illustrator and as a way to replace my paper notebooks for meetings. But my budget is not unlimited. Purchasing a desktop, laptop and tablet is not something I can justify. And I’d like my next computer to be paired with a large screen—so if I go for an iPad Pro, I will then plan on purchasing an iMac to replace my laptop. If I decide on the Surface Pro, that would be my sole computer and I’d purchase a monitor to pair it with at home.

What I am most interested in:

What I’m not as interested in, for the purposes of this comparison, are features like the camera, video, speakers, or speed of processors. There are enough reviews available that will walk you through those items and I mostly want to find out if I can use either of these options for any amount of serious work while, hopefully, having the additional benefit of a tablet.

So here’s the plan: I’ve ordered a Refurbished 32 GB, 9.7" iPad Pro ($740 w/stylus and AppleCare) and a Refurbished 128 GB, Intel m3 Surface Pro 4 ($730 w/stylus and Microsoft Protection). I’m not going to bother with keyboards for now… or any of the other accessories. No matter which I choose (if any), I will return both. Because if I choose the iPad, I may decide for the larger screen (and, if that’s the case, wait for the updated spring version). If I go for the Surface Pro, I will order the more expensive i7 version with more storage.

I’ll take each out of the office for a day—and see how they fair. For the iPad, I am going to test out how it works as a tablet accessory to my laptop as well as how effective it is to remotely access my laptop in order to utilize full Adobe software. For the Surface Pro, I’ll be looking to see how comfortable I feel working in Windows, and how it compares to the iPad in regards to quality and execution. One of the reasons I chose to order the smaller iPad, besides the cost, was for the ability to compare working with the different tablet sizes. And, I’m going to test the heck out of those styluses: note taking, sketches, and what are the best-available drawing apps for each option.

First impressions:

iPad Pro: The iPad Pro arrived first. Not that shipping would sway your choice but Apple certainly ships and delivers more quickly, for free.

While I was typing up the aforementioned “plan”, I realized a small snafu: that the iPad does not come with any built-in stand. So, I did put in an order to Amazon and grabbed a cheap kickstand in order to test it “laptop” style with my bluetooth keyboard.

The actual unboxing, for someone who’s owned other Apple products was an experience as smooth as expected but nothing beyond that. Nice, cleanly designed packaging which was easy to open and to begin using right away. And that goes for both the iPad and the pencil, which arrived together.

The iPad itself is not a new experience — as far as look and feel are concerned. However, the pencil was. And holding the pencil in my hands was—before even using it—living up to the hype in regards to its quality. The solid weight and overly-simple design reminds me of a woodless graphite pencil, which is a nice association for us artist types.

Surface Pro: The Surface Pro arrived second. I am not as familiar with Microsoft products but felt that they were on par with packaging and unboxing experience. The Surface Pro has its own built-in kickstand — which definitely gives it a bump over the iPad and leaves me wondering why the iPad does not.

The Surface Pro is a bit heavy—on one hand, I like this because it gives a sense of quality, on other hand, I don’t see myself holding it in my hands much at all so that kickstand will need to do its job.

The Surface Pro stylus, however, feels markedly cheaper than the Apple Pencil — lighter and plasticky.

Who’s in the lead: It’s hard to say at this point because I am more familiar with Apple’s brand and have an obvious bias to their aesthetics. For me, the initial impression goes to Apple. As far as the styluses are concerned, I don’t have high hopes for the Microsoft version.

iPad Pro: I began using the iPad Pro with a couple of sketch apps, to test out the pencil. Previous to using the pencil, my only other experiences were on a Wacom tablet—a lower-end version—and a recently purchased fiftythree pencil. I wasn’t too impressed by the fiftythree pencil. It was fun to use but I noticed it was difficult to use for handwriting—not very precise. The Apple pencil, in my initial sketches, excelled in recognizing marks quickly enough to keep up with average-speed of my handwriting. The screen is lovely and a pleasure to look at. You can click on a button that shows how the screen would look without Truetone (which adjusts the color and warmth to your lighting) and the difference is quite noticeable. After a few minutes of playing with the iPad I did notice that my hands started to feel fatigued holding it — with this being the 9.7", I can’t imagine holding the larger iPad pro for any period of time.

All and all, I was enamored. But what I really needed to find out is how usable it was in my daily workflow.

Surface Pro: Opening up and getting the Surface Pro going wasn’t difficult by any means. But comparing it to a tablet experience where the system if very simple—starting up the Surface is more like opening up a PC computer (not as exciting). And as an Apple user—I’m wasn’t a big fan. I do appreciate the newer Windows interface which features bolder graphics and a dashboard of sorts—that helps bridge the gap a bit and enable you to feel like you are using a tablet.

Because the Surface will allow me to use full Adobe programs, the first thing I got to doing was downloading those off of the Cloud —and that was pretty simple to do.

The next thing that I did was to open up Illustrator—to see how I might access a client project. Right away I ran into an issue: fonts. If I were to use this as my sole computer, I’d need to figure out how to get my thousands of fonts over (and organized) into a PC. Not having ever done this before, I am not sure if it is possible.

Testing out the stylus, it easy to see the difference in precision between this and the Pencil. It lags a bit (at least in the programs that the Surface comes with). And I did not find that it was very easy to take legible handwritten notes.

So now I have some homework to do—1) find out what drawing programs are recommended for the Surface by designers; 2) find out how to get my typefaces onto and organized in the Surface.

Who’s in the lead: If I were basing this solely on drawing capabilities—it would be the iPad Pro hands down. For function and ability to work as my sole computer—the Surface (but I knew that the iPad wouldn’t be able to compete fairly here going into this). While I am not immediately comfortable in Windows, I’m willing to give it a chance and see if it will grow on me.

iPad Pro: I set up remote desktop access to my MacBook Pro fairly easily. And I slowly began to figure out how to use my desktop apps from my iPad using the pencil and “mouse” options on Chrome Remote Desktop. It’s not easy or intuitive. And I am, sadly, not left feeling that working off of this iPad on my MacBook will be at all practical. I typically work with mouse in one hand and keyboard under my other, combining right-clicks and keyboard shortcuts to work more quickly. Neither of these are an option on the iPad Pro alone. I have yet to test it out with my Bluetooth keyboard. In addition, I found that setting up remote desktop access so that I able to wake my computer up remotely is no easy task at all and will likely require I hire some IT assistance if I plan on doing that.

I also tested out the Adobe apps. Again, the difference in capabilities—or even ability to work back and forth—was very disappointing. As far as I could tell, the only use for the App versions are to get down initial sketches. You then need to take the file and get it into the desktop versions in order to finalize or produce any real work. If I was able to import a vector file to Illustrator Draw — like a logo I am working on—that would add some usability to my workflow. But sadly (and a little surprisingly) that is not an option. The Adobe app versions will not open up the software version files or even an .eps file.

I did take the iPad on a trip to see family 4 hours away. The size is definitely much nicer to throw in my bag than the 15" laptop but for the most part, I found myself using it like my phone—checking news, internet and reading. The one big plus is that, because it is so fun to sketch on, I found myself wanting to draw and sketch more regularly. While this may seem like a frivolous thing—drawing and sketching more for an artist or designer is invaluable to both honing our creative skills as well as keeping our drawing abilities fresh and developed.

Surface Pro: I am enjoying the form of the Surface—I love its flexibility in moving the screen around and having the built-in kick stand.

I am not, however, enjoying the Windows interface and find it glitchy and a little unreliable. I have found it hard to find my way around the system—not only is it not as intuitive but it seems to shut down or freeze when it shouldn’t be.

On the other hand, using the Adobe programs on it has been successful—and an added plus is that Illustrator has a touch interface designed for this tablet which makes it a lot of fun to use on the Surface.

But regarding my typefaces, I’ve run into a huge bump in the road. Based on my research, I could only find one robust type management program: Suitcase. And I can not find any tutorials on how I would efficiently transfer all of my fonts to the Surface without having to, it seems, install them one by one. In addition, I am not feeling very confident that all of my fonts will work on a PC.

iPad Pro: The iPad Pro, is a lot of fun. And I can see how it would be a nice addition to any creative’s studio.

I really (really) enjoyed using the stylus and found myself sketching much more than usual — Procreate being my go-to app. For sketches that I needed to be in vector, I found Illustrator Draw useful and could get down initial logo concepts that could more easily be rendered into first drafts than scanning from my sketchbook.

It really is too bad because, in regards to workflow—everything else that I use to run my business works so well on it: Mail, Evernote, Asana, Freshbooks, Google Drive, and more…

Never having owned an iPad before, and not owning a tablet reader, it was also a huge step-up from reading books off of my tiny iPhone. In addition, I found myself using it regularly to read the news and use it as a cookbook in the kitchen.

The iPad Pro is definitively a luxury item. And there is no fooling myself that it is not a tool that I will be able to use as an alternative to my laptop. But on the other hand, I could see myself carrying it around and using it on a regular basis.

The two most “practical” uses that I can legitimately say are helpful to my regular work are sketching and note taking. I can more easily transfer initial logo sketches right from the “sketch” version to workable first drafts because Illustrator Draw allows me to sketch in a vector format. And I did find myself able to use the iPad as a replacement for my paper notebook in client and community meetings that I attend, where I need to keep notes.

I also tried out the Astropad app which allows you to “mirror” another screen onto your iPad and then use it almost like a Wacom tablet. So you could add on “Wacom replacement” to the small list of practical uses.

When I began this search, I had determined that the inability of the iPad to be able to work back and forth with Adobe programs would be a “deal breaker.” But my experience using it has left me with a hankering to keep it around and so I do plan to purchase one in the future.

Surface Pro: I really wanted the Surface Pro to workout. I wanted to feel that I could get used to Windows. And I wanted to justify being able to move from Apple over to Microsoft for my new laptop. But, it just wasn’t going to happen.

The two biggest issues for me were the operating system feeling glitchy and unenjoyable to use, and not being able to easily transfer my font collection over. But in addition, the stylus is not that great (after using the Pencil) and if part of the point of having the Surface was for me to be able to easily take notes and draw, than the Surface wasn’t making the cut.

— — — — — —

So my definitive conclusion for those of you who may be considering the two would be this: unless you are a PC/Windows user — AND—you don’t rely on having access to a large font library for your profession—the Surface Pro is likely not for you. And if you were looking into it as a comparison to the iPad Pro, as I was, to use as a tablet—there’s really no comparison at all in regards to their styluses. Apple has developed an experience that can only be made available through the specialized hardware that pairs with it. The response, pressure sensitivity and feeling of drawing with it is not remotely close to the Surface Pro’s stylus—which, as far as I am concerned, is pretty standard in regards to the styluses available out there.

That being said, if you were thinking you could use the iPad Pro with Adobe software—unless they make some serious updates to it—the workflow is pretty limited. If you rely on InDesign or Illustrator—you will not find yourself using the iPad pro a whole lot for design. If your main tasks are drawing—then the iPad pro could be a good tool for you. And if you are mainly a web developer—I imagine that you may be able to make the iPad pro work better for your needs.

If you don’t mind Windows and want more of a tablet feel and flexibility (and don’t care as much about the sophistication of the drawing/writing tool) then you may want to give the Surface Pro a try.

All and all, as I finish writing this (now many months later) I ended up purchasing an iMac… a discounted refurbished iPad Pro… and more recently a lower-end, refurbished MacBook to give me some flexibility for remote/travel work. So ultimately I ended up with all three machines — even though I was hoping to combine/eliminate one of them. The iMac, even though it has brand new specs is, sadly, not as fast as my 2011 SSD MacBook Pro. I am going to chalk that up to decline of Apple quality. But the iPad Pro continues to be a fun tool which I use as a regular replacement for my notebook and sketchbook (and it serves me well as tablet reader, digital newspaper, cookbook, and more).

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