CIO Road Test: Microsoft Surface Pro Beats Apple iPad

Kevin Pashuk, Chief Information Officer at Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario Canada, recently featured in a guest post for CRN, where he outlined the immense benefits the Microsoft Surface Pro brings to education. We thoroughly enjoyed what he had to say, and wanted to give you a quick preview.

Pashuk makes an excellent comparison between the Apple iPad and the Microsoft Surface Pro. Have a read, because you will certainly learn a few things.

“As someone charged with identifying future technology trends that may impact education in particular and IT in general, I find it valuable to actually get my (or my team's) hands on a particular piece of technology rather than just read about it in an article.”

“If you check out the satchels of many executives today, there are three devices -- a laptop computer for working, an iPad (or Android) tablet for quick reference and browsing (as well as a session or two of Angry Birds), and a mobile phone.

Enter the Microsoft Surface Pro.”

“I picked up one a few weeks ago that was configured with 128 GB of storage and a touch-type keyboard (real keys, not the flat version). An extra power supply and a Targus USB 3.0 docking station were added to the mix.

One of the first things I noticed about the Surface Pro (other than its great styling, which bore an uncanny resemblance to the walking tank in Star Wars) was its speed. It booted from cold in six seconds, and the response was quick. It was as fast, if not faster than my laptop, even in processor-heavy applications like Adobe Lightroom.”

Pashuk then goes on to describe the validity of Windows 8 in education and how the “real test of this device was to take it on the road. I used to be one of those people with three devices. For this trip, I took just the Surface Pro and my phone.”

You can find out how the Surface Pro (coming to New Zealand very soon!) passed the test and read the rest of the article here.