Microsoft Surface Pro 4 ad implies iPad Pro is not a 'computer'

Apple and Microsoft target the same crowd with the iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4, but they go about it from totally different directions. The former has repurposed a consumer-oriented platform to handle the heavier loads required by prosumers while the latter has tweaked its full-fledged PC operating system to work on a tablet touted to be a laptop replacement.

It is this difference in approach which has proven controversial and, to stir the pot once more, Microsoft has released a new Surface Pro 4 ad to suggest that it is a real "computer" while the iPad Pro is basically nothing more than a glorified iPad with keyboard support. Surprised?

The ad highlights some of the fundamental differences between the iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4 to remind us of the iPad Pro's shortcomings. Microsoft points out that Apple's device lacks a PC-grade processor, the ability to run desktop software like Office and AutoCAD, does not have a trackpad, nor does it offer any "external ports".

Microsoft relies on the fact that the Surface Pro 4 offers more features than the iPad Pro to drive its point across, but, so far, it seems that the market is more impressed by what Apple has to offer. The iPad Pro is the better seller, judging by a number of reports, outselling the Surface Pro 4 by a considerable margin.

Microsoft may have invented this genre with the original Surface Pro, but it is Apple which is reaping (most of) the benefits today. Understandably, Microsoft wants consumers to see the Surface Pro 4 as the superior product, because it does more, but are these type of ads convincing enough to steer more buyers towards it?