A few days ago, both Apple and Microsoft held their annual press conferences, revealing new Macbooks and a new Surface Book. And honestly… this makes it hard to choose.

I’ve been a total mac fanboy ever since I tried my first Macbook Pro back in 2012, but something’s begun to change over the last few years. And seeing the new price of the Macbook line… well, that may have been the nail in the coffin. The base model of the new 13 inch Macbook costs $1799 (with an i5 processor) while a 15 inch one (with an i7 and a dedicated graphics card) you’ll have to dish out a whopping $2399! In Sweden, with our ridiculous taxes, this translates to $2285 and $2995 respectively. I get almost the same number if I want to upgrade the 13’s cheap 8gb RAM to 16, and giving it an i7. So… yeah. Almost 3000 bucks for a laptop. I’m sorry Apple; I may go for a Windows machine this time around.

So, let’s compare the two base models, shall we?

macbook-pro-2016

Apple Macbook Pro
+ 2.9 Ghz i5 Processor
+ Intel Iris Graphics 550 integrated GPU
+ 256 GB SSD
+ Touch Bar and Touch ID
+ 3.02 lbs (1,37 kg)
•  MacOS Sierra
– 8GB DDR3 RAM
– 13.3-inch display; 2560 x 1600 (227 ppi)
– 10 hours of battery life
$1799

surface-book-2016

Microsoft Surface Book
+ 13.5-inch display; 3000 x 2000 (267 ppi)
+ Removable touchscreen display
+ 8GB DDR4 RAM
+ Surface Pen included
+ 12 hours of battery life
•  Windows 10 Pro
– 2.4 GHz i5 Processor
– Intel HD graphics 520 integrated GPU
– 128 GB SSD
– 3.34 lbs (1,51 kg)
$1499

In terms of raw power, the Macbook is still in the lead right now. But really, after one and a half year the only real new feature from Apple is the gimmicky touch bar? I’m sure it’s cool but how useful will it be in day-to-day work? And is that little bar alone worth several hundred bucks?

Which would you go for?