Power

Melia Robinson/Business Insider

MacBook Pro

There are several processor, RAM, and storage options for the MacBook Pro. For simplicity's sake, we're only going to list the starting specs and the max specs. In some cases, there will be in-between options. You can browse all MacBook Pro the specs here.

Processor

The 13-inch model starts with a 2.9GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. You can upgrade that to a 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i7.

The 15-inch model starts with a 2.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor. You can max that out to a 2.9GHz quad-core Intel Core i7.

Memory

The 13-inch model starts with 8GB of RAM. You can upgrade that to 16GB.

The 15-inch model only has 16GB of RAM.

Storage

The 13-inch model starts with 256GB of storage. You can upgrade that up to 1TB.

The 15-inch model starts with 256GB of storage. You can upgrade that up to 2TB.

Graphics

The 13-inch model has an Intel Iris Graphics 550 card.

The 15-inch model has a Radeon Pro 455 card with 2GB of memory. You can upgrade that to a Radeon Pro 460 with 4GB of memory.

Battery life

Apple says the MacBook Pro can get up to 10 hours of battery life, but in our tests it didn't get more than eight hours.

Surface Book

Like the MacBook Pro, the Surface Book comes in a variety of configurations that you can browse here, though they all sport the same 13.5-inch screen. These are the starting specs, and the max specs with the premium Performance Base model.

Processor



The basic model holds an Intel i5 processor. At the highest end, the Surface Book with Performance Base hosts an Intel Core i7.

Memory

All models of Surface Book let you choose between 8GB and 16GB of RAM.

Storage

The core model of Surface Book starts at 128GB of hard drive space; the Performance Base models start at 256GB. In all cases, you can max it out at 1TB.

Graphics

The basic Surface Book unit has an integrated Intel HD graphics card, not vastly better than most other laptops. The versions with the dedicated graphics unit rock a custom Nvidia GeForce graphics card. Surface Book with Performance Base, the highest-end models, run a more powerful NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory.

Battery life

The Surface Book actually sports two batteries: One in the tablet portion, and one in the keyboard base.

Microsoft claims that the base Surface Book gets 12 hours of battery life while playing video, while the heavier-duty battery in the Performance Base model gets 16 hours. In our own tests, it was closer to 7 to 8 hours on the core Surface Book and 8 to 10 with the Performance Base, depending on usage and settings.

Winner: Surface Book. This one is close, but we'll give the edge to the Surface Book because its extra graphics power, especially on the Perfomance Base, is killer if you're doing heavy-duty gaming or creative work.