Microsoft is building a lineup to rival Apple's

Then there's the Surface Book, which has easily attracted the most attention. It's Microsoft's play for the high-end laptop market. It's a full power laptop that has a detachable screen for use as a tablet — basically, it's a Surface Pro with a really great keyboard dock. What makes that keyboard dock even more important is that some models have an additional GPU built inside, which should really push its performance forward. The only downside? No kickstand, if you're into that sort of thing.

Microsoft is building a lineup to rival Apple's (on paper, at least), even if if they're swinging at slightly different targets. Is the iPad Pro competing with the Surface Pro? Sort of. It's far less powerful and doesn't run a traditional desktop OS. Is the Surface Pro 4 competing with the MacBook Air, as Microsoft says? Sure, seems fair. But they're different form factors for different needs. Is the Surface Book competing with the MacBook Pro? Yeah, that's about right.

Still, the point stands that it's getting really weird to compare these products on specs alone, simply because the way that you use them is really, really different. But more and more, these devices are advertised on an evolving continuum. There's no clear place that tablets end and laptops start. So with all of that said, take a look at the details of what Microsoft and Apple are offering. Specs are only half the story, but some of the differences really stand out.