Macbook Pro Vs Surface Pro 7

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Forget Apple's New MacBook Pro, Microsoft's Surface Pro 7+ Has One Perfect Killer Feature

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Apple's newfound engagement with its Mac platform has brought with it new hardware, critical acclaim, and likely commercial success as the faithful upgrade away from the Intel-powered Mac machines towards the ARM-powered Apple Silicon machines.

So why will many in the enterprise space be looking at the recently announced Surface Pro 7 Plus and think that the Microsoft offering is a better bet in terms of corporate data security.

Surface Pro 7+ (Microsoft Press)

Microsoft Press

The reason is tucked away at the back of the respective hardware. The new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops have perfectly smooth cases, with no access or options to reach the internals. The Surface Pro 7+ has a hatch, behind which you can pop in a SIM card for 4G LTE data and a removable SSD.

4G connectivity is useful in many cases, but it's the ability take all the data out of the hardware in an instant that wins out. Why would you want to have removable storage? The main reason is data - without removable storage the data remains inside the machine. Even a broken machine will still carry the data and if the corporate policy is 'no data leaves our premises' but a unit needs to go to a repair shop…. it's more likely the unit will be junked and a new unit purchased. Which is incredibly costly and wasteful.

With removable storage you can also switch to a new unit with ease. So the damaged unit can be replaced from regular stock in a few seconds, while the damaged carcass can be sent away for as long as it takes to be repaired.

And of course it leaves the option to upgrade the storage for more capacity if required. Surface Pro X owners (which has the same system) have already sourced the parts and tools to do just this, even if it is an unofficial 'hack' on the device.

Surface Pro 7+ removable storage (Microsoft Press)

Microsoft Press

Microsoft is pitching the Surface Pro 7+ as an enterprise focused device that has been designed around the needs of its customers. The removable SSD is a physical indication of this, but there are others, such as the availability of Windows Autopilot, and key security features such as HVCI (Hypervisor Code Integrity) and VBS (Virtualization-Based Security turned on by default.

For many, that's enough to tip the argument away from the shiny new MacBook machines and back to Microsoft's Surface line.

Now read the latest headlines from Cupertino in the weekly Apple Loop column...