Microsoft Surface Screen Is Better Than iPad 2, But Not As Good As Retina iPads

Before its release, Microsoft claimed that its new Surface tablet’s ClearType display was better than the third-generation iPad’s Retina display. Well, according to Dr. Raymond Soneira from DisplayMate Technologies, this just isn’t true. Soneira took a close look at the Surface display and compared it with competing tablets, like the third-generation iPad and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and found Apple’s Retina iPad to offer the best display.

Soneira noted that with the Surface, Microsoft’s tablet line is off to a “great start,” but Apple’s device offers much better color saturation, color accuracy, and sharper text. He does say, however, that the Microsoft Surface, which has a screen resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels, outperforms the iPad 2 “across the board except for screen resolution and color gamut.” He wrote:

In particular, on-screen text is significantly sharper, it has a better factory display calibration, and also significantly lower reflectance than the iPad 2 and all full-size 1280 x 800 Android tablets. But it is not as sharp as the iPad 3 or 4, nor does it have their large full color gamut.

In his testing, Soneira also found that the Surface tablet has the lowest screen reflectance of any tablet tested. He found that the third-generation iPad with Retina display reflects 33 percent more ambient light than the Surface, while the Galaxy tab 10.1 reflects 41 percent more light.

To conclude his discussion, Soneira points out that the iPad with Retina display comes out on top in terms of display, but its biggest weakness was found to be a higher light reflectance than the Microsoft surface. He gave the Retina iPad an “A,” while the Surface received an “A-” and a “B+” for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Image Credit: The Register

Kaylie lives in Ottawa and got her first Mac in 2007 and is now a fan for life.