The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros feature the M1 Pro processor, which is available as either an eight-core or 10-core CPU, with 16GB of memory as standard (configurable to 32GB). As mentioned above, the GPU power is at a similar level, if not slightly higher. This is an eight-core processor with 8GB of RAM as standard (16GB is an option), and is around 10% faster than the Surface Pro 8 with Core i7 for single-core tasks, and up to 40% faster for multi-core tasks, thanks to having twice the number of physical cores. The cheapest MacBook Pro option is the 13-inch model, which comes with the Apple M1 processor. You can get the Surface Pro 7 with 4GB (again, not recommended), 8GB or 16GB of RAM, plus 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of SSD storage. That's doubly true when it comes to the graphics power of the Surface Pro 7: the Intel Iris Plus graphics are around a third less powerful than the Intel Xe chip in the Surface Pro 8, making it drastically behind any of the Apple options. All are Intel 10th Gen processors, and the Surface Pro 8 generally offers better performance and battery life.

The quad-core Core i5 or Core i7 options are what you'd want to stick with. The cheaper Surface Pro 7 is available with an Intel dual-core i3 processor in its cheapest version, but we wouldn't recommend that for creative work. You can get the Surface Pro 8 with 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of RAM, and it's available with 128GB, 256GB, 512GB or 1TB of SSD storage. Speaking of graphics, these processors all come Intel Xe integrated graphics, which will do perfectly well for light photo and video editing, and is of a similar level of power to the GPU in the Apple M1 processor used in the 13-inch MacBook Pro – the larger MacBook Pros double and even quadruple this power. You can step up from a Core i5 to a Core i7 to add a bit more power to both processor and graphics. The Surface Pro 8 is available with quad-core Intel 11th Gen processors, all with HyperThreading so that they can act as eight virtual cores. There's no question here: if you want raw performance, the MacBook Pro models are the way to go, especially the 14-inch and 16-inch models. The new MacBook Pro houses a beast of a processor (Image credit: Future)

8gb vs 16gb ram macbook pro