Apple and Microsoft recently announced their latest versions of laptops, giving consumers quite a tough decision to make. While both have similar specs, there are some considerable differences that might make you choose. Here is a quick rundown.

Apple introduced the MacBook 2016 with new 13 and 15 inch variants. The 13-inch variants have two models, one basic entry model, which has function keys, and the other one similar to 15-inch variant has the new Touch Bar and Touch ID features. The Microsoft Surface Book i7 has just one variant. As per Laptop Mag, the latest Microsoft Sufrace Book has Windows 10 as an operating system, whereas all the new MacBook Pros run MacOS Sierra.

Looking at the physical dimensions, the Surface i7 is taller, wider, denser, and sleek than the 13 inch variant of Apple MacBook Pros. However, the 15inch new MacBook Pro is taller, wider, denser and sleek compared to the Surface i7.

According to Mashable, the Surface i7 has better screen resolution than any of the Apple MacBook variants. It also reports the Microsoft's latest notebook has better battery life than the Apple's latest MacBook Pros.

Coming to hardware, the Surface i7 is powered by  either  2.7 GHz/2.9 GHz  quad-core Intel core i7 whereas in case of  new MacBook Pros, 13inch MacBook Pro  with function keys is powered by 2GHz dual-core Intel Core i5/2.4 GHz  dual-core Intel core i7 and 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar & Touch ID is powered by 2.9  GHz dual-core Intel core i5/ 3.1 GHz dual core Intel core i5/3.3 GHz dual-core Intel core  i7 and the 15 inch MacBook Pro is powered by  2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7/2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7.

The Surface i7 makes use of Intel HD graphics/NVIDIA GeForce graphics  whereas the 13 inch MacBook Pros make use of Intel Iris 540 graphics processor and the 15 inch MacBook Pro makes use of the graphics technology used is the Radeon Pro graphics with AMD Polaris architecture.

The Touch support in the Surface Book is the Surface Pen, whereas, in the case of the MacBook Pros, touch support is with the help of the Touch IDs which is not available in the basic 13 inch MacBook Pro model. The fingerprint sensor is available for all MacBook variants except for the basic one, whereas the feature is void in case of Microsoft's latest notebook.

Another big difference comes up in the ports. While surface i7 comes with  2 full-size USB 3.0 all MacBook Pros comes with 4  USB-C thunderbolt 3 ports with headphone jacks. Memory card feature is available for the Surface i7, which is something MacBook Pros lacks.

It seems that Microsoft is focused on more touch or pen-based inputs to the devices, whereas Apple is keen on making smaller, yet significant tweaks to its existing technology. Stay tuned on how the MacBook Pro 2016 and the Surface Book i7 will fare in terms of sales.