Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra vs Surface Pro 8 is the duel between the best tablet from Samsung and the best tablet from Microsoft. The winner might surprise you.
These two companies have made colossal efforts to improve their tablets and steal market share from Apple, which has dominated this segment by far for years.
| Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra | Microsoft Surface Pro 8 | |
 | 899.00$ | 779.99$ |
Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra vs Surface Pro 8: Which is cheaper?
The Surface Pro 8 tablet on sale at Microsoft has been on the market since September. It is sold at a minimum price of 900€ for a configuration of 8GB of RAM and 128GB of ssd storage. Microsoft offers you the possibility to configure your tablet in eight possible ways by choosing the processor you want, the storage and the RAM. The most expensive Surface Pro 8 costs €2,411, for 32GB of RAM and 1TB.
The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra on sale at Samsung starts at €1,219 for an 8GB/128GB configuration and Wifi only. The 5G LTE version has a minimum price of €1479 for the 12GB/256GB configuration. The most expensive Tab S8 Ultra is worth 1699€. This is the 5G LTE version and it has a 16GB/512GB configuration.
At equal configuration, the Microsoft tablet is cheaper than that of Samsung. But read on before making your choice.
Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra vs Surface Pro 8: Which tablet has the better design
It must be said that these two tablets have very different philosophies. That of Microsoft is reminiscent of a laptop without a keyboard, and that of Samsung is reminiscent of a large smartphone that can be used with a keyboard. Incidentally, the Surface Pro 8 has a computer processor while the Tab S8 Ultra has a phone processor.
With dimensions of 326.4 x 208.6 x 5.5mm for a mass of 726 or 728g (Wifi only or LTE 5G) the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is a taller tablet, but thinner and less heavy than the Surface Pro 8 with its 287mm x 208mm x 9.3mm for 891g.
You will therefore have less to hold and carry the Samsung tablet than the Microsoft one. But the latter offers many ports that will be more useful when you want to connect other devices.
Which tablet has the best screen
The Surface Pro 8 has a 13-inch Pixel Sense display, while Samsung’s has a 14.6-inch Super AMOLED display protected by Gorilla Glass 5. Both screens will be very smooth as they have a refresh rate of 120Hz. But that of the Surface Pro 8 will be sharper because it has a higher resolution of 267ppp compared to 240 on its rival.
Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra vs Surface Pro 8: Which is more powerful?
The Surface Pro 8 tablet uses computer processors; these are the 11th generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7. For its part, the Tab S8 Ultra contains the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor dedicated to mobile devices on Android.
On Geekbench 5, a platform that measures processor performance, the Surface Pro 8’s Core i7 scored 6102 in multi-core tests compared to 3812 for the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.
You get up to 32GB of RAM and 1000GB of storage on Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 tablet, while Samsung’s tops out at 16GB and 512GB respectively.
Being a kind of laptop without a keyboard, the Surface Pro 8 offers the performance worthy of a computer, while the Tab S8 Ultra is also very powerful, much like a larger Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra vs Surface Pro 8: Which tablet has better cameras
Once again the two philosophies behind these tablets oppose each other. The Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra offers two rear cameras of 13MP (wide angle) and 6MP (ultra wide angle), accompanied by two Selfie cameras of 12MP each. It is a device that takes very nice pictures and allows you high quality video calls.
For its part, the Surface Pro 8 has cameras barely better than those you find on a laptop. These include a 5MP front camera for your video calls and another 10MP rear camera that’s nowhere near Samsung’s.
We can see that the Samsung tablet offers better cameras.
Which tablet has the best battery?
Microsoft estimates that the 5150mAh battery of its tablet for Professionals can allow it to operate for 16 hours of common use (playing videos, going on social networks, browsing the web etc.)
Samsung has equipped its best tablet with a beefy 11200mAh battery with a 45W charge which will undoubtedly offer more autonomy.
Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra vs Surface Pro 8: Which one should you buy?
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 has the Windows 11 system, while Samsung’s runs Android 12. That’s already to tell you the use for which they are intended. If you are looking for a tablet to continue the work you left on your PC, work on Windows and do tasks that are done on a computer, the Surface Pro 8 is naturally for you.
But if you want a tablet to run your Android apps on a bigger screen, get the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra.
Finally, it must be said that the Microsoft tablet has many ports to connect other devices and with its Windows 11 system, it can also directly run certain Android applications. But Samsung’s Tab S8 Ultra doesn’t offer as many PC features.
See also:
- Lenovo Tab Extreme vs iPad Pro M2: which one suits best?
- Apple iPad Pro 2022 vs Samsung Galaxy Tab S8+