Don’t forget about Apple’s new MacBook Pro, Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7+ has one perfect killer feature

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Apple’s new connection to its Mac platform on new hardware, critical acclaim, and seemingly commercial success, is a faithful upgrade away from the Intel-powered Mac devices towards the Apple Silicon devices powered by ARM.

So why do many in the enterprise space look at the recently announced Surface Pro 7 Plus and think that Microsoft’s offer is a better bet in terms of physical data security.

The cause is kept away at the back of the individual hardware. The new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air laptops have a very smooth run, with no access or options to reach the inmates. The Surface Pro 7+ has a hammer, on the back of which you can pop into a SIM card for 4G LTE data and a removable SSD.

A 4G connection is useful in many cases, but the ability to extract all the data from the hardware instantly wins. Why would you want to remove a source? The main reason is data – without removable storage the data is still inside the device. Even a broken machine will still carry the data and if the corporate policy ‘no data leaves our premises’ but a unit must go to a repair shop…. the unit is more likely to be imported and a new unit purchased. Which is very expensive and wasteful.

With removable storage you can also easily switch to a new unit. Thus the damaged unit can be restored from regular stock in a matter of seconds, and the damaged carcass can be removed for as long as it takes to repair.

And of course it leaves the option to upgrade the storage for more capacity if needed. The owners of Surface Pro X (who have the same system) have found the parts and tools to do this, even though it’s an unofficial ‘hack’ on the device.

Microsoft is positioning the Surface Pro 7+ as a device with an enterprise focus designed around the needs of the customers. The removable SSD is a physical feature of this, but there are others, such as Windows Autopilot available, and key security features such as HVCI (Hypervisor Code Integrity) and VBS (Virtual Based Security Turned to basic.

For many, that’s enough to take the argument away from the shiny new MacBook devices and back to Microsoft’s Surface line.

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

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