MTG: Can the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Surface Devices Replace My Apple Setup?
There is a moment in every technology enthusiast’s life when the shiny new thing arrives, the price is announced, and you quietly look around the room to see what you already own.
That is where I am.
After watching the latest Apple event, I found myself reconsidering the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8. Not because I have suddenly decided that Apple is terrible, or because I think everybody should throw their iPhone into the nearest hedge.
It was more practical than that.
The video raised a perceived price shock around new Apple hardware. The transcript contains some conflicting speech-to-text references to products and figures, so I am not going to repeat those as verified prices, specifications or announcements here. The precise numbers and product wording are not the point of this article.
The point is whether I can make better use of the equipment already sitting on my desk.
Watch the original MGT video here: MTG: Can the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Surface Devices Replace My Apple Setup?
This is not a declaration of war on Apple
I have already tried to move away from the iPhone.
It did not last very long.
The iPhone 13 mini is staying. It gives me access to iMessage, keeps me connected to family conversations and means I can continue reviewing iOS equipment when required. There is also a certain amount of muscle memory involved. After years of using an iPhone, your fingers know where things are even when your brain has gone off to make a cup of tea.
So this is not a complete break from Apple.
The iPhone will remain part of the arrangement. The main SIM, however, is moving back into the Galaxy Z Fold 8. That makes the Fold the everyday phone, while the iPhone 13 mini remains in place for family links, iMessage and iOS reviews.
This is a compromise. Most useful solutions are.
What failed last time?
I did previously try to make the Fold work alongside a MacBook.
That did not work particularly well.
The problem was not necessarily the Fold itself. It was the combination of Android hardware sitting alongside macOS and the wider Apple ecosystem. I was trying to put one device outside the Apple loop while keeping everything else inside it.
That created friction.
The question now is whether the Fold makes more sense when paired with Windows instead. Rather than trying to make Android fit neatly into a Mac-based setup, I am going to test an Android and Windows arrangement properly.
That means giving the devices a job instead of judging them in isolation.
The proposed setup
The plan is to use the equipment I already own:
- Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 as the main phone.
- Samsung Buds Pro 4 for audio and calls.
- Surface Laptop 7 as the main desk-based machine.
- Surface Pro as the mobile working machine and possible iPad replacement.
- Surface Laptop Go as another existing Windows option.
- iPhone 13 mini for iMessage, family links and iOS-related work.
This is important. I am not suggesting that somebody goes out and buys this entire collection of equipment.
The experiment only makes sense because most of it is already here.
That is one of the principles behind More Than Gadgets: useful technology is not just about what the newest product promises. It is about what you can make work in the real world, with the equipment, habits and constraints you actually have.
What is actually being tested?
This is a compact 30-day working test, not an independent review or laboratory benchmark.
I am testing:
- Whether the Galaxy Z Fold 8 works consistently as my everyday phone.
- Whether Windows can replace the Mac for my actual workload.
- Whether the Surface Pro can take the place of the iPad for mobile work.
- Whether the Samsung Buds Pro 4 make the Fold’s speaker limitations less important.
- Where the awkward gaps appear between Android, Windows and the remaining iPhone.
- Whether the arrangement is genuinely useful or simply an elaborate way of avoiding a decision.
That last one is probably the most important.
The Fold’s speaker problem
One of my concerns with the Fold is the speaker arrangement. There is a small speaker at the top and another at the bottom. The screen is impressive, but my experience of the sound from the phone itself was less positive.
This matters because we do still use phones as phones. People watch videos, listen to messages and make calls in public places while the rest of us are forced to hear about Uncle Tom’s foot problem.
Please use headphones. Or put the phone to your ear. Society has suffered enough.
Fortunately, I already had a pair of Samsung Buds Pro 4 that had not even been taken out of the box. Once I tried them, the situation changed rather dramatically.
My experience of the Buds was extremely positive. More importantly for this test, they can switch between devices. That makes them much more useful in a mixed setup.
I need headphones that can work with the Fold and the iPhone without turning every change of device into a small technical support incident. If the Buds handle that reliably, they solve one of the Fold’s practical weak spots for me.
That is the sort of thing I want to find out over 30 days: not whether a product looks impressive in a product video, but whether it removes irritation from an ordinary Tuesday.
Can Windows handle the work?
The largest pressure point is video editing.
The Mac has been very good for recording and editing these videos. Windows machines have not always fitted that part of the workflow as neatly.
However, much of my current work is done in Canva, which is browser-based. That changes the calculation. I do not need every task to happen locally, and I am not trying to recreate a professional Mac editing suite on a tablet.
The Surface Laptop 7 already on my desk is the obvious candidate for the main machine. In the video, I refer to it as having 32GB of RAM, an X Elite chip and a microSD card reader. Those are the characteristics of my particular existing device, not a general claim about every Surface Laptop.
The intention is simple: leave the Surface Laptop on the desk as the main working computer, and use the Surface Pro when I am moving around.
The Surface Pro as the iPad replacement
I liked the Surface Pro when I used it before. In fact, I was disappointed when I stopped using it.
That makes it an obvious candidate to replace the iPad in this particular experiment.
The Surface Pro can operate as a tablet when the keyboard is removed, or as a more conventional working machine when the keyboard is attached. The keyboard I have can also work over Bluetooth, which gives me a little more flexibility when arranging the devices.
The attraction is not that it is magically better than an iPad. It is that it might give me a useful mobile Windows machine alongside the Fold.
That is the difference between a product comparison and a working setup. I am not asking whether the Surface Pro wins an internet argument. I am asking whether I can pick it up, do the work, put it down and get on with the day.
And then there is the Surface Laptop Go
While looking through the existing equipment, I also came across the Surface Laptop Go.
This is another reminder that the answer is not always the newest or most expensive machine. Sometimes the forgotten device in the cupboard is the one that fits the job.
The Laptop Go is another possible Windows option in the mix. I am not presenting it as a recommended purchase, and I am not claiming that it will replace anything before using it properly. It is simply another piece of kit that already exists and could be useful.
The MGT approach is quite straightforward: find the gap, identify what is actually needed, and replace the item when it breaks. Do not automatically buy something new because a launch event has made the old arrangement feel inadequate.
The real test is continuity
The biggest challenge will not necessarily be individual devices.
It will be continuity.
Can I start something on the Fold, continue it on the Surface Pro, finish it on the Surface Laptop and still use the iPhone when family messages arrive? Can I move between Android, Windows and iOS without constantly having to think about which device is allowed to do what?
That is where the previous Fold and MacBook arrangement fell down for me. It was possible to use the devices, but the overall system did not feel natural.
This time, the intention is to build around the equipment rather than force one device to behave like another.
The Fold does not need to become an iPhone. The Surface Pro does not need to become an iPad. The Surface Laptop does not need to pretend it is a Mac.
They simply need to do their jobs well enough.
The 30-day experiment
The next step is a planned 30-day test.
I will move the main SIM back into the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and use it alongside the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro. I will keep the iPhone 13 mini for iMessage, family links and iOS reviews. The Buds Pro 4 will be used across the devices where possible.
The results are not known yet.
I am not claiming that this setup replaces a Mac, iPhone and iPad. I am not claiming that it is cheaper, better or suitable for everybody. The video sets up the test; it does not report the finished results.
What I want to find out is where the pressure points are, where the weak spots appear and where the arrangement genuinely works.
The practical takeaway is less exciting than a new product announcement, but probably more useful:
Before buying into a new ecosystem, use what you already own.
If your family life depends on iMessage, keep the iPhone. If the Mac is essential to your editing workflow, keep the Mac. If the Surface Pro is sitting in a drawer and could do the job, try it before buying another tablet.
The signal is usually there somewhere. You just have to stop looking at the launch event long enough to notice it.
if anything I've said today struck a chord with you and you'd like a chat or if you have a particular challenge with energy, power & infrastructure, business generally or you might like to use the studio, drop me an email at andrew@aelhawley.com - if you've watched the video version of this blog you can drop a comment below and, I think I'm supposed to say like and subscribe but I won't. See you on Sunday in the field.. that to be clear, isnt my garden.