The rumors are true and the confirmation came straight from Apple itself: a 128GB iPad 4 will soon be available, hitting stores Feb. 5th.

“With more than 120 million iPads sold, it’s clear that customers around the world love their iPads, and everyday they are finding more great reasons to work, learn and play on their iPads rather than their old PCs. With twice the storage capacity and an unparalleled selection of over 300,000 native iPad apps, enterprises, educators and artists have even more reasons to use iPad for all their business and personal needs,” Apple vice president of marketing Phil Schiller said in a statement.

Apple’s 128GB iPad will not be an entirely new iPad, rather it will be a new version of the iPad 4 which aims to appeal to educators, enterprises, businesses and even artists who needs more space for their works and needs.

And because there’s a new tablet coming, it’s time for another comparison piece.  Today we’ll be looking at the new iPad 4, as it compares to the Windows 8 Surface Pro, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, and the Acer Iconia W7.

Screen size and display

iPad 4th Gen: 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit Multi-Touch display with IPS technology, 2048-by-1536

Windows 8 Surface Pro: 10.6” ClearType HD Display, 16:9 (widescreen), 1920×1080 pixels, 5-point multi-touch

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga: 13.3″ HD+IPS capacitive multitouch display (16:9 widescreen) (1600×900)

Acer Iconia W7: 11.6″ Full HD CineCrystal LED-backlit multi-touch display (1920 x 1080) w/ 178° wide viewing angle

Dimensions

iPad 4: 185.7 mm x 241.2 mm x 9.4 mm;  Weight (Wi-Fi) – 652 g, Weight (Wi-Fi + Cellular) – 662 g

Surface Pro: Width – 10.81 inches, Height – 6.81 inches, Depth – 0.53 inches, Weight – 903 grams

Yoga: 333.4 x 224.8 x 16.9 mm x 1.54kg

Iconia W7: 0.5″ x 11.6″ x 7.5″ x 2 lbs.

Storage

iPad 4:  WiFi – 16, 32, 64 and 128GB; WiFi+Cellular – 16, 32, 64 and 128GB

Surface Pro:  64GB and 128GB

Yoga: 128GB SSD (256GB coming soon)

Iconia W7: 64GB and 128GB SSD

Battery

iPad 4:  Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music; Up to 9 hours of surfing the web using cellular data network

Surface Pro: 42 W-h

Yoga: 8 hours

Iconia W7: 3-cell, 4850 mAh, 54 Wh – 6 hours and 48 minutes

Processor

iPad 4: Dual-core A6X with quad-core graphics

Surface Pro: Intel Ivy Bridge Core i5

Yoga: 3rd generation Intel Core i7-3517U, 3rd generation Intel Core i5-3317U, 3rd generation Intel Core i3-3217U

Iconia W7: 128GB – Intel Core i5-3317U processor (1.7GHz/2.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost), 64GB –  1.8-GHz Core i3-3217U CPU, 4GB of RAM

Wireless

iPad 4: Wi-Fi – (802.11a/b/g/n; 802.11n on 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 technology; Wi-Fi+Cellular (802.11a/b/g/n; 802.11n on 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 technology, GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA, LTE4, GPS and GLONASS, CDMA EV-DO Rev. A and Rev. B

Surface Pro: WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0 technology

Yoga:  802.11 b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth

Iconia W7: IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 + HS

Camera

iPad 4: FaceTime – 1.2MP photos, 720p HD video; iSight – 5MP photos, Autofocus, Face detection, Backside illumination, Five-element lens, Hybrid IR filter, ƒ/2.4 aperture

Surface Pro: Two 720p HD LifeCams, front- and rear-facing

Yoga: 1.0MP 720p HD integrated webcam

Iconia W7: rear-facing 5-megapixel, 1.3-megapixel front-facing

Input/Output

iPad 4: Mic, 3.5mm headphone jack, Lightning connector, speakers

Surface Pro: Two microphones, Stereo speakers, Full-size USB 2.0, microSDXC card slot, 3.55 mm Headset jack, HD video out port, Touch or Type Cover port, nano SIM

Yoga: 1 USB 2.0 port, 1 USB 3.0 port, Combo jack, HDMI, 2-in-1 card reader (SD/MMC)

Iconia W7: micro HDMI, USB 3.0 port, physical or touchscreen keyboard, mic, bottom-mounted speakers, DC-in jack, 3.5mm headphone jack,

Sensors

iPad 4: Three-axis gyro, Accelerometer, Ambient light sensor

Surface Pro: Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Gyroscope, Compass

Yoga: n/a

Iconia W7: n/a

OS

iPad 4: iOS 6.1

Surface Pro: Runs current Windows 7 desktop applications and integrates with your existing enterprise management infrastructure. Use the programs and the apps available in the Windows Store

Yoga:  Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro

Iconia W7: Windows 8

Price and availability

iPad:  Already available, Wi-Fi – 16GB for $499, 32GB for $599, 64GB for $699; Wi-Fi + Cellular – 16GB for $629, 32GB for $729, 64GB for $829; 128GB WiFi $799, 128GB WiFi + Cellular $929 and will be available on February 5, 2013.

Surface Pro: 64GB for $899, 128GB for $999, available on February 9, 2013

Yoga: Starts at $999

Iconia W7: 128GB $999.99, 64GB $799

So which is the best 128GB tablet?

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Considering the price, the iPad 4 takes the crown as it costs way less than the other tablets with the same SSD, and it’s the lightest and smallest of the compared tablets, making it easier to carry.  But tablets should offer more functionality and lend to more productivity, which means you need to be able to do more with the tablets.  The other tablets have USB, HDMI, SD/microSD slots that all the iPad versions lack.  If you want something that you can connect to other devices, be able to get data stored in SDs/microSDs or flash drives, or simply function more like a laptop/PC, then the Surface Pro, Yoga and Iconia tablets would be your best bet.