Object.create builds an object that inherits directly from the one passed as its first argument.
With constructor functions, the newly created object inherits from the constructor's prototype, e.g.:
var o = new SomeConstructor();
In the above example, o inherits directly from SomeConstructor.prototype.
There's a difference here, with Object.create you can create an object that doesn't inherit from anything, Object.create(null);, on the other hand, if you set SomeConstructor.prototype = null;the newly created object will inherit from Object.prototype.
Very simply said,
new X is Object.create(X.prototype) with additionally running the constructorfunction. (And giving the constructor the chance to return the actual object that should be the result of the expression instead of this.)