I wasn’t planning on writing an article today. I told myself I wouldn’t and instead I would on a couple of others that I had planned for over the next couple of weeks.
The best-laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.
Since it was released, I’ve had a little crush on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3… and today you can get the best deal I’ve seen on it.
The previous Surfaces at 10″ were too small for everyday use. I’ve already moved from a 15″ screen to a 13.3″ one. Going down to 10 is a step too far. However, the Surface Pro 3 at 12″ is a good match. It’s also extremely light at 1.75 pounds. The best part is that you get a real Intel laptop-quality processor. I don’t think anything else is as power with such great portability… and still big enough to be a full-time computer.
The battery life isn’t bad at around 5 hours or more either. That would be the biggest complaint as more efficient processors have come out recently, but have yet to make their way into the Surface.
(I told you I had a little crush, right?)
I think they’ve been around for a year and I’ve need seen them on sale. I’ve even been known to scout out Ebay to see how cheap the used ones are. There rarely is deal there.
However, today you can get a deal. It comes with one catch, but it is still notable because any deal is so rare. Let me start off by saying that Microsoft itself is supporting this. Their official stores on Ebay and Amazon are selling them. What they are selling is the best value Surface, the i5 with 128GB of hard drive space. There’s a cheaper i3 with 64GB of space, but that is typically only a $100 cheaper. You can go up to an i7, but that starts to add hundreds to the price. The i5 with 128GB is what I’d buy.
The catch is that it is refurbished. In my world that means, “I can save more money” especially when it comes from Microsoft itself.
Normally, this Surface would cost you $999 and then you’d have to buy the keyboard for another $130. That’s nearly $1130 for a laptop replacement. Today you can get the combination for $850 with free shipping. For a savings of nearly $300, it is a very big deal in my opinion.
I don’t know which you prefer shopping at, so here’s the Surface deal on Ebay and here’s the Surface deal on Amazon. It seems like it is fulfilled by Microsoft either way, so I would just go with whatever company you feel more comfortable buying through.
Big hat tip to Rick Broida at CNET Cheapstake blog for writing about the deal. His blog is one of my few daily “must-reads.”
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