Microsoft trims its low-end Surfaces to make room for smaller models

After introducing smaller, lower-priced Surface devices this week, Microsoft has quietly raised the prices of its older Surface devices to compensate — well, kind of.

Microsoft launched a new 13-inch Surface Laptop for as low as $899.99 and a 12-inch Surface Pro for $799.99. The two devices are just a tad smaller than the existing Surface Laptop and Surface Pro and slightly cheaper as well: the base prices of the existing, older Surface Laptop 7th Edition and the Surface Pro 11th Edition are $999.

As reported by XDA Developers, Microsoft has now widened the pricing gap, implementing a $200 difference between the smaller Surface Pro and Laptop and the existing models from May 2024. But that’s not precisely true, either.

Instead, Microsoft has eliminated the lowest-priced 13.8-inch Surface Laptop offering from its website. Last May, you could buy a 13.8-inch Surface Laptop, in Platinum, with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, for $999, according to the price list Microsoft provided us. Now, the cheapest 13.8-inch Surface Laptop is a Black model but with 16GB of RAM and a larger 512GB SSD instead, with an MSRP of $1,199.99 — but one of those models, too, has been marked down to a discounted $1,031.47. (Microsoft sometimes offers educational or military discounts, but I used an anonymous browser to check that information.) Otherwise, the MSRP of that model remains the same as last May.

It also appears that the remaining devices in the existing 13.8- and 15-inch Surface Laptop line have retained the same pricing as before, too.

In the 15-inch Laptop, Microsoft says that the cheapest $1,299 option (a Platinum model with a Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD) is out of stock. But the next step up the ladder remains unchanged at $1,499.99 for a black laptop with an X Elite / 16GB RAM / 512GB SSD.. The other models are, too, up to the top-of-the-line $2,499 model, which is now out of stock as well.

Microsoft appears to be making slight tweaks in its Surface Pro line as well. Again, Microsoft appears to have removed all of its Surface Pro 11th Edition models with 256GB of SSD storage. That effectively eliminated the cheapest $999.99 model from last year. Now, the cheapest 13-inch Surface Pros carry an MSRP of $1,199 for models with Wi-Fi, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. Even then, Microsoft has marked down the Sapphire version to $1,029.99, a $170 discount.

Otherwise, it seems like the other Surface Pro prices, for both the OLED and LCD models, remain the same. (A $1,299 Platinum model is now out of stock.)

Essentially, Microsoft is raising prices by eliminating its cheapest options from its existing Surface Pro and Surface Laptop lineups and carving out more space for the smaller Surfaces to exist. And it’s unclear whether Microsoft will leave those discounts at the low end in place.

For now, though, it appears that the Surface prices are safe.