Yesterday, Microsoft confirmed that it's hiking up prices on Surface PCs across the board, with entry-level models now starting at OVER $1,000, and the flagships starting at $1,500. Those are eyewatering numbers that I'm afraid pushes Surfaces into completely unrecommendable territory over competitors such as Lenovo, Dell, HP, and especially Apple.
With new prices, Microsoft's midrange Surface Pro 12-inch is now more expensive than the 11-inch iPad Pro. Keep in mind, the Surface Pro 12-inch was supposed to be Microsoft's iPad Air competitor, not an iPad Pro competitor. Microsoft's iPad Pro competitor is the Surface Pro 13-inch, which now starts at $200 more than the 13-inch iPad Pro — that's $1,499, for the LCD model. If you want a Surface Pro 13-inch with an OLED panel, you'll be paying at least $1,799.
That is unfathomable pricing, especially for hardware that is approaching two years old. With the iPad Pro and iPad Air rocking M5 and M4 processors, the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Pro 13-inch are stuck with last-gen Snapdragon X chips. While they do come with more RAM, it's not much more RAM, and when you factor in just how much better the displays are on the iPads... it's clear which company is offering the better deal.
It's the same story on the Surface Laptop side. Microsoft's entry-level Surface Laptop 13-inch, which launched as the company's budget Laptop offering to undercut the MacBook Air, is now $100 more expensive than the MacBook Air M5, and a whopping $600 more expensive than the new MacBook Neo, which at $599, blows the 13-inch Surface Laptop out of the water.
The Surface Laptop 13-inch is a device that I said was overpriced when it launched for $899. In my review, I said it's a great deal, as long as you can find it on sale for less than its launch price. For $699, it makes total sense, but now that it starts at $1,149, absolutely nobody should buy a Surface Laptop 13-inch over a MacBook Air. It would be beyond illogical to do so.
If we look at the Surface Laptop flagships, things are just as bad. The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7, which originally launched in 2024 for $999, now starts at $1,499 for the same spec, just with double the storage to 512GB SSD. That's a $500 increase in starting price, for a product that's coming up on two years old. Of course, the MacBook Air undercuts it, but so does the MacBook Pro, which is a huge problem.
The base model Surface Laptop 15-inch now starts at $1,599. For the same price, you can buy a base model MacBook Pro M5 14-inch, which comes with more storage, better performance, and a miniLED display that is WORLDS apart from the Surface Laptop's measly LCD.
If we take a look at the very top end, the highest-end config of the 15-inch Surface Laptop will net you a Snapdragon X Elite, 64GB RAM, and 1TB SSD storage for $3,649. A similarly spec'd 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro, 64GB RAM, and 1TB storage is $3,299, and this config would destroy the Surface Laptop 15-inch in benchmarks and battery life.
It's a massacre, really. There is currently no Surface configuration that makes sense to buy over a similarly spec'd iPad or MacBook. It's the same story with Windows OEMs, which are often building more capable hardware for cheaper than Surface. Though, this has always been the case, it's now even more apparent. That said, OEMs have also been forced to raise prices recently, but not as much as Surface seemingly has.
Of course, it's not really Microsoft's fault. The entire industry has been impacted by recent RAM and component shortages which have hiked manufacturing prices through the roof. It's seemingly out of Microsoft's hands, but that doesn't make these higher prices any less destructive to the brand.
The only saving grace Surface has currently is with sales. You can still find great deals on existing Surface PCs from third-party retailers, which bring prices down to what they should be in a lot of cases. But these sales won't last forever, and with Microsoft's next wave of Surface hardware just weeks away, it won't be long before the current devices aren't available to buy at all.
These new prices also suggest that Microsoft's next wave of hardware will also be priced similarly. While the updated specs will make that pill a little less tough to swallow, I still think these next-gen devices will be a hard sell at these prices over a MacBook or iPad, and that's ultimately the biggest concern. If these prices stick, the next wave of Surface PCs will be dead on arrival, only recommendable to those who have more money than sense.
Join us on Reddit at r/WindowsCentral to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.