Microsoft lowers Surface Book cost barrier by cutting out discrete GPU

Microsoft's took its first steps into the laptop market back in 2015 with the launch of the Surface Book and as impressive as it was, the laptop was also very expensive and thanks to the inclusion of a discrete Nvidia GPU, its value hasn't really depreciated at all since. This has unfortunately kept the Surface Book out of reach for many however, that is changing this week with the introduction of cheaper units without a discrete GPU.

Microsoft did attempt to lower the cost barrier late last year with the addition of a Core i5/GTX 965M configuration but the price on that was still $1699.99. With these new units, a Surface Book can now be had for as low as $1299.99, which should help Microsoft reel in a few students and professionals who don't need any GPU horsepower for work.

Microsoft's new $1299 addition features a 128GB SSD, an Intel Core i5 and 8GB of RAM, putting it more in line with lower end MacBook Pros spec-wise while also undercutting the price. Unfortunately if you want 256GB of storage without a GPU, it will cost you $1699.99, which isn't a great deal at all, especially when you consider the fact that this is the same price as the Core i5 256GB model with a discrete GPU.

If you do happen to be a student though, you could always use Microsoft's 10 percent student discount to save a bit extra.

KitGuru Says: One of these lower-end Surface Books would have been perfect for me back in my college days for note taking and general browsing. In fact, I could see many opting to use this over the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, particularly now that the MacBook's are more expensive out of the gate than they were before. Have any of you guys used a Surface Book at all before? What did you think of it?

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