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Surface Book

Buying a phone and ownership a calculator are ordinarily 2 very different processes, but Microsoft is looking to borrow some ideas from the way mobile carriers operate. Today, Microsoft is announcing the new "Surface Plus" programme, which lets y'all purchase a new Microsoft Surface PC on a payment plan with the selection to upgrade after 18 months. This could brand the high price of Microsoft'southward Surface products a bit more palatable, but it as well includes a few bonuses on top of the basic fiscal argument.

Surface Plus includes all 3 current Surface products: the Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and Surface Volume. The overall pricing is the same as retail, but you lot pay the cost broken downwardly into monthly installments over 2 years. For example, the cheapest Surface Pro configuration with a Core m3 and 4GB of RAM runs yous $799 full, simply with Surface Plus yous pay $33.29 per month for 24 months. Information technology's just like a phone, and coincidentally that's a similar monthly payment compared with an expensive smartphone like an iPhone or Milky way S8.

The financing is handled by a third-party, which is what nigh device makers do. So, when yous finance your computer through Surface Plus, you're really making payments to Swedish e-commerce company Klarna. In that location is no interest, every bit long as you lot brand your suggested monthly payments and pay the reckoner off in two years. After that, the Apr goes upwards to a predictably high 19.99 per centum.

A more than interesting option for Surface Plus is but to return your computer in xviii months and upgrade to a new 1. The catch is your old device has to exist in good status, presumably so Microsoft tin refurbish it and resell. You are basically paying a monthly fee on your computer forever this mode, but you've always got a reasonably new one. Businesses also get their ain version of Surface Plus with more payment terms and the pick to get the big 55-inch Surface Hub.

In add-on to monthly payment plans, Surface Plus customers get dedicated device service and support via Microsoft'southward physical stores. You also get a gratuitous training session with a Microsoft Store employee. That's only useful for those in close proximity to ane of the stores, and in that location are simply a few dozen in the US.

Surface Plus is live today, simply it's limited to the US for now. Shipping is costless, and you don't fifty-fifty have to pay tax at the time of buy; it's added to the financed cost along with the hardware.

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