Original Surface Book on sale – 50% off, if you really want it

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Today, the Microsoft Store on Amazon has cut the price of the original Surface Book by almost 50%. For example, the Microsoft Surface Book (128 GB, 8
[See the full post at: Original Surface Book on sale – 50% off, if you really want it]

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The discounted prices are still way more than I would pay for an MS Brick Book.

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Noel Carboni, Charlie, HiFlyer

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I’m a population of ~34.2 trillion cells and a survey concluded not a single one of them has any interest…

Happy New Year to Woody, team and users. Thanks to all for making a nice place!

 

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/23/how-many-cells-are-in-your-body/

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Noel Carboni, Pepsiboy, Cascadian, Elly, HiFlyer

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It makes you wonder why. Surface products are associated with luxury pricing and problems. MS continues to deny that the Surface products have problems and they are still sending out used systems instead of new ones when new systems can not be repaired.

Is this trial balloon? Marketing’s fingerprints are all over this. They are creating demand for a small number of half priced in-stock units and they are counting on people screaming that they missed out on a huge deal when the low inventory is gobbled up. This is often followed by a sympathetic announcement by marketing; ‘we are so disappointed that you missed out on this incredible generous offer, so we have decided to allow back orders at this amazing price for next 30 days’. The ticking clock is an effective motivator.

Ethical marketing is supposed to be about influencing people to buy products. This is about manipulating buyers. Microsoft has a reputation for this, so I am not surprised. I prefer value for my money.

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Noel Carboni, Charlie, Elly, HiFlyer

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#154756   “….and they are still sending out used systems instead of new ones when new systems can not be repaired.”
“used instead of new”????

 

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@ Hiflyer

AFAIK, if you send in a Surface device that is still under warranty for repairs, M$ will often replace it with a refurbished one if your original one was irreparable, ie not replaced with a new Surface device.

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HiFlyer

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Who here besides me thinks these things are overpriced even at half off?

As a sanity test… There is a big list of other modern choices in this market at similar regular prices to Microsoft’s half-off:

https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2369981,00.asp

I’m a lifelong Windows geek and I still haven’t even begun to desire a Surface.

Microsoft::Failing at every turn.

-Noel

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Scribe, HiFlyer, MrJimPhelps, Pepsiboy, Charlie, Cascadian, Elly

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Even at this discount price point, I would have expected to get all the ram that i7 processor can handle (32 gigabytes). As it stands now most processors are artificially crippled with (in some cases) too few PCI Express lanes and/or some form of ram limitation.

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Noel Carboni, HiFlyer

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As one who quite often uses up every bit of the 48 GB in my desktop workstation with e.g., Photoshop, I can attest to any new system needing as much RAM as possible.

-Noel

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HiFlyer

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I agree with everyone else – that’s way too much to pay for a disposable tablet.

Now if they lower the top model to $300…..

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Noel Carboni, HiFlyer

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Yeah, $300 sounds about right. Before seeing your post I was thinking that that $789 sale price for the Surface Book was still $500 too high for what it is.

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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Noel Carboni, HiFlyer

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Are these actually Microsoft deals and official prices offered by the Microsoft store? The unit in the first link is sold by “Roc’s Shop” and fulfilled by Amazon. The other is sold by and shipped from “Always Deals”. Both are eligible for free shipping, but not for Prime benefits.
Doesn’t sound like an official Microsoft deal to me, not that I’d buy either one unless they knock off at least another 50-75% from these “sale” prices.

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Noel Carboni, HiFlyer

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At one point I thought Microsoft really could make something worthwhile. But then they managed yet again to mess it up. Wouldn’t buy a Surface product of any kind, at any price.

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HiFlyer, Noel Carboni, Cybertooth

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IIRC, it’s practically impossible for the owner of a Surface Book to get inside it to add RAM or upgrade the storage. To me, that knocks the value of the device down to toy levels.

 

Keep Running Windows 7 Safely for Years to Come  
Make Windows 10 look and work like Windows 7

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HiFlyer, MrJimPhelps, BobbyB, Noel Carboni

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Exactly! And they are selling these pieces of junk for top dollar!

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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HiFlyer, Cybertooth

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_Reassigned Account wrote:

Wouldn’t buy a Surface product of any kind, at any price.

I can think of one thing I’d buy a Surface for if the price was right (ie better than what we’re talking about in this article).  I’d LOVE to have a Surface running Linux.  Some Linux distros support Secure Boot, so it might be doable…. how fun would that be, to have a MS device not running Windows!

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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@Ascaris … FYI,

The first issue you’ll encounter before installing Ubuntu is that you won’t be able to use the device’s touchpad and keyboard. To solve the annoying problem, John Cuppi connected a USB Hub to the single USB port of the Surface Pro 4 and attached a standard USB mouse and keyboard.

However, it looks like you won’t be able to use the volume buttons, nor the built-in webcam. Additionally, the sleep function doesn’t work, and you can’t configure the pen pressure sensitivity.

(quoted from …)

http://news.softpedia.com/news/here-s-ubuntu-16-04-lts-xenial-xerus-running-on-microsoft-surface-pro-4-video-512753.shtml

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Ascaris

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Well, that’s annoying.  Without the touchpad and keyboard working, it’s no good.

I wonder why this is so.  I can’t imagine that Microsoft needed such a magical new touchpad and keyboard that it went out and had someone create all-new custom hardware.  I’d guess that the more likely explanation is that Microsoft re-assigned the devices with its own “vanity” device IDs, kind of like how my motherboard for my main PC rebrands its Atheros AR3011 (USB\VID_0B05&PID_179C) as an Asus Bluetooth Adapter (USB\VID_0B05&PID_179C).  If we were trying to get Windows to install it, I could edit the .inf to make it recognize the new device or force the installation of the driver, but I admit that I don’t know how one could do that in Linux.

Thanks for the link and info, though; good to know I am not the only one who thought of it.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Ascaris wrote:

I can think of one thing I’d buy a Surface for if the price was right (ie better than what we’re talking about in this article). I’d LOVE to have a Surface running Linux. Some Linux distros support Secure Boot, so it might be doable…. how fun would that be, to have a MS device not running Windows!

If someone gave me a Surface, sure. But I wouldn’t pay more than a few dollars for one. It’s still all glued and welded together on the inside, which means that for the most part it is impossible to do anything with it hardware-wise.

On the other hand, it would be really cool to go to Starbucks and sit where everyone could see my screen, and then pull out my Surface with Linux Mint on it!

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

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Sounds like Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame has a few pallets load of these infernal Machines that are occupying space.

Despite the nefarious nature of these “unfortunate” M$ devices, it doesnt matter how deep the discount is I don’t think i’ll be tempted although you got to wonder, even taking in to consideration, “bulk buying”, Amazons streamlined shipping and warehousing, effective business model and all other facts considered, they’re “still making” even on clearance prices.

Just what do they cost to make? and if you can answer that with any surety then we have the real reason why they are so  cra….errrm deficient in every way.

All the best for the New Year folks

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HiFlyer, Cascadian

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I think you are right that there are merchants sitting on trash and need to dump stock. But you blame Bezos where he is smarter than the average bear. Amazon is not discounting their stock, but licensed fullfillment suppliers are taking the hit to avoid writing off a zero devaluation.

Bezos learned from Amway how to make others bear the burden while you reap the rewards in money and fame.

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HiFlyer

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