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Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop is cheaper and slower at $799

Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop is cheaper and slower at $799

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A quiet launch for a new Intel Core m3 model

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Surface Laptop
Surface Laptop
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

Microsoft has launched a new version of its Surface Laptop today, bringing the base unit price down to $799. The software giant quietly unveiled the cheaper Surface Laptop over at the Microsoft Store, and the new $799 variant ships with Intel’s Core m3 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. That makes the new base model slower and cheaper than the previous version at $999 that shipped with a Core i5 processor and the same low amount of RAM.

Windows Central points out that the cheaper Surface Laptop model now competes directly with Microsoft’s base Surface Pro model, which also includes Intel’s Core m3 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. Microsoft still sells the essential Surface Type Cover separately, so you do need to factor in an additional $129.99 to get a comparable device.

A quiet launch for a cheaper Surface Laptop

Microsoft hasn’t revealed exactly why it’s introducing a cheaper model, but the launch comes just days after the software maker revealed its Surface revenue had only increased 1 percent year-over-year in the crucial holiday quarter. Microsoft launched its Surface Laptop, and refreshed its Surface Pro earlier in 2017, but both devices haven’t done a lot to help increase revenue over the popular holiday shopping quarter.

Pricing appears to be an important factor that could be holding back Microsoft’s Surface devices, particularly outside the US where pricing has been gradually increasing. A cheaper Surface Laptop at the entry price could certainly help with sales numbers and those all important revenue figures.