[hoyty]

I work at a school and order 30-40 Surface Pro's a year. This will be 4th year of them for us. For the last two years we have bought the i5/8/256 model that I thought was suite spot price / performance wise. That has been list price of $1300 during that time. The new Surface Pro is essentially the same (new proc) and same price except for one detail. They took pen out of package. We use the pen extensively for OneNote among other things. The new pen lists for $100. This has effectively raised my prices by $100 for every unit.

Also still unknown is warranty coverage. When the pen was included it was covered by my Complete Care (Accidental Breakage). However now it is an accessory so it is probably 1 year at best.

I like the new unit and the fact I can share power cords for last 4 years of machines and cases with Surface Pro 4. Just not excited about price increase.

[convergent]

As a school, I would imagine you don't need the latest and greatest. Why not take advantage of the discounted pricing and order a batch of Surface Pro 4s for this year? Then next year you can get the new ones and it will average out!

[hoyty]

I keep the machines in service for a minimum of 4 years and sometimes more like 5-6. Buying the latest and greatest makes years 5-6 less painful than if you start with an already 1+ year old design.

[anon(5327127)]

"Suite spot"... Man I hope that you do buy a great sofa. That would be sweet!

You could just buy the Pro 3/4 pens.

As for the price, as always, you could just WAIT awhile as the price will drop slightly after the initial buzz dies down.

[convergent]

That is an interesting question about whether the pen is covered in the warranty... especially if they are not available at availability time of the Surface Pro.

I have no history with Microsoft warranties to know; but Apple includes in coverage any accessories you buy with the laptop. For example, I bought a MacBook Air and Thunderbolt Display, so the display was included in the AppleCare. Its as a good thing, because 2.5 years after purchase the LCD panel had to be replaced and the part was over $900!

The same would apply to the keyboard... does Microsoft extend coverage to the keyboard for Microsoft Complete coverage?

[L0n3N1nja]

I know when you just look at the specs like that it seems the price has gone up for little benefit, but they did change a number of things internally. Not tying to defend Microsoft, just saying you get more than just a better processor. Battery life has nearly doubled, pens although separate are better, new kickstand, it's now fan less for the i5.

[onlysublime]

as a school, you should be using the education discount pricing rather than paying retail pricing