Though Black Friday this year is slated for November 25, Microsoft is ringing those sale bells earlier. The Redmond-based company will begin sale of their deals on November 23 instead. Included in the sale are hundreds of savings for the Surface devices, Xbox One and various Windows 10 laptops.
As seen on Microsoft's own Black Friday page, the Surface Book will be available for just US$1,499, which is a US$400 discount. Granted, the item is not the newest or most powerful in its line, but it is still a great piece of technology. It has a 2.4GHz Intel Core i5-6300U processor and the Intel HD Graphics 520 chip to pair with it.
The device also runs smoothly on 6GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. It also poses little connectivity problems as the device has two USB 3.0, a mini DisplayPort, an SD card reader, and a mini headphone/mic combo jack. The original Surface Book also has a 5 megapixel front camera and a notable 8 megapixel rear camera.
As mentioned earlier, the Surface Book definitely is not the most powerful hybrid notebook out there, but it definitely does not pale in comparison either. The unit, which is just 3.48 pounds and measures 312mm x 232mm x 13-22.8mm all around, still holds its own. And the Black Friday deal is definitely not one to miss.
Meanwhile, the Surface Pro 4 will be available for just US$799, which is a savings of US$999. Microsoft is expected to release the next Surface Pro 5 soon, but there has been no confirmation from the company. Nevertheless, the risk to purchase the current offering on Black Friday is there, because the upcoming device will arrive sooner rather than later.
The Surface Pro 4 is also a hybrid device, but is smaller and lighter than the Surface Book. It has a sixth generation Intel Core m3, i5 or i7 processor which pair up with an Intel HD Graphics 515, Intel HD Graphics 520 and Intel Iris Graphic chip respectively. There are also 128GB, 256GB, 512Gb or 1TB options for internal storage.
The heaviest selling point of the Surface Pro 4, however, is the Surface Pen, which allows users to write directly onto the screen of the hybrid device. The device's screen is a 12.3 inch PixelSense Display with a 2736 x 1824 pixel resolution. The heaviest i7 model weighs only 1.73 pounds and all models are just 292.10mm x 201.42mm x 8.45mm.
As PC Mag adds, Microsoft is also offering the Xbox One S at only US$249, which is a humble US$50 discount. It has a 1.75GHz 8-core AMD Jaguar CPU and a 1.4 TFLOP AMD Radeon GPU. It is capable of 4K video quality and comes in 500GB, 1TB and 2TB internal storage options.
The Microsoft Black Friday deals do not stop there. Various Windows 10 laptops will soon be available at discounted prices as well. Included on the list are the Dell Inspiron PC (US$399), the HP Notebook 15 (US$299), the HP HP X360 (US$229), the Lenovo Ideapad (US$400), the HP NT Ci3 (US$269) and NT Ci5 (US$329). The Asus Transformer Mini T102 (US$299) will also be discounted.
