It took Microsoft an excruciatingly and inexplicably long five years or so to add LTE connectivity to a member of the 2-in-1 Surface family, as well as an extra few months to expand the cellular-enabled configuration of the latest Pro detachable from business customers to the general public.
After a wide pre-order start back in early March, the $1,449 Surface Pro with LTE Advanced is finally available for rapid delivery from Microsoft’s e-stores in the US, Canada and Australia.
Of course, early adopters should have received their units by now, while new ones can also try to find inventory in brick and mortar shops across the three aforementioned countries. The 12.3-incher offers “fast, secured global connectivity” only in combination with a 7th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 256GB SSD, and 8GB RAM, hence what may feel like rather prohibitive pricing.
If that’s the case, you can always ditch the LTE Advanced modem, and pay as little as $799 for a Wi-Fi-limited version with modest Core m3 processing power, 128 gigs of solid-state storage, and 4GB memory.
Other non-LTE-capable SKUs typically retail for anywhere between $999 and $2,699 (!!!), although substantial discounts are to be had frequently on microsoft.com or at authorized third-party retailers like Best Buy. Don’t forget you need to purchase a Type Cover separately if you want to enjoy the “ultimate laptop” experience.