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> As for Apple, you buy a 3 year warranty with AppleCare for less than the surface costs and that includes accidental damage for a small excess fee per event. What? Maybe this is true for the M1-based MacBooks now, but I bought my Surface Book 3 with my Microsoft Business account (which was made for me for free when I bought my Surface Book 2 by a manager at the Dallas, TX Microsoft Store) and for $249 I got a three year warranty with three accidental damage incidents, also with no deductible. Yes, I had to pony up for a year of Office 365 for $69 to get the normally-$349 warranty for $100 off, but I already use Office 365 yearly sub anyway, so adding on an extra year of something I was going to buy anyway, for $100 off a 3-year, 3-incident, deductible-free warranty isn't exactly a "hard sell". Although the only problem I've ever had with Microsoft's hardware products was my original Surface Book, and I'll admit, that was a miserable experience, but I had zero problems with my SB2 and none so far with my SB3. Having said all that, I might actually switch over to Apple if they had a 15" 2-in-1 like my SB3. In order to functionally replace my Surface Book 3, I have to buy a $1499 12.9" iPad Pro, a $129 Apple Pencil 2nd gen, and a $2299 MacBook Pro M1. Adding Apple Care+ and tax brings the total up to $4670. But I also now have the problem of having to lug around two devices instead of just once as I do with the Surface Book 3. My totally pimped out Surface Book 3 + warranty + Office 365 1-year sub was $4350. That's the Quadro RTX 3000 MaxQ version also. Right now, the Apple products have the performance advantage, I can't deny that. But they didn't have that when I bought my Surface Book 3, and Microsoft isn't going to sit on their ass. Their ARM-based Surface Pro X is following Microsoft trends perfectly. The first version of all their hardware ranges anywhere from a total joke to slightly underwhelming. But by the time 3rd and 4th iterations, Microsoft has their shit together. I fully expect that in 2-3 years, a Microsoft ARM-based Surface Book 5/6 will be a serious MacBook Pro contender, while also winning over users like me for the 2-in-1 aspect. |