The Windows versus Mac debate is likely to rage on for years to come with every computer user falling on one side or the other, arguing which one is best. But when it comes to pitting the two against one another there can be a clear winner in one category, and that is price. Right now, you can get the 512GB Microsoft Surface Laptop for £999, a price that undercuts the latest 512GB M3 MacBook Air by a full £300.
As part of a Black Friday promotion, John Lewis has discounted the 512GB Surface Laptop to £999 down from £1,249, making it a handy way to pick up a cutting-edge Windows 11 laptop with a decent amount of storage. It’s currently cheaper than the 256GB model, which is £1,049.
John Lewis has the £999 Surface in blue or black, with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB RAM and that 512GB storage. The deal is also available directly from Microsoft.
If you’d prefer a Microsoft Surface Pro as opposed to the Surface Laptop, there’s an early Black Friday deal exclusive to Amazon that nets you £400 off. You can get the Snapdragon X Elite processor version of the Windows 11 tablet, which is more powerful than the X Plus in the discounted Laptops, for £1,049 down from £1,449.
View the Amazon Surface Pro deal here
This gets you 16GB RAM and 256GB storage in the slick-looking black model, but this price does not include the necessary Surface Pro keyboard accessory, the cheapest version of which Microsoft sells for £139.99.
All these Surface deals run until 3 December.
All these Microsoft computers come with Copilot Plus, which is a new AI assistant feature you can only currently get by purchasing a new Windows 11 machine that runs either the Snapdragon X Plus or X Elite platform. These are processors made by Qualcomm as opposed to rival firms Intel or AMD who also provide chips for Windows laptops.
Copilot allows you to have contextual conversations with an AI assistant to help you perform web searches or to do things within certain apps.
In our testing of the Surface Laptop and a recent Samsung laptop with the X Elite, we found battery life and performance to be better than the equivalent Intel computers, meaning these discounted devices are a good buy at these prices even if you aren’t fussed about Copilot.
By comparison, the M3 MacBook Air starts at £1,099 from Apple and is compatible with Apple’s new AI assistant, known as Apple Intelligence. If you are partial to Macs then this laptop, which we reviewed here, could be the better buy.
But if you’re a Windows fan, the early Black Friday discounts on Surface Laptop and Surface Pro represent solid savings on the latest in Windows tech.
