Officially, that’s the same price as before for those configs, but with the $999 256GB models now binned, it’s effectively a stealthy $200 price bump.

The disappearing act neatly closes the price gap that made this week’s shiny new, lower-end Surface Pro ($799) and Surface Laptop ($899) look oddly poor value next to their higher-specced predecessors. Microsoft’s retail slight of hand now makes the new gear look “better value,” but only because consumers have fewer cheaper alternatives.

For those keeping score, the old models did feature user-replaceable storage, and many savvy punters would’ve skipped Microsoft’s $200 upsell by slotting in their own drives. That route just got a lot harder.

Meanwhile, Surface accessories weren’t spared either. The Surface USB-C Travel Hub is now $120 (up from $100), and the Arc Mouse jumps to $90 (from $80). Even basic replacement parts have crept up in price, though Surface Pens and Type Covers remain stable, for now.

Earlier this month, Redmond also jacked up Xbox console prices and hinted that $80 games were on the horizon. Clearly, someone’s doing the maths.

Blame part of the bump on increased tariffs from the Trump administration, which are indirectly nudging up hardware costs even though PCs and phones are mostly still dodging the worst of them. Supply chains remain a tangled mess, and Microsoft seems happy to pass the knot to consumers.

If you’re quick, some third-party retailers like Best Buy are still flogging 256GB Surface Laptop 7 models for $799. But the writing’s on the wall, and these discounted holdouts won’t stick around for long. When they vanish, so too will any sense of a reasonable starting price in Microsoft’s Surface lineup.