Microsoft’s Surface line of products has expanded in recent years. Originally Microsoft only sold tablets, but now there’s a Surface Laptop, Surface Book 2-in-1, Surface Duo smartphone, and even Surface Headphones and Surface Earbuds. One thing they generally have in common is that they aren’t cheap.

But the company has made exceptions. The Surface Go is a relatively affordable Windows tablet with a starting price of $399, making it a lower-cost alternative to the Surface Pro.

Now it looks like Microsoft is preparing to do something similar with the Surface Laptop line. Windows Central reports that a smaller, cheaper Surface Laptop could launch in October.

Surface Laptop 3
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (13.5 inch)

According to the report, the new Surface device is code-named “Sparti” and it’s expected to have a starting price between $500 and $600. Update: WinFuture says it’ll start at $699. 

Specs for an entry-level model are expected to include:

  • 12.5 inch display
  • 10th-gen Intel Core i5 processor
  • 4GB RAM
  • 64GB storage

It’s unclear which Core i5 processor we’re talking about, so I don’t know if that’s a Comet Lake chip with Intel UHD graphics or an Ice Lake processor with an Intel Iris GPU.

There’s no shortage of Windows laptops available for under $600 these, days, but Sparti could stand out due to its branding, Microsoft support, and design and build quality. According to Windows Central, the new model is lightweight and more compact than the current 13.5 inch Surface Laptop, which is already a pretty portable devices that weighs just under 2.8 pounds.

Windows Central’s sources also say that Sparti “looks and feels like a typical Surface product, meaning Microsoft hasn’t compromised on build quality to achieve a lower price.”

We should find out more about the upcoming device, if it’s real, during Microsoft’s fall hardware event sometime in October, 2020.

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8 replies on “Report: 12.5 inch Microsoft Surface laptop coming soon for under $699 (updated)”

  1. I suppose they’re trying to push more people to use Linux instead of Windows with the RAM.

  2. 4GB RAM is unacceptable for anything that is supposed to run windows and is not a chinese toy .. Even those toys get 6-8 GB nowadays though …

  3. Is this a joke? 4gb RAM is totally unacceptable in 2020 at any price.

    Completely ridiculous

    1. My Lenovo Flex 6 14 ryzen 2500 was the single most disappointing laptop I have ever owned. Claimed battery life 8 hours was actually 4. Degraded quickly to 2 hours. Ports stoped working and it died just out of warranty. I have been using mostly Asus tablets and laptops for the last few years and will likely be again. My desktop is a Ryzen but not sure mobile ryzen is solid.

      Needs 8GB min with a spare slot. Windows is a hog

      1. Eh? The laptop I linked has great reviews and it surely is a much better buy than the new budget surface laptop.

        As for as mobile ryzen is concerned, you are getting a lot of performance with great power efficiency with the newer cpus.

  5. I’d be interested in this product. However, its a bit curious that they would offer an i5 processor with 4gb RAM and 64gb SSD as the default option. That seems a bit low for the combination of price and CPU. We’ll need to wait for the official announcement to see if this all adds up.

    If the upgrade options are anything like the Surface Go 2, this will be a no-go for me. 8gb RAM and 128gb storage would be a minimum for me, and based on the usual Surface upgrade costs, I’ll be that would cost an extra $200 at least ($300 if we’re using the Surface Laptop 3 as an example).

    The Surface Laptop lineup looks really attractive, but I can’t swallow their upgrade cost scheme. They would need to give me DIY upgrade options for RAM and SSD for me to buy, and I doubt they will be doing that on this product.

    1. @Grant Russell: “They would need to give me DIY upgrade options for RAM and SSD for me to buy, and I doubt they will be doing that on this product.”

      How about battery? Is it only me who cares about a replaceable battery? And I don’t mean replaceable by me, but a service technician. It’s impossible as the battery is completely glued into the chassis, for some reason. Microsoft charges $500 to replace your Surface Laptop 3 for example with a refurbished one, that’s the cheapest option to get your battery serviced. And they only offer service for a few years into their products’ lifespan, then they say it’s an obsolete product and you are out of luck. Not good for the environment, not good for the customer, not good for Microsoft to retain customers for the long term either. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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