Microsoft discretely rolled out a Surface Membership Plan that helps small businesses purchase Surface hardware while avoiding costly one-time payments.
The financing options begin at $32.99 per month, which offers businesses "the latest Surface devices, accessories, support, and training." Older and current models, ranging from the Surface 3 to Surface 4 and Surface Book can be purchased within the new system. Microsoft says that, as novel models reach the shelves, a slew of free upgrades will be available.
The company seems to have taken a leaf out of Apple's iPhone Upgrade program, which landed last year and only two months ago received online support.
The Windows developer delivers a myriad of extra advantages to enterprise users who sign up for the Surface Membership. For example, businesses get setup, tech support in stores, personal training, Accidental Damage Protection and also a prolonged service plan.
The monthly payments are variable, and fluctuations are mostly due to the duration of the purchase and the model that is bought. The program allows small ventures to choose between payments that can last 18 months, 24 months or 30 months.
The most affordable purchase is buying a standard Surface Pro 3 over 30 months, which requires a montly payment of $33.
On the other end of the pricing spectrum, a professional Surface Book packing in a 1 TB hard drive, 16 GB RAM, an Intel i7 CPU and a dual graphics card will ask buyers to shell out $221 each month.
To put it into perspective, such a plan means that a Surface Book will cost you $3,978 at the end of the 30-month period. Should you opt for a two-year installment plan and zero bundled deals, the same Surface Book will empty your pockets by $3,448.
Those who like to live dangerously can opt out of the service plan and will get the Surface Book for only $3,199.
A 30-month installment for the affordable Surface 3 means that users will pay about $990 for the device.
Keep in mind that the payment plans are destined to help businesses adopt Microsoft's hardware. However, ventures can buy a single unit, if that suits their needs best. An extra detail is that before you can embark in the membership plan, your business must meet the criteria imposed by LiftForward, Microsoft's financing partner. All monthly payments and credit applications go through LiftForward.
All Surface devices come with Windows 10 or Windows 10 Pro pre-installed.
Which Surface device is right for your business? Let us know in the comments section below.
