The fine print behind Microsoft’s new Surface financing plan, Surface Plus

Microsoft just announced a new financing option for Surface Laptops, Surface Pro 2017s, Surface Books and Surface Studios. On the, uh, surface, the Surface Plus plan for individuals looks quite inviting: A new Surface Pro 2017, for example, only costs $34 per month for 24 months; Surface Laptops run $42 per month, and Surface Books $63 per month. But before you take the plunge, be aware of the footnotes.

I priced out a top-of-the-line Surface Pro 2017, i7, 16 GB, 1 TB storage, Iris Plus, Extended Service, and came to a total of $2,848, or $119 per month with Klarna financing (formerly Kreditor), plus sales tax. If you go with the least-capable Surface Pro 2017, you end up with an m3 processor, 4 GB, 128 GB storage, built-in graphics and a Standard one-year limited warranty — for $799, or $33 per month.

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