Skip to main content

Don’t blink, Microsoft just sold out of even more Surface Books

Microsoft Surface Book
Image used with permission by copyright holder
It was only a couple of weeks ago that we reported that all of the pre-order versions of Microsoft’s Surface Book had completely sold out, and that was even before stock had arrived anywhere. Fortunately Microsoft was quick to address the situation and allocated some extra stock to the U.S. to guarantee availability for those who wanted one. That’s still the case today with many Surface Books still available, but not for one very specific configuration.

One of the more attractive entry level models Microsoft announced lately was a Surface Book that featured the dedicated Nvidia GPU, at the same price tag as those without it. It just didn’t come with the expanded storage of the higher end versions. That made its $1,700 price tag very attractive for those that could make do with a 128GB SSD or planned to upgrade later.

As attractive as that may be, the version has been completely pulled from Microsoft’s official site, so for now there’s no chance of getting one.

Related: Microsoft’s Surface Book has a custom GTX 950M-like GPU

There may not ever be a chance to get one in the future another either, as previously Microsoft has simply listed products as out of stock. This one almost seems like it never existed. It did, though, as just to be sure Windows Central got in touch with Microsoft to confirm our eyes weren’t playing tricks on us. It confirmed that that version of the Surface Book was out of stock, but it didn’t say anything about it becoming available again in the future.

“We made a limited number of 128 GB Core i5 dGPU Surface Book SKUs available in the U.S. and quickly sold through stock. Microsoft will fulfil orders of the product, and customers can expect shipment notices upon the time of shipment,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.

Of course, there are plenty of other options for those still interested, you just need to plan on spending at least $1,900 to get a version with the dedicated graphics chip now. You do get 256GB of storage in that model, so that’s something.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Don’t waste your money on a MacBook Air. Just buy a Chromebook instead
A young man using the HP 14-Inch 2-in-1 Chromebook.

The MacBook Air is an overpriced web browser. There, I said it. I did not want to go in this direction, but after six months of reading about Apple’s M2 MacBook Air, I could not hold it in anymore.

Most people who get a MacBook Air do not really need it. If all you do is check your email, write documents, play with Excel or Google Sheets, and watch YouTube, then save your money -- because a Chromebook is all you need.

Read more
A dangerous new jailbreak for AI chatbots was just discovered
the side of a Microsoft building

Microsoft has released more details about a troubling new generative AI jailbreak technique it has discovered, called "Skeleton Key." Using this prompt injection method, malicious users can effectively bypass a chatbot's safety guardrails, the security features that keeps ChatGPT from going full Taye.

Skeleton Key is an example of a prompt injection or prompt engineering attack. It's a multi-turn strategy designed to essentially convince an AI model to ignore its ingrained safety guardrails, "[causing] the system to violate its operators’ policies, make decisions unduly influenced by a user, or execute malicious instructions," Mark Russinovich, CTO of Microsoft Azure, wrote in the announcement.

Read more