Microsoft Offers Big Bucks to MacBook Owners for Switching

A wealthy fight promoter once said "Everybody has a price," and it looks like Microsoft's ready to test that premise. CNet reports that, in an interview today (Oct. 26), Microsoft vice president Brian Hall said his company will offer up to $650 in exchange for anyone in the U.S. who will switch from a MacBook Pro or Air to a Surface Book or Surface Pro.

Hall said that MacBook owners can take advantage of this offer at Microsoft Stores or on Microsoft.com as early as tomorrow (Oct. 27), which just happens to be the same day Apple is holding an new product event. We expect the company will reveal a revamped MacBook Pro, which has become a little long in the tooth, going four years without a major update.

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This new revamp of the MacBook Pro reportedly sports an OLED Magic Touchbar at the top row, which will replace the physical keys including Esc, F1- F12, Power and include a TouchID sensor that can be used to unlock the computer and for identity verification for ApplePay. The new MacBooks are also rumored to not feature any USB Type-A ports, as Apple is expected to move to Type-C.

Microsoft will likely be able to tout that its Surface Books and Pros beat Apple's newest notebooks because they have touch-screen input. Apple is yet to give any hint that it wants to let people tap to interact with macOS, while Windows 10 is built to be used with your fingers.

That $650 offer isn't enough to pay for a whole new Surface Book or Surface Pro, but it will erase a substantial amount of the bill, as they start at $1,499 and $899, respectively. So this brings entry-level prices down to $849 and $249, which could convince some. What we don't know is what kind of MacBook you need to qualify for the full $650 offer, but we've reached out to Microsoft and will update this story if we get a response.

Microsoft's Windows and Surface event today didn't feature any new Surface Pro models, but it did find the company revealing a new Surface Book with Nvidia GTX 965m graphics and a larger battery inside.