The top-end Surface Book costs £250 more than the equivalent MacBook Pro

Microsoft has revealed the price of the most expensive Surface Book - and it costs $400 (£258) more than the equivalent MacBook Pro at $3,199 (£2,066). The company previously only listed the price of the 512GB SSD version and it would seem users need to pay a $500 (£323) premium for the extra 500GB of storage.

Comparison of the Surface Book (which has a 13.5-inch display) to the 13-inch MacBook Pro is problematic as the latter can't be upgraded to include a 1TB SSD, but the 15-inch model can be. Microsoft set the tone by showing a slide with a side-by-side of the Book and Pro on stage during the unveiling.

The equivalent MacBook Pro - which has an Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD - costs $2,799 (£1,800). Adding the 1TB SSD is the most expensive aspect of the two laptops, adding $800 (£515) to the MacBook Pro and $1,100 (£710) to the Surface Book.

Even at its starting price of $1,499 (£999) the Surface Book is an expensive machine that will only appeal to power users or people who would otherwise buy a MacBook. For this reason, the extra $400 charge for the same amount of storage could be problematic.