I've got a $500 credit to help subsidize the cost. I can't decide if I should stick to the $500 limit or go out of pocket and pay the difference. At the cheapest configuration, I think I'll end up spending about $930.

I do have two concerns. How is the battery life with the I-3 or I-5 processors?

Second, it makes me a little nervous carrying around something so valuable. A couple months ago, my mother-in-law crunched my Asus tablet. I replaced it with a budget Windows 8.1 tablet/laptop the T100. It's a decent device in it's own right, but I could possibly be convinced to upgrade to the Surface Pro 3 if I can resolve my concerns. Again having $500 to offset the cost is a big bonus.