Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Holiday shoppers can now purchase the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, Apple iPad Mini 3 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 at a heavily discounted price from Best Buy and Amazon. Reuters/Brendan McDermid

Microsoft is apparently offering a new variant of the well-received Surface Pro 3 tablet. This new model is powered by an Intel i7 processor. And it's cheaper than the previously released variants.

The caveat is that, the new Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet variant comes with only 128 GB of built-in storage space. The original model that runs on the Intel i7 processor comes with either 256 GB or 512 GB of storage.

The Surface Pro 3 with Intel i7 SoC and 128 GB of memory space will be priced at $1,299. That's $250 less than the 256 GB variant, at $1,549, and $650 less than the 512 GB model, at $1,949. All three variants are backed by a killer 8 GB of RAM configuration, notes Phone Arena.

Microsoft offers Surface Pro 3 tablets powered by Intel i3 and Intel i5 processors as well. The Intel i5 variant bundled with 256 GB of internal storage capacity and 8 GB of RAM unit costs $1,299. The Intel i5-powered model with 128 GB of memory space and a much smaller RAM unit of 4 GB, can be had for $999. The cheapest Surface Pro 3 model, featuring the Intel i3 processor, 64 GB of internal storage space and 4 GB of RAM, costs $799.

Notably, interested readers can purchase the 2-in-1 Surface Pro 3 models from Microsoft Store. Microsoft also is offering a $159 Surface Pro 3 bundle that comprises the Surface tablet, Type Cover and Surface sleeve, along with two-year warranty and Office 365 subscription for a year. Ahead of the imminent Surface Pro 4 release, Microsoft has been cutting the prices of the Surface Pro 3 models.

What do you think of the new Surface Pro 3 variant? Will you opt for one at $1,299 when the Surface Pro 4 is released? Feel free to leave a comment.