I would avoid M$ surface.
I'd also avoid Apple.

only reasons are their corporate mantas .. make things as difficult to repair as possible.
Surface is the worst, Apple's are very close behind, and getting worse.

Stuff like batteries, shouldn't ever be slodered and glued into the device.
There is no reason for it, no advantage(as some would lead you to believe) .. and only serves to line the corporate pockets of those in charge as their profits grow.

It's lazy engineering .. lock folks into endless cycles of re buying gear due to planned obsolescence.

Do I sound cynical? if you think so, you're mistaken.
Do a search on the ease of the most simple repairs on Apple products, and have a quick look at how Surfaces need to be destroyed before they can be repaired!

My personal preference in laptops has been Asus(for value for money) .. coz I'm cheap!
But at the estimated price given by the OP ... I doubt you would get any better than Lenovos P72 Thinkpad.
Caveat is that it's big and heavy .. so you could spec it down to a 15" version P52.
Multiple drives(more specifically 2x M.2 drives, plus a HDD if you need storage capacity(hence why so big and heavy!)

importantly .. a battery cost roughly $100-150 and that's from their source, which is almost certain to be 2x the price of a good thridparty replacement.

Seriously at $800 quoted to replace a battery .. what really would cost them about $50-ish in materials .. and maybe $50 in labour(because it has to be desoldered and unglued and reversed process again!).

if you're a Apple fanboi .. don't be tempted to lookup Louis Rossman on youtube.

if you're a M$ gear fanboi .. don't look up the teardown that iFixit reported a little while back.

if you care about the potential for stuff that happens .. avoid the big two, and go with something that remotely resembles a sensible solution.

I'd recommend a Lenovo.
if the Apple ecosystem is a requirement .. ignore my reply