Windows 11 SE and the $249 Surface Laptop SE are made for varsity youngsters | Engadget

For years, Microsoft has pushed low cost Windows laptops as the best faculty computer systems. They can do every part a comparable Chromebook can, whereas additionally working conventional Windows software program. But now, Microsoft is lastly prepared to leap into the inexpensive, kid-friendly PC fray with the $249 Surface Laptop SE. It’s one of many first PCs to run Windows 11 SE, a stripped down OS that is focused at Okay-8 college students (and their beleaguered lecturers). You also can anticipate to see Windows 11 SE gadgets are coming from Dell, HP, Acer and ASUS, amongst different PC makers.

Microsoft hasn’t had the most effective luck with Windows variants over time: Windows 10 S was a limp try at delivering an easier expertise for the unique Surface Laptop, whereas the dual-screen targeted Windows 10X was ultimately cancelled. (Windows 11 principally rose from the ashes of Windows 10 X.) But in response to Aaron Woodman, Microsoft’s General Manager of Windows, this newest OS is extra targeted on fixing a particular downside: How can Microsoft create the best OS expertise for college students and lecturers?

Windows 11 SE makes an attempt to do this by specializing in simplicity. There’s no Microsoft Store for putting in apps (although IT departments can deploy no matter Win32 and Universal apps they’d like). It’s optimized to run on slower {hardware}. And Microsoft even stripped down the window snapping choices by solely permitting apps to be on the left or proper facet of the display screen. One of the most effective components of Windows 11 is the straightforward method you may simply shove an app to completely different corners of your display screen, however that is most likely too difficult for elementary school-aged youngsters working notebooks with small screens.

The Surface Laptop SE is equally fundamental by design. It’s a plastic-shelled pocket book that vaguely resembles the Surface Laptop line, particularly the earlier low cost entry, the $549 Surface Laptop Go. It has an 11.6-inch TFT LCD display screen with a 1,366 by 768 decision — a step above 720p, however under the Laptop Go’s sub-1080p show. And do not anticipate any highly effective gear beneath the hood, because the Surface Laptop SE is restricted to dual-core Celeron chips (both the N4020 or N4120), and both 4GB or 8GB of RAM. For storage, there is a selection between 64GB or 128GB eMMC playing cards.

But actually, what else do you anticipate for a beginning value of $249? What’s extra intriguing in regards to the Surface Laptop SE are the extra premium components that also managed to search out their method in. Microsoft introduced over the Surface Laptop Go’s glorious keyboard and trackpad, in addition to its easy-opening lid, Woodman tells us. The Laptop SE additionally sports activities a 720p webcam, which is sharper than what we see on most similarly-priced notebooks. And, judging from a short Teams video chat I had with Dave Alles, General Manager of Surface Laptop SE, its digital camera and microphone high quality are shockingly stable too. (It was simply higher than $1,200 laptops I’ve reviewed.)

For essentially the most half, the Surface Laptop SE seems to be greater than sufficient for a typical grade-school child. It weighs 2.45 kilos, so it should not be too robust to lug round in tiny backpacks. And its onboard storage, nonetheless meager, needs to be sufficient to work on Microsoft Office initiatives offline. Woodman says Microsoft had college students with out dependable web entry in thoughts when designing the Laptop SE. They may obtain assignments at college, work on them at dwelling, and have their work routinely synchronized once they’re again at school.

IT departments would possible recognize the simply accessible screws on the underside, making it easy to open up and restore notebooks on-site. The Laptop SE’s low value must also make it simpler for faculties to amass sufficient models for each scholar, as an alternative of sharing a handful of PCs at school.

I’m curious to see how effectively Windows 11 SE performs on the Laptop SE’s gradual {hardware}. And part of me wonders if giving youngsters a extra restricted model of Windows will damage their capacity to tinker with PCs once they’re older. But as a former IT help jockey, the Surface Laptop SE seems to be a budget pocket book I’ve at all times wished grade-school college students to have. Sure, it isn’t as versatile because the $400 Surface Go 3, however for fundamental coursework that will not matter an excessive amount of. And whereas I preferred the Surface Laptop Go, it begins at $549—so faculties may purchase two Laptop SEs for across the similar value. 

At this level, Microsoft is simply planning to promote the Laptop SE to colleges by way of schooling resellers later this 12 months. Normal shoppers and companies will not be capable of get them organized in any respect. But if it is wildly profitable, I would not be shocked if Microsoft finds some method to deliver this low cost pc to the lots.