In a bid to shelter in more users and to expand its portfolio to meet up with current competition, Microsoft today at a special event held in New York, has announced a new version of its Windows 10 operating system dubbed Windows 10 S.
Aimed at educational sector, the new OS is a streamlined edition of Windows 10 Pro with improved security and performance while limiting third-parties access on system level, unlike standard version. Laptops running Windows 10 S will “only” be able to install apps on Windows Store, which has been thoroughly screened, verified and validated for the safety of users.
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Furthermore, Microsoft Edge will comes as the default browser and Bing as the default search bar with no supports for other browsers (Chrome, Firefox and the likes) at the moment. This is to ensure maximum safety for students and teachers who will heavily relies on their PCs to carry out their daily tasks, according to Microsoft.
The Windows 10 S brings along all the new features that were in the recently released Windows 10 Creators Update including a more enhanced Edge and Cortana. The Cupertino firm further revealed that it has partnered with multiple brands including Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, Toshiba, Fujitsu, and Samsung to make devices running Windows 10 S for education available for consumers in the coming months.
For maximum satisfaction however, due to its “limited” resources, users are allowed to upgrade from Windows 10 Ⓢ to Windows 10 Pro at any point in time if they no longer wish to use the said OS and want to be able to use third-party applications, though this comes at a price and cannot be revoked after. The operating system is free for students but attract a fee of $50 USD for non-students. Students using Windows 10 Pro can also migrate freely to Windows 10 S.
With the sole purpose of competing with Google’s Chrome OS and cheap education edition of Chromebooks, first set of Windows 10 S laptops from the aforementioned partners will cost as little as $189 USD.
In other news, at the event, Microsoft also launched a new laptop which happened to be the first to runs Windows 10 S out-of-the-box. The Surface Laptop as called, comes with a sleek aluminium body with ultra-thin bezel that measure just 14.48mm at its thinnest point. It features a 13.5-inch PixelSense edge-to-edge display with multi-touch supports and can be configured with up to 7th-Gen Intel Core i7 processor and up to 16GB of RAM.
The device touts an impressive battery life of up to 14.5 hours during video playback. Microsoft is offering 1TB of free OneDrive cloud storage with each purchase.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Specifications
- 13.5-inch PixelSense display with 2256×1504 pixel resolution, 3:2 aspect ratio, 10-point multi-touch, Gorilla Glass 3 protection
- Seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor with Intel HD Graphics 620 / Core i7 processor with Intel® Iris Plus Graphics 640
- 4GB/8GB/16GB of RAM
- 128GB/256GB/512GB of SSD
- HD (720p) webcam, Windows Hello facial login
- OS: Windows 10 S
- TPM chip for enterprise-grade protection
- Omnisonic speakers, Dolby Audio Premium
- Connectivity: WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, USB 3.0 port, Mini DisplayPort, Surface Connect, stereo microphones, 3.5mm headphone jacl
- Battery: up to 14.5 hours of video playback
- Dimensions: 308.1 x 223.27 x 14.48mm
- Weight: 1.25kg
- Colour(s): Graphite Gold, Cobalt Blue, Platinum, Burgundy
Pricing starts at $999 USD for base variant with Core i5, 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD. It will be available from 15th of June in selected markets. Pre-orders kick-start today.
