Windows 11 SE - New Edition of Windows 11 that MS is working on, which targets low powered computers. Budget Surface Laptop on the way.

[GoodBytes]

Microsoft seems to prepare an answer to ChromeOS / Chromebooks. While nothing official is mentioned yet, Windows Central reports that Microsoft is working on a new edition of Windows 11 called Windows 11 SE (probably 'SE' stands for 'Student Edition'), and a new budget Surface Laptop to go along with it.

 

Rumor stated by Windows Central, says that this new edition of Windows 11, will be tweaked version of Windows 11 which is more light weight. Sadly, no more details is knows at this time.

Personally, if I were to guess, it suggests that they'll disable unlikely used services and features in the school environment, and I won't be surprised if it locked to the Store, like the "S mode" under Windows 10. That said, now the Store has a lot of interesting apps, and continues to grows. We have no idea if it will have unique features. 

 

As for the new Budget Surface Laptop which will run Windows 11 SE and sold to school, it will apparently feature

• Full plastic body
• 11.6 inch, 1366 x 768 display, 
• Intel’s N4120 Celeron (Quad Core with a speed up to 2.6GHz, 4MB L2 Cache)
• 4 or 8GB of RAM
• 1x USB Type-A port
• 1x USB Type-C port
• 1x headphone plug
• Standard barrel style charging por (no Surface Connect port. Probably allows school to get replacement adapters for cheap that way, and of course, cost less to implement)

Targets K-12 level education.

The price is unknown, but it is believed to have target price to be "bellow 400$ USD" (so, probably 399$). It aims to targets Chromebooks sold by HP, Dell, and Lenovo which are at the same price.

Storage is not mentioned, but I think it would be safe to assume it will sport eMMC storage, which is way better than an HDD (better performance, especially the latest eMMC versions, and will not fail from shocks.

 

Quote

Microsoft is preparing to take its Chromebook compete strategy to the next level with a new, low-cost laptop made specifically for the education market. This laptop is designed in the same vein as other low-cost EDU laptops. [...]

According to my sources, this new laptop is codenamed Tenjin and features a fully plastic exterior, a 1366x768 11.6-inch display, an Intel Celeron N4120 and up to 8GB RAM. This is a no-frills laptop designed to be as low-cost as possible, built for student-use in a classroom environment. I'm told the device features a full-sized keyboard and trackpad, one USB-A port, one USB-C port, a headphone jack, and a barrel-style AC port.
 

Tenjin marks the beginning of a new K-12 education strategy for Microsoft. In addition to the new hardware, Microsoft is also preparing to launch a new edition of Windows 11 titled "Windows 11 SE" built specifically for low-cost school PCs like Tenjin. I'm told this SKU focuses on special optimizations, tweaks, and features built for education establishments deploying low-end hardware.

 

It is expected that Microsoft will reveal this device and more details on this new edition of Windows 11 later this year.

 

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-building-116-inch-low-cost-laptop-designed-k-12-education-markets

 

If everything is true and comes into reality, it is interesting to see how Microsoft passes from having the Surface line of products, which aims to be this 'Halo' type of product, the 'Nvidia Titan' of computers, designed to push PC space specs and innovation forward, is now making a device as affordable as possible. Personally, I would be interested to see what they came out with. Already the Surface Laptop Go, has its base in plastic, but feels incredibly rigid, as if it was made in metal. If they apply the level of engineering to this full plastic model, it would definitely be competitive product to OEMs making cheap Chromebook devices which tend to really show its corners being cut.

 

No your memory isn't deceiving you, it is isn't the first time, Microsoft tries this. Microsoft biggest issue is CPU. Intel offering is too expensive and too low powered, and Qualcomm offerings, the models that is fast enough for Windows 10/11, is too costly as well. That said, Now Intel solution might be sufficient for Windows to run decently for the intended purposes. All depending on how far Microsoft is willing to do its "optimizations". Will be actual ones, or just disable Widgets and Chat and call it a day. We will have to wait and see.

 

[doubleflower]

Quote

If everything is true and comes into reality, it is interesting to see how Microsoft passes from having the Surface line of products, which aims to be this 'Halo' type of product, the 'Nvidia Titan' of computers, designed to push PC space specs and innovation forward, is now making a device as affordable as possible. Personally, I would be interested to see what they came out with. Already the Surface Laptop Go, has its base in plastic, but feels incredibly rigid, as if it was made in metal. If they apply the level of engineering to this full plastic model, it would definitely be competitive product to OEMs making cheap Chromebook devices which tend to really show its corners being cut.

Seems like Windows 10S/X lives again as Windows 11 SE?

 

It appears that Microsoft is somewhat threatened by Chromebooks in some way or another (probably explains why Microsoft is making Windows 10S/X as an attempt to fend off Chromebooks before throwing in the towel) 

 

Quote

Storage is not mentioned, but I think it would be safe to assume it will sport eMMC storage, which is way better than an HDD (better performance, especially the latest eMMC versions, and will not fail from shocks.

Crucially the most important part is that eMMC memory will likely to have much lower latency than spinning disks, which improves responsiveness in a big way

[Lightwreather]

Huh, this seems pretty interesting

[emosun]

I just think itll be funny to have a lightweight version of windows 11 that uses more ram and has less functionality that just using windows xp/7/8 lol.

 

 

[RedRound2]

Windows RT turned into S mode, which then turned into X mode and now turning into SE mode (and I'm not sure if I forgotten any editions in between )

But gotta appreciate Microsoft's perseverance though 

[jagdtigger]

They didnt even finished the normal 11 yet......

[Radium_Angel]

Wish list for a really lightweight edition of WinX:

 

No telemetry. Period. Rip all that shit out.

No live tiles. No pre-installs apps. No ads.

No cloud offers or OneDrive. If I want it, I'll install it.

Nothing phones homes (services, etc) without expressly asking the user for permission.

Security updates only.

 

Yeah, I can dream I know...

 

[Forbidden Wafer]

"Let's repeat the same stupid move once again and see if the results change"

[BachChain]

Windows mobile: (n+1) edition

"It's gotta catch on eventually"

[GoodBytes]

3 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Wish list for a really lightweight edition of WinX:

 

No telemetry. Period. Rip all that shit out.

No live tiles. No pre-installs apps. No ads.

No cloud offers or OneDrive. If I want it, I'll install it.

Nothing phones homes (services, etc) without expressly asking the user for permission.

Security updates only.

 

Yeah, I can dream I know...

 

Then other people will say that Apple has iCloud, Microsoft doesn't have anything out of the box, and you need to go through a complexity to get it.

 

Sounds silly, but hey, look at Linux based OS, especially Arch Linux. Linux users goes "takes 2 sec to install. Repos! easy command line, GUI if you want to go that way". Windows users goes... I don't have time for this, and don't where to start. Your "Mr./Ms everyone" will say the same on Windows if they don't have it

[RedRound2]

10 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Wish list for a really lightweight edition of WinX:

 

No telemetry. Period. Rip all that shit out.

No live tiles. No pre-installs apps. No ads.

No cloud offers or OneDrive. If I want it, I'll install it.

Nothing phones homes (services, etc) without expressly asking the user for permission.

Security updates only.

 

Yeah, I can dream I know...

 

I think you got your list mixed with the must have features, tsk tsk tsk

[jagdtigger]

3 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Repos! easy command line

Except you dont, stop spreading false info... For one arch aint for avergae users, ubuntu/mint/etc are. Those can be installed and set up without ever touching cli or repos.

[suicidalfranco]

Microsoft beating that dead horse like there's no tomorrow

[GoodBytes]

Just now, jagdtigger said:

Except you dont, stop spreading false info... For one arch aint for avergae users, ubuntu/mint/etc are. Those can be installed and set up without ever touching cli or repos.

That is exactly what I said. And thank you for providing my point.

[jagdtigger]

2 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

That is exactly what I said. And thank you for providing my point.

Not really, you again bring in outdated arguments and a distro made for enthusiasts to spread misinformation. Im just debunking it.

[Forbidden Wafer]

27 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

No telemetry. Period. Rip all that shit out.

No live tiles. No pre-installs apps. No ads.

No cloud offers or OneDrive. If I want it, I'll install it.

Nothing phones homes (services, etc) without expressly asking the user for permission.

Security updates only.

I think telemetry is fine, as long as the users can disable it easily and have the option to review the data before submitting it to them.
I loved live tiles, but I think there was a switch to disabled them all and make them static. On Windows Phone, doing that was completely stupid, but on the desktop it made a lot of sense.
I don't mind cloud offers or OneDrive. What I dislike is how bugged things are even if you uninstall OneDrive and your default folders still in the stupid OneDrive directory. Why can't they stay put and just sync to OneDrive? Symlinks were invented for that. Also, they keep reinstalling the thing with updates, which is a pain.
Agree on disabling phoning home, except for software license validation and device tracking (if enabled by the user).
Automatic updates? Completely agree. Feature updates should be optional.

[GoodBytes]

4 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

Not really, you again bring in outdated arguments and a distro made for enthusiasts to spread misinformation. Im just debunking it.

No what I meant are people reaction. A Linux user will say it is easy, as they have the proper knowledge. Windows users who has knowledge will say how Windows side is easy as well. The issue Of am bringing is that no everyone in the Windows space (or mac) has that knowledge, and having in box apps is an up side for them.

 

[WolframaticAlpha]

Win11 is going to run like ass on that system. The VBS is already slow and a celeron is going to slow things down. The 1366*768 res is disgusting and you won't have win11's snap things. Microsoft, maybe don't do it.

[emosun]

1 hour ago, Radium_Angel said:

Wish list for a really lightweight edition of WinX:

 

No telemetry. Period. Rip all that shit out.

No live tiles. No pre-installs apps. No ads.

No cloud offers or OneDrive. If I want it, I'll install it.

Nothing phones homes (services, etc) without expressly asking the user for permission.

Security updates only.

 

Yeah, I can dream I know...

 

Windows xp has entered the chat

[GoodBytes]

10 minutes ago, emosun said:

Windows xp has entered the chat

Well, there is no OS from Microsoft. They all have built-in apps, including MSDOS. But ignoring that:

You mean Windows 2000. XP phones home

[Radium_Angel]

9 minutes ago, emosun said:

Windows xp has entered the chat

Except for the "security updates" issue, yeah.

Personally, I prefer Windows 9. It's damned close to the wish list (only failing with some very easily turned off telemetry.)

All the advantages of Windows 7 (UI) and 10(drivers) none of the drawbacks (no live tiles, etc)

 

[emosun]

5 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Well, there is no OS from Microsoft. They all have built-in apps, including MSDOS. But ignoring that:

You mean Windows 2000. XP phones home

Ive never seen xp phone home unless somebody left all the terrible late stage updates on and isnt running the original release

[GoodBytes]

Just now, emosun said:

Ive never seen xp phone home unless somebody left all the terrible late stage updates on and isnt running the original release

Activation, crash reports, auto-updater, telemetry data (on by default, option is hidden), Smart Screen feature, system time update, any applications using ActiveX (which means IE embedded in the application, which means telemetry data, and other IE feature (varies based on IE version)

 

[emosun]

8 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Activation, crash reports, auto-updater, telemetry data (on by default, option is hidden), Smart Screen feature, system time update, any applications using ActiveX (which means IE embedded in the application, which means telemetry data, and other IE feature (varies based on IE version)

 

Oh, never seen any of that unless unless somebody left all the terrible late stage updates on and isnt running the original release

[Salv8 (sam)]

please excuse me i am getting my laughs ready for when this inevitably fails just like it's predecessors.