Windows 10 S laptops will be tardy for the first weeks of school, Microsoft says - kernsyoureame66

Windows 10 S laptops by companies like Asus, Dell, and HP volition apparently misfire the back-to-school sales season—a serious blow for Microsoft's new OS for the education market.

Microsoft aforesaid Tues that universities put up get to order Windows 10 S devices, including its own Surface Laptop computer. That's the only Windows 10 S gimmick already shipping, but with a starting price of $999 ($899.10 with student discount) it's not come-at-able for many budget-strapped schools, not to mention individual students.

At the same fourth dimension, the low-cost Windows 10 S hardware from Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, and HP that Microsoft showed off this past tense May isn't available one of these days. Microsoft said Windows 10 S devices are being introduced as planned, simply that 2018 will see a broader rollout of Windows 10 S devices.

Why this matters: If Windows 10 S hardware misses the fall semester, that's a bad go for an education-orienting intersection trying to compete with the entrenched Chromebook platform. The flamboyant Surface Laptop computer Crataegus laevigata be leading the Windows 10 S charge with a conventional notebook computer that's designed to replace the MacBook Air in a university setting, but it's the far cheaper, ruggedized hardware for simple and midriff schools that volition compete immediately with cheap, ruggedized Chromebooks.

Tardy for class

No of the Windows 10 S hardware partners we contacted will be ready before the school year opens. Dell confirmed that its $229 Dell Latitude 3180 and $299 Latitude 3189 would miss the back-to-school buying flavor, which is in full action. Those devices will ship in September, a spokesman said. A representative for HP could order only that its $299 Horsepower ProBook x360 11EE was available for ordering, and did not divulge a ship day of the month. Microsoft indicated that the $249 Lenovo N23 and the $279 Lenovo N24 would be getable today—but Lenovo's webpage for the N23, for example, indicates the good example will send off in five weeks, or early September.

Although PCWorld asked about the condition of Windows 10 S devices for acquisition channels, Microsoft same non to take too much into consumer Web pages.

"Windows 10 S education devices are moving guardant every bit planned," the ship's company said in a statement. "Additionally to the Surface devices, partners like Lenovo, Acer, and HP are offer devices for educational institutions through various channels."

When devices are sold to informative institutions, Microsoft added, the company and its hardware partners typically bring off directly with the schools or work direct distribution partners rather than victimization the retail channel or unrestricted websites.

"In cosmopolitan, schools don't make organization purchases direct the retail TV channel of consumer websites," Microsoft said. "Our initial wave of Windows 10 S devices for [the education grocery] announced in May are in-grocery or coming to market before long as planned. In 2018, we wait to go bigger since we bequeath be selling Windows 10 S devices throughout the entire education selling cycle that typically runs from February through the start of the shadowing academic year as budgets get locked."

Melissa Riofrio/PCWorld

Dell originally touted this Latitude 11 EDU A unmatched of the first laptops built for Windows 10 S, Microsoft's OS for schools. Dell now refers to it arsenic the Latitude 3180—whose ware paginate doesn't make any mention of Windows 10 S.

To glassy the transition, Microsoft has launched a subscription program called Surface Plus, which allows customers to buy a new Surface Laptop, Control surface Book, Beaver State Surface Studio and pay for it crossways 24 monthly installments, without interest. Customers can also acclivity to a newer device after just 18 months, and the syllabu includes a free year of in-hive away client aid. A related program, Surface Plus for Business, is also available.

Has the Windows 10 S ship endure aground?

Microsoft pitched Windows 10 S every bit a manageable, secure version of Windows 10. Users pot lone access apps found within the Windows Store, to keep unauthorized software and malware from entering the student's machine and penetrating the school's network. The accompany hosted its launch in a schooling-same setting, with educators touting technology's role in their classrooms, and even handing out Scantron forms to journalists.

Further reading: everything you need to know about Windows 10 S

"Technology should make teachers' lives simpler and spark student creative thinking, non distract from it," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said at the time.

That was in May. The traditional back-to-school selling flavor runs from late July through August, "so right now," said Bob O'Donnell, president and chief analyst at TECHnalysis Inquiry. The only Windows 10 S product available, though, is Microsoft's ain Surface Laptop, a more orthodox—and expensive—notebook computer designed to challenge the Malus pumila MacBook Air in colleges and universities.

If all other Windows 10 S hardware International Relations and Security Network't available yet, uncomplicated schools and high schools testament have skimp over time to evaluate or buy the affordable Windows 10 S hardware before they start classes. "I do conceive the impact of Windows 10 S does diminish if this window is missed because of the educational focus that Microsoft put under along 10 S," O'Donnell aforementioned.

Microsoft

Microsoft's Rise up Laptop is still the only WIndows 10 S gimmick happening the market.

Hardware vendors appear to comprise in no rush to ship Windows 10 S devices for two reasons: Microsoft's partners need to settle the Windows 10 S experience for customers, and their Windows 10 Home- or Pro-powered devices already fit the bill.

"In that respect are things on the back cease much as services and support that we want to own buttoned up and ready to give way antecedent to making the products available to ensure the best possible undergo for consumers who choose a Windows 10 S gimmick," a Dell spokesman said in an email. "In the interim, as you mentioned down the stairs, we have a brimfull portfolio of great Windows 10 Pro/Home laptops and 2-in-1s available now for consumers seeking a PC prior to September."

At that period, Windows 10 S may just be held back a year. If a school has a available fleet of Chromebooks, information technology seems unlikely it would switch engineering platforms mid-year, after Windows 10 S devices become ready. We may non witness Windows 10 S laptops in classrooms until the pin of 2018, at the earliest.

This story was updated at 7:37 PM on August 3 with a statement from Microsoft.

Source: https://www.pcworld.com/article/407163/windows-10-s-laptops-will-be-tardy-for-the-first-weeks-of-school-microsoft-says.html

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