Microsoft seems to be wasting some of the momentum that Apple and Google have done in classrooms with their respective iPads and Chromebooks.
It is clear that at the Bett conference, Microsoft was able to present a new line-up of fully-featured notebooks and an affordable digital pen for school use.
In addition, a new collection of software services intended for educational environments. It writes Windows Central.
School machine prices start at just $ 189, equivalent to less than $ 1,250.
At the same time, Microsoft’s collaboration app ‘Teams’ is being strengthened, which is being expanded with a number of features for teachers to, among other things, award grades for submitted assignments.
Cheap machines for the classroom
Microsoft presented a total of seven Windows 10 machines in its new training initiative, provided by laptop manufacturers Dell, Asus and Lenovo.
The machines offer screen sizes of between 13 and 15 inches and all distinguish themselves by hitting price bearings below $ 300.
- Lenovo 100e
- Lenovo 300e (2-in-1)
- Lenovo 14w
- Acer TravelMate B1 (B118-M)
- AcerTravelMate Spin B1 (B118-R / RN)
- Acer TravelMate B1-141
- Dell Latitude 3300 for Education
The cheapest is Lenovo’s 100e, which, despite its low price of $ 189, offers both USB-C support and up to 10 hours of running time. Lenovo’s 300e is the cheapest two-in-one with a starting price of $ 289 and, in addition to serving as a laptop, can also be used as a tablet.
Affordable alternative to Surface Pen
Microsoft’s own affordable hybrid PC, the compact Surface Go, also gets an accessory upgrade in the form of a new digitizer pen: Classroom Pen.
It fills less than the usual pen while the tip is hardened and thus has younger users in mind.
The price is greatly reduced – the pen costs $ 40 in purchases, but is only supplied to customers in educational environments in packages of 20 pieces. It is about 60 percent lower than the existing Surface Pen.
The pen gets a sales debut in February and will get an extra tip per Classroom Pen shipped with in the deal.
