Microsoft Surface Laptop SE review: What EDU and budget PCs should strive for

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Keeping it affordable

Microsoft Surface Laptop SE review: What EDU and budget PCs should strive for

Starting at $250, Microsoft'due south first foray into extreme budget PCs for schools acts as an example for other OEMs.

Surface Laptop Se Review Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Dorsum in November, Microsoft fabricated a surprise announcement: a $250 Surface laptop. Aimed at the One thousand-8 teaching market, the laptop ships with a modified version of Windows 11 dubbed Windows xi SE (presumably, the SE stands for "Student Edition").

In many ways, it's an odd move for Microsoft. For i, the laptop isn't sold straight to consumers due to that OS every bit it relies on remote provisioning, deploying, and administration for installing apps and maintaining them. Second, it bears the "Surface" name even though, historically, that brand represents touchscreen devices ofttimes with pen support.

Microsoft sent out a few of the laptops to reviewers that are remotely administered to try out despite these quirks. The result? Well, let'south say the Surface brand continues its long streak of creating outstanding hardware.

Surface Laptop Se Se Render

Surface Laptop SE

Bottom line: The Surface Laptop SE is an affordable and delightful laptop for youngsters that anyone can capeesh. While the Intel CPU holds it back from perfection, Microsoft is undoubtedly setting the bar for other PC makers in the competitive EDU market.

The Proficient

Excellent keyboard and trackpad
Very good TFT display
Outstanding build quality
Surprisingly good 720p camera
Easy repairability

The Bad

Intel Celeron is far from ideal
Speaker placement could be better
Not available to consumers

Surface Laptop SE: Price and availability

Surface Laptop Se Review Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Fundamental

The Microsoft Surface Laptop SE is now bachelor through Microsoft directly. Pricing begins at $250 for the 4GB RAM/64GB model with a dual-core Intel Celeron N4020 processor. The model nosotros are currently using for this review costs $330 and has 8GB of RAM/128GB storage and a quad-core Intel Celeron N4120 CPU.

Microsoft does not directly sell the Surface Laptop SE to consumers due to the unique Windows 11 SE operating system, which requires remote Information technology administration. But schools and Information technology departments can buy the devices, presumably in bulk orders.

Surface Laptop SE: What's skillful

Surface Laptop Se Review Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Fundamental

Blueprint-wise, Surface Laptop SE borrows a lot from its sibling, the Surface Laptop Go, except it trades in metallic for more than child-friendly plastic for the chassis. It's an elegant design that looks swish and feels more than premium than the price tag suggests. There'south no creaking, and the chassis is smooth and minimal. It'due south a very fresh design augmented by that glacier white colorway.

The summit hat features a uncomplicated Surface logo, and the bottom is clean with seven screws for easy accessibility for repairs (we opened it up for a peek inside, which y'all tin can come across in the photos). Four rubber feet anchor the corners, with the two rear ones being taller than the front end allowing an angled typing experience.

Category	Surface Laptop SE
Operating arrangement	Windows eleven SE
Display	11.half-dozen inches, 16:ix aspect ratio 1366x768 (135 PPI) resolution TFT
Processor	Intel Celeron N4020 Intel Celeron N4120
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 600
Retentiveness	4GB DDR4 8GB DDR4
Storage	64GB eMMC 128GB eMMC
Expandable storage	None
Front camera	1MP
Bio authentication	None
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2x2), Bluetooth 5.0 LE
Ports	1x USB-A 1x USB-C 3.5mm headphone jack Barrel-type DC port
Sound	2W stereo speakers Single digital microphone
Battery	Up to 16 hours
Dimensions	11.17 ten 7.half-dozen 10 0.70 inches
Weight	ii.45 pounds (1.11kg)
Colors	Glacier

Ports are limited merely also ideal. At that place is a USB Type-A, headphone jack, and a USB Type-C (which can handle information, power, and even brandish out). At that place's also a divide Air-conditioning barrel charger for powering the device, and that blueprint is more than resilient than a Blazon-C, which tin can snap.

The most critical aspects of any laptop are the keyboard and trackpad. Both are similar to Surface Laptop Go, which means Surface Laptop SE features exceptional usability. Microsoft even reinforced the keyboard deck, providing a sturdier typing experience. The visitor claims that flimsy keyboard decks are i factor that leads people to think a laptop feels cheap, and it'southward not wrong.

Even though the 11.6-inch non-bear upon brandish is only a 16:9 aspect with a low 135 pixels per inch (1366x768), information technology'southward very good for existence just TFT (instead of LCD based). Information technology's vivid, the colors wait adept, and it is matte. Viewing angles, which typically are non great with TFT, are better than expected with no usability problems even if non looking at the Surface Laptop SE caput-on. The bezels are a bit thick but not offensive.

Information technology should be noted that due to the locked-downward nature of the Windows 11 SE operating system, no benchmarking or brandish calibration software could exist installed for this review. If you want to know more near Windows 11 SE, you can read our initial writeup, which goes into much more than particular.

To save on costs, Microsoft uses a 1MP 720p (30 FPS) forepart-facing photographic camera for video calls, something that kids are doing more often these days with Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Google Hangouts for remote learning. Despite the lower resolution, Microsoft did splurge on the lens, and, truthfully, it's an excellent camera with excellent lighting (low noise) and a sharp image (for 720p). The same goes for the microphone, which is above average for this PC segment.

Bombardment life is also very good, though that's similar chalked up to the quad-core Celeron N4120 just consuming 6 watts TDP. Microsoft claims 16 hours, which I cannot verify, only information technology went all day without a hitch.

Compared to Surface Laptop Go, Surface Laptop SE doesn't get hot, nor does information technology have a fan, so it produces no ambient noise.

Surface Laptop SE: What's not good

Surface Laptop Se Review Surface Laptop SE plays Minecraft Pedagogy Edition without a hitch. Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

There's non much wrong with Surface Laptop SE, but since no laptop is perfect, here are a few things.

The top issue is operation. Microsoft has optimized Windows 11 SE to have better advantage of the Celeron N4120, including streamlining the Os with lower overhead. It runs Minecraft Instruction Edition, full screen, without a hitch, even with an Xbox controller (Bluetooth) connected. As well for Microsoft Teams experiences.

That said, this is a processor from late 2022 with a top burst speed of but 2.6GHz, and everything from the laptop resuming to launching certain apps has disadvantageous loading times. This CPU isn't Microsoft'due south fault as the company must utilise what Intel offers at this price range, but it would be squeamish if Intel could step up its game. Insufficiently, it is an improvement over budget laptops of the past, all the same.

The other, much more than minor upshot is the speakers. They are really excellent, particularly at this toll range, but their placement on the lesser forepart is awkward. Considering the laptop is angled downward (better for typing), the speakers get muffled if you utilize Surface Laptop SE on your lap. Indeed, the audio radically changes if it'south on your lap, on a desk, or you are holding it in the air more than any other laptop I have used. If Microsoft could notice a mode to squeeze these speakers to the top deck, information technology could solve this problem (looking inside the Laptop SE, you lot tin see the speaker housing is quite large, so it's a challenging problem in a device this pocket-sized).

In that location are other niggles, like the keyboard is not backlit or at that place is no Windows Hello for effortless logging into Windows eleven SE, but these are conspicuously due to upkeep reasons and not a design oversight. Subsequently all, this laptop starts at just $250, which is remarkable.

Surface Laptop SE: Competition

The (2022) Lenovo 13w Yoga. Source: Lenovo

Laptops in the EDU market vary from x86 Intel-based ones to more modern ones that utilize Qualcomm'south Snapdragon ARM processors. There are also choices between Windows xi SE and Google's Chrome Bone (which is more than dominant in U.Southward. schools these days).

The big players in this marketplace are Lenovo with its "w" series (100w, 300w, 500w, 10w, and 14w), HP with the Pro x360 Fortis G9, Dell with the Latitude 3120 Education, as well as Acer (TravelMate), and ASUS (BR1100F).

These laptops now ship with Windows 11 SE and range from traditional laptops to 2-in-1 convertibles with touchscreen back up. Those latter designs bump prices upward into more expensive devices. And while Microsoft merely offers a couple of configurations for Surface Laptop SE, companies like Dell, Lenovo, and HP let Information technology departments configure RAM, SSD, and provide more than CPU choices. For example, Dell'due south Latitude 3120 Didactics costs nearly double at $709 with a stronger Celeron N6000 CPU, 8GB RAM, and 128GB of PCIe storage.

For laptops available to consumers, you tin can cheque our best laptops for course schoolhouse students guide for what nosotros recommend.

Surface Laptop SE: Should Microsoft sell this to consumers?

Surface Laptop Se Review Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Typically, this section of the review is the one where we ask: Should you purchase it? Of course, since Surface Laptop SE is not sold straight to consumers, the answer is irrelevant. But that raises two related questions: Should school IT departments buy it, and should Microsoft make it available to consumers?

The respond to both is a resounding yes.

Of course, there is a long list of competitor laptops for schools to choose from, not to mention a whole other similar category of Google Chromebooks. Indeed, Chromebooks are even so preferred by many schools precisely because of the convenience of managing them. Windows 11 SE goes a long way to narrow that gap equally it is much more reliant on the cloud (OneDrive) than Windows 11 for saving files. I'm hundred-to-one Windows xi SE will topple Chrome Os in U.South. schools, but it gives IT departments a much-improved alternative.

Surface Laptop Se Review Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Primal

Compared to other laptops in this range, Surface Laptop SE precisely highlights what makes Surface, well, Surface. The attention to detail, focus on core features, and quality blueprint are all hallmarks of Surface, and that'southward all nowadays in spades with Surface Laptop SE. How do I know this? Because fifty-fifty though it's meant for 8-year-olds, I institute myself enjoying information technology. That's a familiar theme with Surface. Most of us don't "need" a Surface Laptop Studio or even Surface Studio due to their more than niche focus on professional design, but we all want one.

And that's the point of this laptop. Microsoft kept the Surface branding because of what it represents, and it is to serve equally a model for other OEMs to duplicate. For instance, Microsoft focuses heavily on thermals to ensure that this laptop, even when used on a blistering hot summertime day, will never reduce its functioning when under heavy CPU and GPU load. Sure, that Intel processor isn't fast, only information technology volition never exist whatever slower. Microsoft hopes other PC makers see what it did here and emulate the design to improve all EDU laptops. That's the same theory for consumer Surface PCs.

That brings us to the obvious question about Microsoft selling this straight to consumers only with regular Windows 11. I believe it should, but at that place is even so the lingering issue of that Celeron processor. While most kids will probably be OK with the performance, Surface Laptop SE would be significantly better if it had a more robust CPU. For that, we may have to expect until Intel delivers something new, or until Qualcomm ships its Snapdragon 7c+ Gen 3.

If Microsoft can figure these modest bug out, the Surface Laptop SE, even at $330, would be in a lot of homes for immature and old because it is pretty awesome.

Surface Laptop Se Se Render

Surface Laptop SE

Bottom line: Surface Laptop SE represents a milestone in affordable laptops for Yard-viii education. Although the Celeron processor holds information technology back, it is even so a leap in quality and design from past laptops in this segment. Microsoft would be wise to sell this in the consumer market.

Nosotros may earn a committee for purchases using our links. Learn more than.

Daniel Rubino

Daniel Rubino is the Executive Editor of Windows Fundamental. He has been roofing Microsoft here since 2007 dorsum when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Fundamental). His interests include Windows, Surface, laptops, and modern computing. Follow him on Twitter: @daniel_rubino.