Does Surface Laptop really perform well on its target purpose - device for students?

[Patrick Nexxus Pasia]

I am a student, and we all know that Microsoft directed the Surface Laptop to education. But Im curious if it really does its job well. We have not seen much of its action but im wondering how it stands up in the competition with other devices "for students". We all know price is a thing.

 

[Khaled alobaidli]

It is amazing, I like it. The screen, stand, pen, snapping keyboard, eye sensor login, fast sleep and restart capability, the availability of MS OneNote makes it super fit for learning and long with audio and video recording in the OneNote.

 

[Jeffery Holderness]

I think it'll do well. I do think it's a mistake to make the upgrade to windows 10 50 bucks after the first year.

 

[Username92]

I don't think the Surface Laptop is really targeted towards students.. It is like the Chromebook Pixel. Did Google expect companies to buy their employees the Pixel? No, they were just selling software on a beautiful piece of hardware. Microsoft is selling Windows 10S on a beautiful laptop. Schools are going to buy ProBook 250's with 10S on them not surface Laptop...

 

[DrewK93]

I'm thinking about the students I know.
It's geared toward quick performance where the hardware works well and you're not sitting around waiting for the device to get ready to do something. That's a need I don't see met for a lot of students.
It's geared toward safety - only allowing installation of apps and programs that are curated by the Windows Store unless you intentionally upgrade. Most of the students I know aren't very technologically proficient, and many of them do little more than word processing, web browsing, and watching Netflix on their laptops. This device will do nicely for them, and for the ones who are more accustomed to technology who want to install things not curated by the store, they can upgrade easily.

I don't see how it could not be as good for students as they mean it to be!

 

[sanjula01]

Yes of course, it has a good range of ultrabook processors and SSD storage and RAM and thus it is more than capable of catering to most of the student's needs.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

Honestly it's not the Surface Laptop that's targeted towards students, but Windows 10 S. The Laptop is a beautiful piece of machinery built to showcase Windows 10 S in an amazing, high quality way (like the Chromebook Pixel). If I were to get one (and gee I wish I could) I'd make the jump to Pro in a heartbeat. Although I like the thought of Windows 10 S, it wouldn't work for me.

 

[diegohv]

It's an amazing device, but I couldn't say the price is right for the target audience.

 

[kashgohel]

Specwise I think its a great laptop for students. Portability and long battery life is one of the best selling points as I really dont like carrying the extra weight of chargers around.

 

[Darthbobcat]

It depends on what needs you have. Programming student, probably not. English student? With so much being web based these days, I could see it being good for that. What it could also be used for is sort of a premium Windows 10 S device for a teacher or group leader in a Windows 10 S department. Give them something higher end, but with the same general restrictions.

 

[kaktus1389]

It's an amazing device, but I couldn't say the price is right for the target audience.

I will disagree with this because as Dan Rubino said in a podcast that you see a lot of Macs in student campus' and I don't think those are really affordable devices. Sure, Surface laptop does cost a lot and it's with a reason to prevent themselves from competing directly to the OEMs.

Other than that, I think it should perform well enough. Windows 10 S takes care of the battery life as it requires less processes to run because it's limited to the Store apps. You can upgrade it to Pro if Store apps don't suit your needs or you're not satisfied with experience on Windows 10 S. The main purpose of it is security and long battery life, although that also helps Microsoft with UWP apps which they do need.

I agree with kashgohel that the specs go well along with it's purpose. Another thing is the design - many people choose Mac over Windows devices because of the design - now I guess that's the end of that age because the design of Surface Laptop is simply gorgeous.

 

[kaktus1389]

It depends on what needs you have. Programming student, probably not. English student? With so much being web based these days, I could see it being good for that. What it could also be used for is sort of a premium Windows 10 S device for a teacher or group leader in a Windows 10 S department. Give them something higher end, but with the same general restrictions.

I think it should handle programming well enough if you would upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro.

 

[Darthbobcat]

I think it should handle programming well enough if you would upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro.

Certainly. I was a little vague on it, I was speaking about Windows 10 S for the theoretical programming student.

 

[Rodgers Momanyi]

I am a computer science college student and would very much like to use a Surface Laptop for school. Its really an amazingly specification built device

 

[Drael646464]

Having spent a few years on campus myself, I think the two important things this brings are a) it's light and b) its got long battery life.

Obvious the gorgeous screen doesn't hurt, or the folding mouse, both of which will also be handy. Windows S for people doing the basics should be snappy, and for those doing courses with stats, math, science, business etc, the upgrade to pro will let you run the software everyone is currently depending on - windows win32.

The price is a little ungainly, but that's the price you pay for looking cool At least its cheaper than a MacBook. And it might let you run the software that otherwise you'd have to use in a computer lab (unlike mac). It'll also sync pretty sweet with your phone and home desktop or other device especially when we get FCU late this year.

 

[overboard08]

We're not really going to know until the fall semester (unless you get trickle-in feedback for summer school students if they pick it up on release day) but the biggest thing is how Windows 10 S is going to play out for the average student. And then who will upgrade to pro? Like one of the above comments said, a liberal arts (history, English, etc) may just need baseline laptop, maybe i5/8gb model but an engineering student may need a fully spec'd model...or possibly a surface book. I'm doing my masters online and I've found my i5/4gb Pro 4 is borderline struggle bus having edge open with 10-12 tabs, OneNote, word and powerpoint 2016 open, drawboard PDF and onedrive all open. So this might be something I'll need.

 

[lanakaryatna]

Yes, surface laptop is focusing for student, A RICH STUDENT!!!

 

[bprashant19]

I think it'll be great for students, I am just waiting for Microsoft office and spotify to get launched on store. Most of my work is on a browser and Edge works great for me. I have been trying to shift my work to Store apps only and I am almost there.

Would love to see programs like virtualbox, Adobe acrobat DC on the store.

Also I have two questions; all the Microsoft applications like notepad and paint(original) will be available or not as they aren't store apps?

Second, what about installing drivers? how would we be able to install drivers from respective manufacturers?

 

[mistertusqui]

I think of course it will perform well for students: long life and light laptop, but it's surprising it's "targeted basically to students" given the price...

Also, I think that many students will need to install specific software that probably won't be available on the Windows Store, so many of them will need to upgrade to the full Windows 10.

 

[k1s23]

hello. i think it will perform well for students. during the education event panos showed how it will turn on extremely quickly, and it made me think of the times i was late to class and got frustrated that my computer was slow to turn on in order for me to start taking notes. that feature is good for in the class, the battery life is good for typing in class, at the library, at a restaurant, AND at home, the store-only software is fine for most students' productivity, and the price when compared to the macs that are all over campus, is reasonable.