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Microsoft challenges Chromebooks with $189 Windows 10 laptops for schools
Microsoft is making a bigger push to keep students and teachers using Windows this week. At the annual Bett education show in London, Microsoft is revealing new Windows 10 and Windows 10 S devices that are priced from just $189. The software giant is also partnering with the BBC, LEGO, NASA, PBS, and Pearson to bring a variety of Mixed Reality and video curricula to schools.
Lenovo has created a $189 100e laptop. It's based on Intel's Celeron Apollo Lake chips, so it's a low-cost netbook essentially, designed for schools. Lenovo is also introducing its 300e, a 2-in-1 laptop with pen support, priced at $279. The new Lenovo devices are joined by two from JP, with a Windows Hello laptop priced at $199 and a pen and touch device at $299. All four laptops will be targeted towards education, designed to convince schools not to switch to Chromebooks.
JP apparently refers to JP Sá Couto.
Also at Windows Blog, Engadget, and ZDNet.
Related: First ARM Snapdragon-Based Windows 10 S Systems Announced
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday January 23 2018, @07:55PM (21 children)
I could use a netbook. I really just need a terminal and maybe a web browser.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday January 23 2018, @08:34PM (7 children)
Get a Chromebook. Mine was an Acer brand about $95 on sale. You can replace the Goog OS with Linux.
https://slickdeals.net/newsearch.php?forumchoice%5B%5D=4&forumchoice%5B%5D=9&forumchoice%5B%5D=10&forumchoice%5B%5D=13&forumchoice%5B%5D=25&forumchoice%5B%5D=30&forumchoice%5B%5D=38&forumchoice%5B%5D=39&forumchoice%5B%5D=41&forumchoice%5B%5D=44&forumchoice%5B%5D=53&forumchoice%5B%5D=54&forumchoice%5B%5D=71&q=chromebook&firstonly=1 [slickdeals.net]
You want 4 GB of RAM rather than 2 GB. 2 GB is usable, but tabs will have to reload often, especially if you have more than a handful.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:18AM (6 children)
Once I've turned a Chromebook's firmware write-protect screw to allow GNU/Linux to stay on the drive without the firmware nagging to perform a powerwash at every boot, will the manufacturer still honor the warranty on things like the hinge and power jack?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:44AM (5 children)
You need a warranty for a $90-$200 computer? Just get a new faster one when it breaks after 4-8 years. And throw the old one into a volcano.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:48AM (4 children)
I need a warranty in case it breaks after 4-8 weeks.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday January 24 2018, @08:17AM
That's probably within the 30-90 day return policies offered by most retailers.
Well, I can't tell you what the warranty is for my Chromebook because I didn't look. But I do know that Chromebooks don't contain one of the biggest points of failure: spinning disks. AFAIK they don't have spinning fans either since they use sub-15W TDP CPUs.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @08:25AM (2 children)
The solution is to make a disk image of whatever the seller installed there originally. Then wipe the shit off and make it usable for you. If shit hits the fan then you make image of your current setup and restore the original image before invoking warranty. These are the hoops the assholes make us jump through.
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday January 24 2018, @03:26PM (1 child)
How would I go about restoring the original image if I cannot see the screen because the hinge broke or if I cannot power the system because the power jack broke?
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Thursday January 25 2018, @04:23AM
You can't. But they'll have to fix it for you before they find out. So it generally works out in your favor.
(Score: 2) by The Archon V2.0 on Tuesday January 23 2018, @08:36PM (12 children)
Does the Windows store even have a terminal app?
(Score: 5, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday January 23 2018, @08:42PM (11 children)
It's called Powershell, and it's like trying to get yourself off with a cactus dildo.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by insanumingenium on Tuesday January 23 2018, @09:11PM
Powershell isn't my first choice for a shell, but it isn't hardly that bad. More like a regular dildo that someone stores in the freezer between uses. It will work if you work it long enough, but it won't be anyones first choice.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Pino P on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:23AM (6 children)
You can't actually run anything from the terminal. (Source: "Windows 10 S: no command line apps, free Pro upgrades for assistive tech users" by Peter Bright [arstechnica.com]) And if you're considering using the terminal to connect to your home PC or leased virtual server and do all the work on that, this strategy won't work while riding the bus unless you subscribe to cellular tethering. In many markets, such as the United States (home of SoylentNews), the Windows 10 Pro upgrade is far cheaper than a tethering subscription for the three-year expected service life of one of these laptops.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:32AM (5 children)
Pay who for tethering? It is free here.
How can they stop me using the net through my phones AP?
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday January 24 2018, @03:09AM (4 children)
Your cellular carrier.
What carrier in what country? In the United States, home of SoylentNews, it is traditional for carriers to charge extra for tethering.
First, you could be out of data for the month.
Second, if the only phone stores in your home town are carrier-branded, you will probably have purchased your phone at such a store, and the carrier will have modified your phone's firmware to ask the carrier "mother may I?" before enabling AP functionality.
Third, even if you have data left and purchased an unlocked phone through mail order, your ISP can detect that you are accessing predominantly desktop versions of certain websites that have their desktop and mobile versions on separate hostnames (such as en.m.wikipedia.org), the automatic software update mechanisms of Windows, macOS, or popular GNU/Linux distributions, or any of several protocols used by applications not ported to your phone's operating system. In addition, the ISP can guess by correlating packets' TTL values or inspecting the User-agent header in any cleartext HTTP connection that your laptop browser makes. (Source [reddit.com])
Fourth, even if you have avoided or evaded your cellular ISP's obstacles (data left, an unlocked phone, and no obviously desktop Internet traffic), you may still run into obstacles with your home ISP. The PC to which you are attempting to connect may not be able to accept connections from outside your home LAN because it does not have a public IPv4 address. Instead, it may be behind a carrier-grade network address translation (CGNAT) device operated by your home ISP in order to conserve scarce IPv4 addresses. As far as I'm aware, setting up an incoming connection to a device behind CGNAT requires removing the CGNAT, for which your home ISP is likely to charge a monthly fee.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday January 24 2018, @04:41AM (3 children)
Look at T-Mobile.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday January 24 2018, @04:43AM (2 children)
https://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans?cmpid=ADV_PB_ONETI440_43700027788423606&mx_ch=ADV_PB&_vsrefdom=650-692-6502&mchxkw=c:973760317,k:t%20mobile,m:e,p:1t1,d:c,ai:47214082214,ad:241557786437,s:g [t-mobile.com]
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by Pino P on Wednesday January 24 2018, @03:22PM (1 child)
The T-Mobile plan on the page you linked is $70 per month for one line, with discounts for each additional line. I'm currently with T-Mobile on a lower plan that costs less than that per year and would thus fall in what my previous comment calls "you could be out of data for the month." The price difference between what I pay now and what I would pay on the plan described on the page you linked would buy a fairly nice compact laptop on which to run local applications while between one hotspot and the next.
My current plan: $36 per year for one line
The plan on the page you linked: $840 per year for one line
Price difference between the plans: $804 per year for one line
Price of a ThinkPad 11e with Windows: Starting at $570 (start [lenovo.com])
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Wednesday January 24 2018, @08:12PM
That's a really good deal for a phone. I have what I think is a pretty good deal on a phone with a different no-contract carrier. Costs me ~$10 a month and has roll over for talk, text and data. Also have a T-mobile 4G hotspot that I can reload when I need it. Cost $10 for 1GB for one week or 3GB for $30 for one month. Got it for use on the boat and when traveling.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:37AM
At my work it is a choice of learn to Get-Help or Get-Fries
Learning powershell is completely optional. Maccas is always hiring.
(Score: 2) by Hyper on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:40AM (1 child)
It hurts at first, can make you bleed from sensitive places, and breaks *just when you really need it*?
Sounds about right.
(Score: 2) by Hyper on Wednesday January 24 2018, @02:46AM
Sure! Let's have a look at that code..
Stab-Eye -with finger
whyyyyyyyy just whyyyy this isn't perl so why did you arrgghh
Bash-Forehead -on Desk -repeat 8
if (! (Test-Sanity) ) { TravelTo-Pub -quickly }