As early as July, news related to Windows 11 SE and Surface Laptop SE was leaked on the Internet. It can be seen that as a competitor of Google’s Chrome OS, the streamlined Windows 11 SE promises to bring a series of quality improvements to students, including offline access to Microsoft Office applications. In contrast, Chrome OS relies more on networking services and is not friendly to students who lack Internet access.
Since Windows 11 SE for Education is a streamlined version of Windows 11, it can run smoothly on lower-end hardware and is expected to be pre-installed on devices priced below $300. At the same time, it comes with OneDrive integration, so that after users store files locally, they will synchronize with the cloud-based on Microsoft 365 subscription the next time they connect to the Internet.
At the same time, Microsoft revealed various application categories supported by Windows 11 SE in a newly published FAQ document. It can be seen that it can run UWP and Win32 desktop applications, including Office, content filtering, test-taking solutions, accessibility, classroom communication, basic diagnostics, connections, and browsers.
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However, it should be pointed out that Windows 11 SE will not come with Microsoft Store. Although it is not possible to obtain desktop/UWP applications through the first-party app store, it still allows users to run web applications in browsers such as Edge/Chrome.
Microsoft claims that this is very common for educational applications because it does not require installation on the device, so the experience is easier. In addition, compared with the “S Mode” in the Windows 10 era, Windows 11 SE is still committed to creating an environment free of interference for students.
For IT educators, it is easier for to use Windows 11 SE to control which tools or applications students can download. Finally, Windows 11 SE uses new enhancements to minimize performance problems at low costs (although Microsoft has not yet shared the exact benchmark data).