Microsoft has unveiled a new Surface Laptop at an event in New York on Tuesday. The gizmo is a premium item with the starting price of $999. And who does the company want to purchase this high-end device? Apparently, it is for college students or soon-to-be ones who want a laptop that would last them through their higher education years.
Panos Panay, Microsoft's VP for Surface Computing, told CNet in an interview that the company wanted to offer a product that students would have a lot of confidence in. He further said that the Surface Laptop team put much of their efforts into an incoming college student's four years when creating the product.
But $999 is a steep price, especially for an undergraduate. However, Panay cited that there are already students that are using premium priced gadgets like MacBook variations. In that regard, the Microsoft exec said they did not want to compromise on the quality of the Surface Laptop and get the price to go down. Had Redmond done that, they would not have come up with a sleek gizmo whose design is well worth its asking price.
The glossy Surface Laptop sports a 13.5-inch touchscreen display. With the stripped down version of the latest Microsoft operating system, Windows 10 S, running in it, the laptop should last as long as 14.5 hours. It weighs only 2.76 pounds with its fabric-covered keyboard tray. Interested students can choose from four colors, CNN writes. These choices are burgundy, platinum, cobalt blue and graphite gold.
Microsoft's Surface Laptop is the company's answer for the lucrative education sector that Google has been reigning for years with their Chromebooks. But with the $999 price tag, other laptop manufacturers that will run Windows 10 S would be better posed to take a stand against their Mountain View rival.
