When Windows 10X was folded into Windows 11, Microsoft seemed to have avoided competing against Chromebooks in the budget and education laptop markets, but Microsoft only agreed to be still hard at work on the newly announced Windows 11 SE and Surface Laptop SE.

The company announced both at its Reimagine event this week and also the hardware and software represent impressive new offerings from Microsoft that could certainly sway some within the education market to adopt it over Google or Apple's options.

Exploring the hardware first, the top Laptop SE's $250 price point is the biggest attention grabber but it has more going for it . The most compelling features aren't the specs though, it's the durability and repairability. Laptops not just has user-replaceable storage but according to Microsoft from the "display, battery, keyboard-even the motherboard-can be easily repaired onsite, saving time and cash for IT admins and schools." That's a significant advantage compared to most modern laptops.

As the specs aren't anything to create home about, they aren't bad either. The 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel display is all about what you would expect in this budget range and is combined with an Intel Celeron N4120 CPU, 4 or 8GB of RAM, and 64 or 128GB of storage that needs to be enough for that tasks that K-8 students are undertaking.

The 2.45-pound weight is reasonably portable and truly thin and light would compromise on durability and repairability. A 720p webcam helps to ensure that remote learners will still be in the loop. The top Laptop SE also delivers the most important ports with USB-A, USB-C, a headphone jack, and an AC charging port. Wireless connectivity includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.

The hardware is just the gateway to Windows 11 SE, the real star from the show. This takes Windows 11 and strips out lots of unnecessary extras to improve accessibility for children, whilst which makes it far more manageable for teachers and school IT admins. The operating-system is streamlined for devices such as the Surface Laptop SE to provide excellent performance and battery life on even lower-end hardware. The full-screen app launches also make the operating system less confusing for younger learners.

For that teachers and IT admins, features like Microsoft Intune for Eduction make managing entire classrooms (or schools) of Windows 11 SE laptops possible with app installations, user profiles, and files all accessible with the cloud. Microsoft Office including OneDrive and Teams are of course present too, serving as a gateway to students using Microsoft products later on.

It's a strong offering from Microsoft, but we'll need to visit whether it can make a dent within the overwhelming lead that Google's Chrome OS and Chromebooks have in the education market currently.