Microsoft targets businesses with new Windows 10 S laptops

Over at the Ignite conference, Microsoft has revealed four new laptops which run Windows 10 S and are designed specifically for ‘firstline workers’ (frontline staff) in conjunction with the company’s new Microsoft 365 F1 plan.

The latter is a new enterprise plan for Office 365, and the laptops in question come from Acer, HP and Lenovo.

Acer has a pair of notebooks which are scheduled to emerge at some point in the fourth quarter, namely the Acer Aspire 1 and Acer Swift 1, both of which will be ultra-slim models.

The Aspire will be a 14-inch laptop and the Swift a 13-inch model, retailing at $299 (£220) and $349 (£260) respectively.

HP’s Stream 14 Pro will likely be the first Windows 10 S notebook of the bunch to emerge, though, with the vendor planning to release the device next month. It’s a 14-inch ultraportable priced at $275 (£205), and will be the cheapest of the lot.

Lenovo’s V330 will likewise be a 14-inch ultra-slim laptop with a price tag of $349 (£260), but this one won’t appear until February of next year.

Fool-proof and secure

The idea is that the notebooks are easy to set up, deploy and manage, with Windows 10 S ensuring the machines are fool-proof and inherently far more secure against the likes of cyber-attacks, malware and other threats (only software vetted by Microsoft and downloaded from the firm’s app store can be installed on them).

And in terms of easy management, Microsoft notes in a blog post: “Windows 10 S was designed with Modern IT in mind, including cloud-based identity and management with Azure Active Directory and Microsoft Intune.

“Together with Windows Update for Business, organizations can manage and update Windows 10 S devices using the power and convenience of the cloud.”

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).