Which to choose... Windows 11 SE or Windows 11?

[localzuk]

We have made the decision to migrate our Trust from Google to Office 365, to be in line with all the other schools in Somerset. As part of that, this means our next planned purchase of 1:1 Chromebooks has been abandoned, and we're now looking at Windows devices instead.

 

The question I have is which devices would you go for? Full Windows 11 or the more limited Windows 11 SE devices? Pricing-wise, we are looking to pay around the same as we were for Chromebooks, so we don't intend to spend a huge amount more on them.

 

Obviously, full Windows 11 has the advantage of flexibility. But Windows 11SE has less to go wrong, a lower attack surface and a more comparable experience to Chromebooks.

 

So, what are your thoughts?

[atcoates]

I'd guess at that price point and spec Windows 11 SE will give a better experience to the users as it's optimised for lower spec devices. Dell should have pricing for their 3120 soon an I know you previously mentioned the MS device was non touch screen.

 

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/lp/windows-11#Windows-11-for-Education

[supportman]

The new Windows Surface SE with Windows 11 for sure. The whole point of them is to replicate google chrome.

 

 

Surface Laptop SE Slim Laptop for Students - Microsoft Surface for Business

[paulkerton]

We have made the decision to migrate our Trust from Google to Office 365, to be in line with all the other schools in Somerset. As part of that, this means our next planned purchase of 1:1 Chromebooks has been abandoned, and we're now looking at Windows devices instead.

Commiserations.

[Primus]

We have made the decision to migrate our Trust from Google to Office 365, to be in line with all the other schools in Somerset. As part of that, this means our next planned purchase of 1:1 Chromebooks has been abandoned, and we're now looking at Windows devices instead.

 

The question I have is which devices would you go for? Full Windows 11 or the more limited Windows 11 SE devices? Pricing-wise, we are looking to pay around the same as we were for Chromebooks, so we don't intend to spend a huge amount more on them.

 

Obviously, full Windows 11 has the advantage of flexibility. But Windows 11SE has less to go wrong, a lower attack surface and a more comparable experience to Chromebooks.

 

So, what are your thoughts?

 

It would be interesting to know more about what went into this decision, my initial reaction was the same as Paul's and my more measured response is to wonder if falling in line with other schools is the right thing to prioritise when selecting an online learning platform.

 

As I've previously mentioned, across our trust we use both O365 and Google, at some point we will need to standardise I'm sure but I can say that from looking at both, Google is easier for end users, easier for administration and it feels like a product properly aimed at both business and education. Whereas Microsoft seem to be trying to take solutions which might be good for business and crowbar them into education - I really feel sorry for primary schools trying to use Teams, IMHO it's just way too complicated - to be perfectly honest I don't think many secondary teachers or students fully understand Teams.

 

I'd like to think through using and administrating both I can be reasonably fair when judging both products, I'm definitely not a Google fanboy as my many, many Apple products will prove

 

Finally, you could simply continue using your Chromebooks with O365 - we use Chromebooks at one of our secondaries that use O365 and it works fine, students log in with O365 creds and use the online apps. I think any comparable Windows offering will be either poorer performing or more expensive than a Chromebook and have more things that can go wrong with it - if we needed to manage the same number of Windows devices as we do Chrome devices we'd probably need an awful lot more staff!

[atcoates]

Bit more info here on new upcoming devices.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/22889184/windows-11-se-laptops-acer-asus-dell-hp-lenovo-education-schools

[psydii]

https://edudownloads.azureedge.net/msdownloads/Windows-Education-Infographic_which-Windows-is-right-for-you_11-2021.png

 

As long as you don't get beguiled by the name Windows and expect to be able to do Windows-like things on it, SE should be an equivalent to ChromeOS.

 

If you are going to need local applications (perhaps even remote monitoring apps?) then Windows 11 Education with all the management overhead is probably what you'll need.

[Alis_Klar]

It would be interesting to know more about what went into this decision, my initial reaction was the same as Paul's and my more measured response is to wonder if falling in line with other schools is the right thing to prioritise when selecting an online learning platform.

 

As I've previously mentioned, across our trust we use both O365 and Google, at some point we will need to standardise I'm sure but I can say that from looking at both, Google is easier for end users, easier for administration and it feels like a product properly aimed at both business and education. Whereas Microsoft seem to be trying to take solutions which might be good for business and crowbar them into education - I really feel sorry for primary schools trying to use Teams, IMHO it's just way too complicated - to be perfectly honest I don't think many secondary teachers or students fully understand Teams.

 

I'd like to think through using and administrating both I can be reasonably fair when judging both products, I'm definitely not a Google fanboy as my many, many Apple products will prove

 

Finally, you could simply continue using your Chromebooks with O365 - we use Chromebooks at one of our secondaries that use O365 and it works fine, students log in with O365 creds and use the online apps. I think any comparable Windows offering will be either poorer performing or more expensive than a Chromebook and have more things that can go wrong with it - if we needed to manage the same number of Windows devices as we do Chrome devices we'd probably need an awful lot more staff!

 

We are looking at a hybrid approach. We got 1:1 Chromebooks during lockdown but we prefer the Microsoft tools. I am looking for a single sing on solution to help us use Office 365 on the Chromebooks in the most streamlined way.

 

I believe you can replace the sign in screen when you turn on the Chromebook as used by Wonde with their Emoji logins. What is the best partner to go with the build the SSO solution or are there SSO solutions already out there?

[Alis_Klar]

https://edudownloads.azureedge.net/msdownloads/Windows-Education-Infographic_which-Windows-is-right-for-you_11-2021.png

 

As long as you don't get beguiled by the name Windows and expect to be able to do Windows-like things on it, SE should be an equivalent to ChromeOS.

 

If you are going to need local applications (perhaps even remote monitoring apps?) then Windows 11 Education with all the management overhead is probably what you'll need.

 

Have they sorted out the slow login times with multiple users. Guess with 1:1 this is a non-issue but a Chromebook will log in really quick if used multi-user and its not re-installing (usually unwanted) apps in the background before login which seems a stupid design decision by MS

[psydii]

'works fine for us' As long as its got 64Gb storage 4Gb RAM and 4 cores, and the Shared Device profile, it's fast enough.

[Alis_Klar]

'works fine for us' As long as its got 64Gb storage 4Gb RAM and 4 cores, and the Shared Device profile, it's fast enough.

 

Does user profiles work the same as full fat Windows 11? The speed of login is not the main issue it was the fact that big user profiles containing the appx files (Store Apps) consume the whole disk quite fast.