It’s why we are excited to announce the arrival of the new Surface Laptop 4 – combining everything schools loved from previous iterations – including an interactive touchscreen, comfortable keyboard and a range of student-focused accessories.
Plus, Microsoft has added some serious power and extended battery to support immersive, engaging learning while minimising distractions and disruptions.
Today, I’ll walk you through the new Surface Laptop 4, highlighting the latest specs to support a digital-rich curriculum.
Before I do, it’s worth noting that with the huge demand for the previous Surface Laptop 3 – coupled with the global chipset shortage (which is affecting a number of other manufactures) – we’re expecting unprecedented demand for the new Surface Laptop 4.
Whilst I know school’s typically refresh at the beginning of the school year, if you’re looking to purchase for next year, I highly recommend reserving stock now to ensure you get the right device and don’t need to compromise.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what’s new in the Surface Laptop 4.
The Surface Laptop 3 boasted 11.5 hours of usage – enough to power students through the day, plus some.
Microsoft has gone one step further with the Surface Laptop 4, extending battery life to up to 19 hours to minimise classroom disruptions and provides an ideal device for on-the-go learning or lesson planning in school and at home – or anywhere in-between1.
If this isn’t enough, the Laptop 4 comes with fast charging to get you up to 80% charge in less than an hour.
As classrooms continue to digitise, schools need to ensure they invest in devices that support digital whiteboarding, sketching and notetaking whilst running a vast range of learning applications.
To meet demands Microsoft has upped the ante on performance with its latest Surface Laptop 4 – offering a choice of processors that are up to 70% faster than its predecessor.
The ultra-slim Surface Laptop 4 delivers more multitasking speed with 11th Gen Intel® Core™ or AMD Ryzen™ Microsoft Surface Edition processors which are available across the 13.5-inch and 15-inch Laptop 4 versions.
Striking the perfect balance between portability, speed and performance, the custom AMD Ryzen processor has up to 8 CPU cores, giving educators the power to deliver more interactive and immersive digital experiences.
Built for exceptional performance, connectivity and entertainment, the new Quad Core 11th Gen Intel® Core™ processors and Intel® Iris Xe graphics are built to handle everything the school day throws at them.
It also boasts intelligent performance that adapts to students as they move across apps.
Microsoft and AMD have combined their brilliant engineering prowess in the Surface Laptop 4 to deliver the first AMD Secured-Core PC (SCPC).
This partnership gives the AMD model comprehensive security out-of-the-box with tightly integrated hardware, software, firmware, and identity protection layers.
The SCPC protects educators and students from firmware vulnerabilities, shields the operating system from attacks, prevents unauthorised access to devices and data, and ensures that identity and domain credentials are protected – meaning it’s built to protect your school from sophisticated attacks.
Like the Laptop 3, the Surface Laptop 4’s aluminium chassis – with no visible seams or screws – ensures the finish won’t stain or wear down and protects the device from inevitable schoolyard knocks. The interactive touchscreen is also optimised with strengthened glass for worry-free daily use.
The device keeps its elegant form factor with users able to pick from the standard Surface laptop colours – matte black, platinum, and sandstone – but with the notable addition of a cheery ice blue (available in the 13.5-inch only) which is destined to be a popular choice among students.
To add to the excitement, Microsoft has just released the new Microsoft Classroom Pen 2, designed to support the growing uptake of digital inking in the classroom, which 90% of teachers believe improves the quality of their curriculum.
This latest Classroom Pen is better and faster than ever, with greater sensitivity and virtually no lag to help students annotate and create with ease.
As Microsoft’s largest partner in Australia, Data#3 is constantly improving device fulfilment and implementation for education customers.
We can help you end the frustrations typically associated with your device management and offer training and adoption services to ensure students and staff get the most out of their devices.
Contact a Data#3 Surface Device Specialist today for more information on the right device for your school or to order the new Surface Laptop 4.
1. Surface Laptop 4 battery life: Up to 19 hours on Surface Laptop 4 13.5” AMD Ryzen™ 5 Microsoft Surface Edition; up to 17.5 hours on Surface Laptop 4 15” AMD Ryzen™ 7 Microsoft Surface Edition; up to 17 hours on Surface Laptop 4 13.5” Intel® Core™ i5; up to 16.5 hours on Surface Laptop 4 15” Intel® Core™ i7. Testing conducted by Microsoft in February 2021 using preproduction software and preproduction configurations of Surface Laptop 4. Testing consisted of full battery discharge with a mixture of active use and modern standby. The active use portion consists of (1) a web browsing test accessing 8 popular websites over multiple open tabs, (2) a productivity test utilising Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook, and (3) a portion of time with the device in use with idle applications. All settings were default except screen brightness was set to 150nits with Auto-Brightness disabled. Wi-Fi was connected to a network. Battery life varies significantly with settings, usage and other factors.