Stop me if you've heard this one before: In Halo Infinite, you play as the Spartan super-soldier Master Chief who must defeat a dastardly group of aliens (somehow, the Banished returned!) before they take over a mysterious ring world. Playing through the game's first few missions is like plowing through an abridged Halo campaign, for better or worse. It starts off with Master Chief drifting in space, where he's miraculously rescued by a human soldier. In short order, he was back in action taking down feisty grubs, plowing helmet-first into increasingly bigger firefights and going toe-to-toe with angry looking space ape. Been there, plasma grenaded that.

To be blunt: Halo Infinite's opening had me worried, especially after its year-long delay. Sure, it was nice to be back in Master Chief's shoes after six years, but it still felt like a retread, even with the addition of a new grappling hook. It was as if I was walking down the same corridors and fighting enemies that I already faced in Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, the previous two games developed by 343 Industries. Once again, I feared that the studio would be too afraid to push Halo into fresh territory and reach the heights of Bungie, the franchise's creator. (Bungie's Halo 3: ODST, in particular, was a unique attempt at delivering a human-focused story in a world filled with super soldiers.)

But a few hours in, once I showed that ape who was boss and acquired a Cortana-like AI called "The Weapon," Halo Infinite finally opened up. I made may way to the nearby semi-destroyed ring world, dubbed "Zeta Halo," along with my soldier buddy. After clearing out a Forward Operating Base (or FOB) filled with baddies, I was presented with something rarely seen in Halo: choice. Before me lay a chunk of Zeta Halo that I could explore freely. Judging from my map, which was populated by taking over that FOB, there was plenty to do. I could rescue some nearby soldiers, go hunt for new equipment, or take on notorious targets. This Halo was my oyster (or more fittingly, a broken disc-shaped sea creature of some kind).

I chose to embrace the freedom. My next story mission could wait. As I wandered around Zeta Halo, a grassy environment that's clearly reminiscent of the first entry, I quickly learned that the grappling hook was more than just a way to climb up. It also gives you a bit of a speed boost as you traverse the open world. Movement in Halo has always been slow, a quirk that likely made the game easier for players to grasp when console shooters were rare.

343 Industries/Microsoft

Halo Infinite still feels a bit like you're trying to hop around on the moon, but I appreciated being able to zip forward quickly by grappling onto a nearby hill or tree. You can also dash, something that the series didn't have until its fourth major entry, Halo Reach, but this time around it's more like a light jog. Time and again, it was the grappling hook that saved my Spartan butt if I needed to quickly run from a battle. It also gives you the freedom to approach enemies from multiple angles. When I noticed some soldiers pinned down by the Banished, I was able to scale up the side of a cliff and clear out the aliens easily.

While Halo Infinite technically presents you with an open world, it's more akin to a slimmed-down Far Cry map than something filled with detail like Assassin's Creed or Grand Theft Auto. Zeta Halo feels large, but it's not exactly teeming with life (though it's nice to see a few stray animals hopping around). Still, the ability to chart my own path felt thrilling, and investigating waypoints was well worth it. Helping those soldiers, for example, gave me valor points which can unlock new weapons at FOBs. There are also Spartan Cores throughout the map, which can be used to upgrade your equipment (I was quick to beef up my shields and make my grappling hook faster.) Everyone will be able to turn Master Chief into their own customized super soldier.

As you'd expect, everything in Halo Infinite ultimately comes down to you blasting aliens into a pulp. Sometimes, you blow stuff up. But 343 Studios still found a few ways to change up the gameplay. When you go after a High Value Target, for example, you have to be prepared take on a over-powered enemy that's typically surrounded by plenty of goons. Some of those encounters took me several tries on the Heroic difficulty setting, which forced me to optimize and reassess my attack strategy. Taking down those notorious bad guys nets you unique guns and plenty of valor points.

For a bigger challenge, you could also try to take over Banished Outposts teeming with enemies. Tackling one of those down was a multi-step process: I sniped the tougher looking soldiers from afar, grappled along the rooftops, and manually opened up and destroyed four fuel cores. What started out as a semi-stealth mission turned into an all-out frag fest—at one point I hopped into a trusty Battle Tank and started blasting Banished ships left and right. The escalation of that encounter left me breathless.

I waited until the very last moment before I tackled that overdue story mission—I just wanted to explore every nook and cranny of the world before my preview session was up. By that point, my shields and grappling hook were upgraded several times, and I fully grasped the importance of approaching combat encounters thoughtfully. As I peered at the looming tower before me, I noticed a rocky outcrop along one side. A bit of grappling led me to a sniper's nest, where I found a rifle that helped me take out some of the more dangerous Brutes.

343 Industries/Microsoft

I could only do so much damage remotely, though. So I held my breath, took a running start, and leaped towards several Banished soldiers patrolling a nearby tower. I couldn't quite clear the distance on my own, but thankfully my trusty grappling hook pulled me right up. At that point, I was in a typical Halo firefight, but it felt all the more special because I chose how to get there. 

Once I made my way into the center of the tower, a new tool awaited me: the threat detector. Think of it like a three-dimensional radar that can be deployed on any surface. It shows you exactly where enemies are hiding for a limited period. That was particularly useful as I made my way up every level of the tower, which was filled with Banished aliens waiting around corners and hiding behind debris. The threat detector was also key to defeating that mission's boss, a Banished leader who spent the entire fight cloaked in invisibility. (Not so sportsman-like, I know.)

Despite the rocky start, I came away from my glimpse at Halo Infinity's campaign with the urge to keep exploring. I wanted to optimize my Master Chief build, and I was eager to see if the game would somehow wrap up his relationship with Cortana, his previous AI who turned into a galactic threat. Mostly, though, I was curious to see what else 343 Industries had in store. After a decade leading the franchise, it seems like the studio is finally ready to let Halo evolve.

343 Industries/Microsoft

That's also true of Halo Infinity's free-to-play multiplayer mode, which Microsoft launched this week as a celebratory surprise. As someone who mainly plays Halo for its campaign, I really didn't expect much from the game's multiplayer, but it still managed to hook me during 343's closed betas. Now that it's open to everyone (though still a beta), I'm even more impressed. The maps are fun and inventive, the gunplay feels tight, and every match feels like a life-or-death battle between super soldiers. It's the closest the franchise has come to replicating the glory days of Halo 3 (or back when I was hooked on the first game in college). And judging from its massive popularity on Steam, where more than 270,000 people were playing on launch day, it seems like for many gamers, the wait was worth it.

Following accusations of plagiarism and copycat naming schemes, Streamlabs has announced that it's removing "OBS" from the name of its popular livestreaming app. At first glance, the move is a direct response to the developers behind Open Broadcasting Software (OBS), who claimed that Streamlabs used their naming scheme against their wishes. The fast response, though, is more directly tied to criticism from top streamers like Pokimane and Hasanabi, who threatened to stop using Streamlabs's software if it didn't address the copycat concerns. 

Streamlab's apology comes across as defensive, since it's arguing that its software is also open source like OBS, one of the first tools built specifically for livestreamers. Streamlab's app, which has been praised for being well-designed and feature-rich, is also based on a fork of OBS. Despite those shared beginnings, though, Streamlabs has always been a separate project. It also offers premium services on top of its free core app, so you could argue that Streamlabs was partially fueling its business based on OBS's popularity.

After offering free mental health exercises at the beginning of the pandemic, Headspace has announced that it's opening up its service for free to a particularly vulnerable group for mental stressors: teens. The company's new Headspace for Teens initiative is fairly straightforward: Kids between 13 and 18 will be able to access a selection of exercises — including things to help you reduce stress, focus on being mindful and sleep better — at no charge. The only requirement is that they sign up to be members of the youth-focused non-profits Bring Change to Mind or Peer Health Exchange. Headspace says it also plans to extend the free offering throughout the world as it partners with more non-profits.

“Through our research, we see that teens today are under a great deal of stress and experience high levels of anxiety due to the demands of school, their jobs, extracurriculars, social life, and a general uncertainty about their futures,” Alice Nathoo, Head of Social Impact at Headspace, said in a statement. “Even though many teens have an awareness of and vocabulary for mental health issues, this doesn't always translate to action."

Headspace for Teens follows a similar program focused on bringing mental health support to educators. To reach a more general audience, the company also created three shows for Netflix, including an interactive entry similar to Black Mirror: Bandersnatch.

Given just how anxiety-inducing the world can be these days, it makes sense for Headspace to give people a taste of the benefits from meditation, de-stressing and solid sleep habits. It's no replacement for a therapist — as we've explored in our guide to finding at-home mental health support during the pandemic — but Headspace's offerings still have the potential to help many people.

Every month, Engadget features what our editors are currently into, whether it be video games, podcasts or gadgets. These are not official reviews; they’re simply our first-hand experiences. This week, Senior Editor Devindra Hardawar dives into Yale’s Assure smart lock.

What if you could go through life without worrying about carrying your keys and potentially being locked out of the house? That's something I've always dreamed of, but it wasn't possible when I was renting in Brooklyn. These days, though, I've got a bit more freedom in my own home outside of Atlanta. And now that my wife and I are also responsible for a precocious three-year-old, we figured it was a good time to move away from the tyranny of house keys. The last thing we need is to be locked out during a potty emergency.

You've got a few different options: electronic locks with key pads or biometrics, or smart ones that can be controlled via apps. Initially, we were turned off by the latter. Given just how finicky connected devices are plus the potential for remote hacking, app-controlled locks just didn't seem worth the trouble. So we opted for a well-rated electronic lock with a touchscreen pin pad: Yale's Assure Lock. It's a sturdy Grade 2 deadbolt with a key slot, which is helpful if the battery runs out. It also has an upgrade port for turning it into an August smart lock down the line. (Spoiler: that turned out to be very useful.)

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Installing the Assure Lock on our front door entailed the same process as any other deadbolt. We removed the old lock, installed the included strike plate and took care to make sure the Assure aligned with our door frame properly. It took a bit of fiddling, but eventually my wife was able to wiggle it into place. (And here's where I'll admit that my role in this installation process came mostly in the form of cheerleading, instruction-reading and drink-fetching. I'm the tech guy; my wife enjoys getting her hands dirty with house projects whenever possible.)

Setting up our PIN was a bit more cumbersome, since it involved following very specific instructions from Yale. It's not tough, but it's not exactly intuitive either. I immediately dreaded having to repeat that process whenever we need to set up guest codes. Once we had everything configured, the Assure Lock worked like a charm. I could run to the park with my daughter without fretting about keys, and punching in numbers was simple enough that she was eager to help out. (Gotta get that math training in whenever possible, right?)

While the Assure’s design didn’t bother me much, it’s definitely larger than most deadbolt facades. It practically announces itself as a high tech gadget. Partially, that’s because it still has room for a traditional key. Yale’s Assure Lock SL omits that entirely, and is therefore more compact. So if your aesthetics don’t align with mine, don’t worry, you have options.

Even though the Assure worked well as a keypad lock, I still couldn't help but feel the pull towards something smarter. I wanted an easier way to open our front door remotely while we were playing in the backyard. And I realized it'd be useful to know if the lock was open or not from my phone, something that would come in handy whenever we had a cat sitter visiting while we were away. So within a week, we installed Yale's smart lock upgrade kit and never looked back.

We still use the Assure's keypad most of the time, but it's been genuinely helpful having a bit more connectivity. Now I can easily change guest codes on the fly, and being able to confirm it's closed remotely is a much needed balm for my anxious dad brain. We've avoided activating Alexa integration — voice control seems like an unnecessary security risk — and we haven't yet connected the Assure to our HomeKit setup. Once we do, though, we’ll be able to see the Yale Lock alongside our Arlo cameras on a single screen.

Devindra Hardawar/Engadget

Despite living the smart lock life, I can understand why many people still find them untrustworthy. If there's one thing I've learned about smart home tech over the years, it's that it can all be pretty dumb at times. Security flaws may pop up, the connectivity may fail. But when it comes to security, I'm not too worried about someone trying to hack into my home. 

But even if you don't want a connected lock, it's still worth upgrading to an electronic lock with a keypad. After loving the convenience of the Yale Assure so much, we added a simpler model to a rear door, which was a huge help while doing yardwork. Just think about the last time you were locked out. Or, if you've somehow been blessed never to experience that, imagine how annoying being locked out in the cold can be. Maybe it happens at the end of a long day, or at a point when you just really need to use the bathroom. If you had an electronic lock, you'd be inside your home already.

There's plenty new in iPadOS 15, but it also features an under-sung accessibility upgrade: support for third-party eye-tracking devices. That'll allow people with disabilities to use iPad apps and speech generation software simply through eye movements — no touchscreen interaction required. Tobii Dynavox, the assistive tech division of the eye-tracking company Tobii, worked with Apple for years to help make that happen. And now, the firm is ready to announce TD Pilot, a device that aims to bring the iPad experience to the estimated 50 million people globally who need communication assistance.

The TD Pilot is basically a super-powered frame for Apple's tablets: It can fit in something as big as the iPad Pro 12.9-inch, and it also packs in large speakers, an extended battery and a wheelchair mount. It's thankfully water and dust-resistant, so it'll survive time in a rainstorm or even a user's shower. There's also a secondary "Partner Window" on the back that spells out what a TD Pilot user is saying, which aims to make conversation feel more natural. Most importantly, though, it features Tobii Dynavox's latest eye-tracking sensor, which is powerful enough to work in bright sunlight.

This isn't exactly new territory for the company: It's been producing popular Windows-powered assistive devices for years. But, as CEO Fredrik Ruben tells Engadget, TD Pilot gives users with disabilities the same sort of flexibility that the non-disabled have. Some may not need the full power of a Windows PC, or maybe they'd just rather deal with the simpler interface on an iPad. TD Pilot users will also be able use eye tracking to play some iPadOS games—so long as they don't require extremely rapid movement.

While Tobii Dynavox is the current market leader in eye-tracking solutions, a smaller company ended up delivering iPad support first. Inclusive Technology's Skyle launched last year, and it allows for gaze control by tapping into the iPad's Assistive Touch feature. That was originally meant for mice and other input devices. Consequently, Ruben claims that technique is more like emulated tracking, since it involves staring at a cursor to move it around. Still, a short review from the YouTube channel Products for pALS was pretty favorable (and also had some less kind things to say about Tobii Dynavox's dated software).

Skyle's $2,995 price may also be another advantage if your insurance doesn't cover TD Pilot. Ruben tells us that Tobii Dynavox has around 400 insurance contracts already, and its devices are already covered by Medicare and Medicaid. Without insurance, though, the total cost of the TD Pilot could run up to $10,000, not including the cost of the iPad. Part of that cost would also go towards getting the device set up, as well as paying for Tobii Dynavox's software.

Tobii Dynavox

When I tried out Tobii's eye-tracking technology in VR a few years ago, it felt like a superpower. I could hit a far-off target with a rock simply by focusing on it. It's not hard to see how useful that technology could be with an iPad for users with disabilities. Last year, we said that assistive technology still had a long way to go, despite a bit of progress from companies like Microsoft and Google. So, at the least, it's heartening to see another solution pop up—especially one that forced Apple to open up its restrictive ecosystem in the name of accessibility.

Here's one thing we know for sure about Obi-Wan Kenobi: we'll finally see another showdown with Darth Vader. We got our first glimpse at the series during Disney+ Day, the streaming network's extended birthday celebration. While there's no actual footage from Obi-Wan available, a behind-the-scenes clip streaming through the app and concept art reveals some familiar and new territory for the franchise. Ewan McGregor confirms the show will start off with Obi-Wan trying to keep Luke Skywalker safe — as you'd expect — but that's just the launching point for a whole series of new adventures, according to director Deborah Chow.

Lucas Film/Disney

Disney previously revealed that Hayden Christensen would be returning to play Darth Vader, and judging from the concept art (and some training footage), he'll definitely be ready to throw down once again. (The live-action footage in today's promo is just some clever editing from the previous Star Wars films.) Given the relatively tepid response to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, it makes sense for Disney to lean more on TV productions, like The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett,, where it can explore new aspects of the franchise.

Perhaps not as hotly anticipated, there's also some footage from Baymax!, a show dedicated to the lovable healthcare robot from Big Hero 6. It's the second series for the franchise — following the sequel show that ran for three seasons — and from the looks of it, there'll be more focus on comedy than superhero antics. But really, it's not like we're lacking in super-powered action these days.

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Baymax! will hit Disney+ sometime in 2022.    

It’s that time of the year again: Figuring out all of the best gifts to buy from our Holiday Gift Guide. This week, Commerce Editor Valentina Palladino joins Cherlynn and Devindra to chat about our latest batch of product suggestions, as well as some tips on snagging deals ahead of Black Friday. Also, they chat about Microsoft’s intriguing new $249 Surface Laptop SE, a low-spec, kid-focused notebook for schools. And Devindra chats with Ethan Zuckerman, a UMASS Amherst professor and technology researcher, about Facebook/Meta’s vision of the metaverse and ways we can combat corporate control of the internet. (Check out Ethan’s article at The Atlantic: Hey Facebook, I Built a Metaverse 27 Years Ago.)

Listen below, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!

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Topics

• Microsoft goes after Chromebooks with the $249 Surface Laptop SE – 1:50

• Holiday Gift Guide with Commerce Editor Valentina Palladino – 17:06

• Google Project Relate brings voice recognition to people with speech impairments – 36:12

• Peloton is making a $495 smart camera to detect your workout form – 42:11

• Twitter Blue expands Twitter functionality for $3 a month – 46:16

• Apple will make it easier to replace an iPhone 13 screen without breaking FaceID – 52:45

• Roombas are about to get much smarter Alexa voice commands – 54:47

• Peter Jackson sells most of WETA to Unity – 55:55

• Pop Culture Picks – 58:36

• Metaverse interview with Ethan Zuckerman – 1:07:26

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Credits
Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar
Guest: Valentina Palladino
Producer: Ben Ellman
Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos,Luke Brooks
Graphics artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack
Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien

Congress is making its biggest push ever to stop drunk driving with President Biden's huge infrastructure bill. As we previously reported, one of the provisions included a mandate for anti-drunk driving technology in new cars. Now, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act has passed Congress with the measure intact, Autoblog (AP) reports, and it's expected to be signed by the President soon. As part of the legislation, carmakers will have to include technology to detect and stop drunk drivers by as early as 2026.

First, though, the Department of Transportation will have to determine the best solution to curtail intoxicated drunk driving. Specifically, the bill requires something that will “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.” That sounds similar to infrared camera solutions already used today by GM, Nissan and others, Sam Abuelsamid, principal mobility analyst for Guidehouse Insights, tells the AP. It goes without saying that we'd need something more advanced than breathalyzers, which are already used as a punishment for convicted drunken drivers.

Around 10,000 people die every year in the US from drunk driving accidents, the NHTSA says. Now that we have smarter sensors and plenty of camera technology to monitor driver behavior, it makes sense to explore solutions that could help prevent those sorts of accidents. Within a decade, it should feel as commonplace as seatbelts. 

The infrastructure bill also includes other safety measures, like rear seat reminders that could notify parents about children left in carseats. Additionally, Congress will also require automatic emergency braking and lane departure warnings, features that many new cars already offer. It's unclear when true self-driving cars will be a reality, but until then, at least human drivers can look forward to more ways to prevent accidents. 

Roomba owners have been able to control their vacuums with Alexa voice commands since 2017, but that experience is pretty basic. You can tell your robot vacuum to start and stop cleaning, or to set up a schedule, but the entire interaction is, well, robotic. That changes today with iRobot's latest Alexa Skill, which taps into the company's Genius software platform to deliver smarter and more conversational voice commands.

You'll be able to tell Wi-Fi connected Roombas to clean around specific objects, and you can schedule cleaning jobs without sounding like you're inputting a computer program. As iRobot CEO Colin Angle tells us, the Alexa Skill is one of the most complex ever created. You can even tie a bunch of commands together, even across iRobots vacuums and Bravaa mop. For example, you can shout "Alexa, tell Roomba to clean my dining room every Sunday at 4PM and then run Bravaa."

Additionally, iRobot's devices will also be able to use Alexa speakers to send announcements about cleaning jobs. Sure, the company's app already sends you phone notifications, but it's easy to miss those if you're cleaning up the house while Roomba works. iRobot devices can also tap into Alexa's AI-driven Hunches to start cleaning jobs if it thinks you aren't home. (Hopefully, there'll be plenty of control about how exactly that feature works.)

According to Angle, iRobot has a fundamental belief that you're supposed to be able to talk to your robots, and "do so in a natural and sophisticated fashion." When Amazon was first developing Alexa, he says, one of the earliest concepts discussed was being able to use voice commands to control Roombas. Given iRobot's push towards making its device smarter — the latest Roomba has enough cameras and processing smarts to detect objects, even dog poop — it was only a matter of time until it focused more on voice support.

While iRobot's software platform taps into the maps Roombas create around your floorplans, Angle says the company isn't sharing any data with Amazon. Similarly, he claims iRobot isn't learning anything from Amazon either. Still, the two companies had to work together to ensure that a complex string of voice commands could work properly with Alexa. And looking ahead, iRobot plans to add even more features, like the ability to set a Do Not Disturb time for cleaning jobs.

It'll be interesting to see how much Roomba customers will actually want to talk with their robots. I've used the company's original Alexa skill since it launched, but I still end up starting cleaning jobs from my phone most of the time. I'm also hoping we'll eventually see these voice smarts on platforms other than Amazon's. Angle says the company is working with Google about optimizing its Home skill, but Apple hasn't been as receptive (at least you can get some Siri support with IFTTT).

For years, Microsoft has pushed cheap Windows laptops as the ideal school computers. They can do everything a comparable Chromebook can, while also running traditional Windows software. But now, Microsoft is finally ready to jump into the affordable, kid-friendly PC fray with the $249 Surface Laptop SE. It's one of the first PCs to run Windows 11 SE, a stripped down OS that's targeted at K-8 students (and their beleaguered teachers). You can also expect to see Windows 11 SE devices are coming from Dell, HP, Acer and ASUS, among other PC makers.

Microsoft hasn't had the best luck with Windows variants over the years: Windows 10 S was a limp attempt at delivering a simpler experience for the original Surface Laptop, while the dual-screen focused Windows 10X was eventually cancelled. (Windows 11 basically rose from the ashes of Windows 10 X.) But according to Aaron Woodman, Microsoft's General Manager of Windows, this latest OS is more focused on solving a specific problem: How can Microsoft create the ideal OS experience for students and teachers?

Microsoft

Windows 11 SE attempts to do that by focusing on simplicity. There's no Microsoft Store for installing apps (though IT departments can deploy whatever Win32 and Universal apps they'd like). It's optimized to run on slower hardware. And Microsoft even stripped down the window snapping options by only allowing apps to be on the left or right side of the screen. One of the best parts of Windows 11 is the easy way you can easily shove an app to different corners of your screen, but that's probably too complicated for elementary school-aged kids running notebooks with small screens.

The Surface Laptop SE is similarly basic by design. It's a plastic-shelled notebook that vaguely resembles the Surface Laptop line, especially the previous cheap entry, the $549 Surface Laptop Go. It has an 11.6-inch TFT LCD screen with a 1,366 by 768 resolution — a step above 720p, but below the Laptop Go's sub-1080p display. And don't expect any powerful gear under the hood, as the Surface Laptop SE is limited to dual-core Celeron chips (either the N4020 or N4120), and either 4GB or 8GB of RAM. For storage, there's a choice between 64GB or 128GB eMMC cards.

But really, what else do you expect for a starting price of $249? What's more intriguing about the Surface Laptop SE are the more premium elements that still managed to find their way in. Microsoft brought over the Surface Laptop Go's excellent keyboard and trackpad, as well as its easy-opening lid, Woodman tells us. The Laptop SE also sports a 720p webcam, which is sharper than what we see on most similarly-priced notebooks. And, judging from a brief Teams video chat I had with Dave Alles, General Manager of Surface Laptop SE, its camera and microphone quality are shockingly solid too. (It was easily better than $1,200 laptops I've reviewed.)

Microsoft

For the most part, the Surface Laptop SE appears to be more than enough for a typical grade-school kid. It weighs 2.45 pounds, so it shouldn't be too tough to lug around in tiny backpacks. And its onboard storage, however meager, should be enough to work on Microsoft Office projects offline. Woodman says Microsoft had students without reliable internet access in mind when designing the Laptop SE. They could download assignments at school, work on them at home, and have their work automatically synchronized when they're back in class.

IT departments would likely appreciate the easily accessible screws on the bottom, making it simple to open up and repair notebooks on-site. The Laptop SE's low price should also make it easier for schools to acquire enough units for every student, instead of sharing a handful of PCs in class.

Microsoft

I'm curious to see how well Windows 11 SE performs on the Laptop SE's slow hardware. And a part of me wonders if giving kids a more limited version of Windows will hurt their ability to tinker with PCs when they're older. But as a former IT support jockey, the Surface Laptop SE appears to be the cheap notebook I've always wanted grade-school students to have. Sure, it's not as flexible as the $400 Surface Go 3, but for basic coursework that won't matter too much. And while I liked the Surface Laptop Go, it starts at $549—so schools could buy two Laptop SEs for around the same price. 

At this point, Microsoft is only planning to sell the Laptop SE to schools through education resellers later this year. Normal consumers and businesses won't be able to order them at all. But if it's wildly successful, I wouldn't be surprised if Microsoft finds some way to bring this cheap computer to the masses.