Chromebooks continue to dominate the education market, in part because of their relatively low asking prices and because keyboards are still very useful. Knowing this, Microsoft still decided to take a chance at that market with the Surface 3, as revealed through its Surface blog.
Already offering a 10 percent discount to schools interested in the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft will extend the same discount for the Surface 3, Type Cover, and Surface Pen. In addition, there will be a special education model of the Surface 3, which will include 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. By comparison, the base $500 model of the Surface 3 also includes 2GB of RAM, but has double the storage.
Schools in the U.K., Australia, and the U.S. have already committed to buying and deploying the Surface 3. We have Broadclyst Primary School, Shireland Collegiate Academy, and Wymondham High Academy in the U.K., the ROC of Amsterdam, the Ministry of Education Luxembourg, and Hillcrest Christian College in Australia In the U.S., the University of Phoenix and two school districts — Chino Valley Unified School District and Sarasota County School District — have signed on.
It looks to be somewhat of an uphill battle for Microsoft, though the company seems committed to catering to the education market. Chromebooks don’t seem to be slowing down when it comes to schools, but the aforementioned list of schools and school districts should grow as time goes by.
If you’re not a school and you’re interested in the Surface 3 for yourself, you can pick one up starting on May 5. As previously mentioned, the 2GB of RAM, 32GB storage model will be available for $500. There will also be a variant with twice the RAM and storage for $600. Getting the Type Cover and Surface Pen will balloon the prices by $130 and $50, respectively.
