Microsoft’s cheap Windows 365 Link is a cloud-centric mini PC without any local data or local apps.
Microsoft’s head is in the clouds. Not only is it promoting Game Pass as the premiere way to play Xbox without actually buying an Xbox, but the Redmond, Washington tech giant’s new plan for Windows is a $350 mini PC called Windows 365 Link that doesn’t have the company’s mainline OS installed on it. Instead, you’re meant to stream Windows through the cloud and, ostensibly, stick with all of Microsoft’s productivity apps and its poor, forgotten Edge browser.
Microsoft showed off its upcoming mini PC product during its 2024 Ignite conference. We’re amid mini PC fever with Apple’s small-yet-powerful M4 Mac mini. Unlike Apple’s $600 5-by-5-inch computer, the $350 Windows 365 Link has a “fanless, weightless” design meant to boot as quickly as a Chromebook. Like a Chromebook, the mini PC isn’t meant to do much heavy lifting on the user end; instead, it pushes all the OS operations to the cloud. The device is supposed to be released in April next year.
The mini not-PC can support up to two 4K monitors simultaneously and run Microsoft Teams of Webex on-device, but the rest isn’t being processed on-device. This means the end user won’t be able to turn off any security features. The Windows maker said the device will support passwordless entry with its Entra biometric ID system. Microsoft would have offices flooded with cheap Windows 365 Link systems.
