Unboxing, First Impression and Review of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Unboxing, First Impression and Review of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Meet the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, the latest or should I say the 2021 version of the Surface Laptop. It looks very similar to the Surface Laptop 3 in design but has a massive internal upgrade. It comes with two processor types; an 11th generation (gen) Intel processor and a custom AMD Ryzen Surface edition processor. It is also designed in 13″ and 15′ models. Let’s take a look at the device designed and optimized for Microsoft experiences.

Introducing Microsoft Surface Laptop 4

Specifications

Surface Laptop 4 13.5” Surface Laptop 4 15”
weight1,265 g – 1,288 g1,542 g
Resolution2256 x 1504 (201 PPI)2496 x 1664 (201 PPI)
Memory8GB, 16GB or 32GB LPDDR4x RAM 8GB, 16GB or 32GB LPDDR4x RAM
ProcessorQuad Core 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1135G7 processor
AMD Ryzen™ 5 4680U Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Graphics Microsoft Surface® Edition (6 cores)
Quad Core 11th Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 processor
Quad Core 11th Intel® Core™ i7-1185G7 processor
AMD Ryzen™ 7 4980U Mobile Processor with Radeon™ Graphics Microsoft Surface® Edition (8 cores)
Storage256GB, 512GB, or 1TB256GB, 512GB, or 1TB
Ports1 x USB-C
1 x USB-A
3.5 mm headphone jack
1 x Surface Connect port
1 x USB-C
1 x USB-A
3.5 mm headphone jack
1 x Surface Connect port
Battery Life13.5″ with AMD Ryzen – 19 hrs
13.5″ with Intel – 17 hrs
15″ with AMD Ryzen – 17.5 hrs
15″ with Intel – 16.5 hrs

Unboxing and first Impressions with Judner Aura, UrAvgConsumer

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13″ and 15″ review with Tom, The Tech Chap

Surface Laptop 4 starts retailing at $999.99 and is available to order in select markets. It is expected to become available in other markets including South Africa and the UAE in the coming weeks.

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Here is a look inside the 500 acres Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington

Here is a look inside the 500 acres Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington

The Microsoft campus is located in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, Washington in the United States of America. It covers a land area size of over 500 acres. It has over 100 office buildings and a lake. As a city on its own, it has amenities such as a shopping mall, sports fields and a transport system. All to make the working life of its employees easy and amazing.

Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington

Interesting things at the Microsoft Headquarters:

There is a hallway where high-fives are mandatory.
There is no building 7.
Microsoft visitor centre or building 92, takes you on a journey through the past, present and future of the company. It is also an experiential centre just like any Microsoft store and you can see and have a hands-on with Microsoft products.
Over 50,000 employees work across the campus.

Take a tour inside the massive Microsoft campus

Microsoft is currently building modern workspaces that are ecologically and environmentally friendly. It is modernizing the workplace to enhance productivity and collaboration, the employee experience and support its cultural transformation with these spaces. Microsoft plans to be carbon negative by 2030.

Check out its plan for a modernized Redmond campus of the future.

Ever been to the Microsoft campus in Redmond or any other campus? Tell us what you saw or think. Also, check out Microsoft’s futuristic Israel campus.

Check out what’s new on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to follow for the latest videos in the ecosystem.

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Microsoft brings three new Azure Specialization courses to Coursera

Microsoft brings three new Azure Specialization courses to Coursera

Coursera is collaborating with Microsoft to bring opportunities for skilling in Azure to its 80 million learners. The partnership will see Coursera offer three Microsoft Azure Specialization courses on its platform.

Launching immediately is Azure Fundamentals which gives learners a foundational understanding of Azure cloud services. It also gives basic knowledge to build cloud solutions and helps prepare for the AZ-900 exam certification. This will be followed with Azure AI Fundamentals and Azure Data Fundamentals courses in May.

The AI Fundamentals will teach learners about artificial intelligence (AI) topics, like machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and conversational AI. While Data Fundamentals will dive deep into the roles and tasks involved in using Azure to store, process, manage and analyze data.

Leaners who complete and pass all courses in a specialization will receive a voucher for 50% off the certification exams. Microsoft is offering scholarships to 600 eligible Women in Cloud members to all three Specializations and their respective certifications.

Click to enroll and find out more on the Azure Specialization courses on Coursera.

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Here is what you should know about Microsoft Build 2021 May digital event

Here is what you should know about Microsoft Build 2021 May digital event

Microsoft Build 2021 digital event keynote

Registration for Microsoft Build 2021 is opened and it will be a completely free digital-only event. It will be in the form of a 48 hour long virtual interactive experience available across all the time zones. Microsoft’s developer-focused event will start from 3 PM GMT, 6 PM EAT, 5 PM SAT, May 25th to 27th 2021.

Like last year, Microsoft notes registration for Build is free but to get access to the full interactive content you’ll need to register. However, sessions covered on the hero video such as the keynotes will not require you to be registered. Event attendees will be able to customize 48 hours of continuous content to get their digital event experience. The event will have both live segments such as the keynotes, live technical sessions and Q&A. As well as already recorded content sessions.

Whether you are a student or an experienced app developer, you will gain action-ready skills specific to what you do through immersive experiences, engaging with community, and one-on-one guidance from Microsoft engineers.

To enjoy a total conference experience Microsoft advises you to register as most sessions will require you to sign in. Registration will give you the ability to schedule your viewing events or sessions. And to access the connection zone, one-to-one consultations with an expert, and other community and networking sessions.

Featured speakers for Build include Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, Amanda Silver, CVP Products, Developer tools, Donovan Brown, and Scott Guthrie EVP, Cloud and AI Group. Others speakers are Scott Hanselman, Kayla Cinnamon, Rajesh Jha, Kevin Scott, Anna Hoffman, Dona Sarkar, Christina Warren and more.

Click here to register and visit the Microsoft Build 2021 digital event page for more details.

Imagine Cup finals @ Microsoft Build 2021

Build 2021 will also host the finals of the 2021 Microsoft Imagine Cup World Championship. Where Team REWEBA from Kenya alongside three other teams across the globe will present and showcase their solutions for a chance to win the competition.

What to expect?

  • Keynotes: Headlines and announcements delivered by executives
  • Technical/Breakout Sessions: More in-depth coverage of keynote content
  • Ask the Experts: Sessions with experts in cloud, desktop, mobile, and web development for guidance specific to your project or interests. 
  • Humans of IT: Discover the intersection between humanity and tech through inspirational stories about humans who use tech for good.
  • Table TopicsGather the community for live discussion on camera, and in chat! Get inspired by community experts, learn best practices, and discover helpful resources with other attendees.
  • Local Connections: Opportunity to engage with attendees on a local level. Dedicated time for local leadership to deliver an experience to help attendees find developers and experts with similar interests within their region.
  • Student Activities: Content covers key topics to help you get started across a variety of Microsoft technologies, job roles, and interests.
  • Learn Live: Guided online with a subject matter expert to walk and talk through Microsoft Learn modules​.
  • Partner Sessions: Connect with Microsoft Partners in either an Ask the Expert or Table Topics session
  • Product Roundtables: Two-way discussions between product teams and customers
  • Cloud Skills Challenge: Complete preset collections of online learning modules for a chance to win prizes.
  • One-on-One Consultations: One-on-One Consultations will provide Microsoft Build attendees a unique opportunity to connect with a Microsoft professional to discuss specific questions and solutions. Sessions are 45 minutes long and provide the only one-on-one setting at the conference.

Like previous Microsoft Build events stay tuned and we will bring you the keynote livestream and announcements from the event.

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Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Wireless Headphones for Xbox, price and specs

Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Wireless Headphones for Xbox, price and specs

Beoplay Portal xbox headset bang

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal Wireless Headphones for Xbox is the first device of a new Xbox program dubbed the Designed for Xbox Limited Series program.

The program seeks to bring premium product quality and design as well as bespoke experiences to Xbox fans. It will also boast custom-made feature sets designed for Xbox, Microsoft says.

Devices produced for the program will be marked by a Designed for Xbox Limited Series badge on the lower right-hand corner of the packaging box.

Beoplay Portal headset specifications & price

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal wireless headphones for Xbox will be available in black anthracite, grey mist and navy brass colours. It will retail for USD$499 with the black anthracite available immediately in select markets. You can pre-order the other colours and they will be available in May. For those in the UK, it will be available on the 29th of April at £449.

The headphone is designed by Jakob Wagner in partnership with Bang & Olufsen’s design team. It is said to be extremely light in weight at 282 grams. It sports lambskin ear cushions with built-in jaw support, calfskin leather on the exterior and aluminium earcups.

The earcups have capacitive touch controls for easy access to volume and game/chat balance. Swipe up or down on the back of the earcup to adjust volume on the right and game/chat balance on the left. A quick double-tap mutes your microphone, and another brings you back to chat. When using Bluetooth, a quick adjustment in the app allows the left ear cup to control ANC and own-voice balance.

The Beoplay Portal supports up to 12 hours of playtime with Xbox wireless, Bluetooth and active noise cancelling. However, it supports up to 24 hours of playtime with Bluetooth and active noise cancelling. It comes with a pre-activated Dolby Atmos for Headphones service. It is compatible with Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, PC, and mobile devices.

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30 million learners participate in the free Microsoft digital skills initiative

30 million learners participate in the free Microsoft digital skills initiative

Over 30.7 million people across the globe have participated in the free Microsoft global digital skills initiative. The company says this sharing an update on the initiative’s progress nine months on.

An increase from the 10 million reached in September last year and surpasses the planned target of 25 million. It also sees the number of participating countries increased from 231 countries and territories to 249.

The United States, India, Brazil, United Kingdom, Mexico, Poland, France, Germany, Canada and Spain account for the to 10 countries with learners.

Microsoft says it is ready to launch the next phase of the project after learning from it. The next phase will see Microsoft help 250,000 companies make a skills-based hire in 2021.

The company announced the Global Skills initiative program at a time when the world was grappling with a pandemic that saw millions of lives affected globally. Microsoft gave people the opportunity to acquire in-demand digital skills across Microsoft Learn, LinkedIn, and GitHub learning platforms.

Among learners, popular courses have been for roles in software development, customer service and data analysts according to Microsoft.

Microsoft is extending the free LinkedIn Learning and Microsoft Learn courses and low-cost certifications that align to 10 of the most in-demand jobs offer through 2021.

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