Microsoft (MSFT) Releases Surface Laptop Go 2 Starting at $599
Microsoft MSFT recently launched Surface Laptop Go 2 in the United States, the first revision to its entry-level budget laptop. The latest addition is available on the Microsoft Store and Best Buy and it will start shipping from Jun 7, 2022.
The new Surface Laptop Go 2 ships with Windows 11, which Microsoft released last year. The initial model came with Windows 10 in S mode. The base model of Surface Laptop Go 2 comes with a 128GB solid-state drive, rather than 64GB like the last one.
The Surface Laptop Go 2 with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is available at $599.99. Another model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is available at $699.99. The top variant with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage will be available for $1099.99.
Microsoft Corporation Price and Consensus
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Improved Features in Surface Devices to Boost Competitive Position
The latest device is powered by Intel’s INTC 11th-gen Core i5 processor with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage that is further expandable. It sports a 12.4-inch PixelSense touch display with a 3:2 aspect ratio that offers a screen resolution of 1536×1024 pixels, along with an improved HD camera and dual Studio Mics.
Surface Laptop Go 2 provides 30% more key travel than MacBook Air and weighs 2.48 pounds. Surface Laptop Go 2 is equipped with a lithium-ion battery that lasts for about 13.5 hours. The laptop comes with a USB Type C port and a regular USB port to connect external devices. Microsoft continues to use its standard Surface Connect port for charging this device.
We believe that the latest device, which is comparatively low-priced against Surface Book (starts at $1,499) and Surface Laptop (starts at $999) will attract more users that will eventually improve Microsoft’s top-line growth going forward.
However, intensifying competition from lower-priced products developed by Samsung, Huawei and Lenovo LNVGY and expensive ones from the likes of Apple AAPL will continue to impact market share, which is a major concern going forward.
Walmart is currently selling a Lenovo convertible laptop for $279 with $260 off the MSRP. The device has a Core i3 processor and 128GB of storage.
Apple is benefiting from the growing demand for the all-new Mac Studio, which is a high-performance desktop system with a reimagined compact design consuming up to 1,000 kilowatt-hours less energy than that of a high-end PC desktop over the course of 12 months. The newly released desktop helps clients render massive 3D environments and playback 18 streams of ProRes video with the M1 Ultra chip. It remains quiet even under the heaviest workloads.
Mac Studio features unified memory of up to 64 GB on M1 Max systems and up to 128 GB on M1 Ultra systems.
Microsoft is bringing new and improved Surface devices that could encourage enterprises to stick to Windows as they move toward bring-your-own-device (“BYOD”) and cloud computing. Microsoft’s advantages in this respect are two-fold.
First, the company has a very large installed base of Office users. Most legacy data are based on Office, so enterprises are usually reluctant to use other productivity solutions. Second, the BYOD model is dependent on security and cloud integration, both of which are Microsoft’s strengths. As a result, Microsoft has been largely successful in retaining enterprise customers.
In the recently concluded fiscal third-quarter 2022, Surface revenues were up 13% (up 18% at constant currency) year over year.
We also note that Microsoft has returned 10.8% over the past year against the S&P 500’s decline of 2.2%. We expect that the rejuvenation of the Surface product line along with an improving Office 365 subscriber base and strong growth prospect for Azure will help the stock maintain its upside in the rest of 2022.
At present, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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