By Tom Warren
Publication Date: 2026-04-15 18:03:00
Apple’s $599 MacBook Neo ($499 for students) has sent shockwaves through the PC ecosystem, and now Microsoft is responding with deals targeting students in the US. A new “Microsoft College Offer” is launching today, which will see the software giant bundle 12 months of free Microsoft 365 Premium and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with select Windows 11 PCs that have also been discounted.
Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo are all participating in this Microsoft College Offer, and Microsoft is even discounting some Surface devices days after hiking the prices of its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop models. Best Buy is selling a 15.3-inch Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x for $499.99, with 16GB of RAM, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processor, and 256GB of storage. Walmart has HP’s 16-inch OmniBook 3 for $429, with a similar configuration. Amazon, Dell, HP, and Microsoft’s online store will also have similar deals.
Students will also get a free Xbox controller through Xbox Design Lab, but the bundle of…