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. So, I don’t hope you can watch YouTube and work from your PC simultaneously.
“The device will not have any local data, local apps, or admin-less users, and corporate data will stay protected within the Microsoft Cloud,” Microsoft said.
The device will only have a “small Windows-based OS footprint with minimal applicable configuration policies.” This means that most Windows programs will be processed in a data center and streamed to the link over the internet. Microsoft has been going on about Cloud PCs since 2021, but this is the first time consumers can get it all in a little box. The device is meant to be so idiot-proof that it automatically downloads updates in the background. It’s enough to hopefully offer companies’ IT workers a break from constant “should I update” questions.
Documents from Microsoft’s $69 billion Activision Blizzard buyout show that Microsoft has been planning to promote Windows 365 services in a cloud-based format. Users could already stream 365 services to non-PC devices through Windows Boot.
Microsoft admitted that previous attempts at boosting cloud-based Windows weren’t foolproof. In a blog post, Microsoft’s Anthony “A.J.” Smith wrote users “can face complex sign-in processes, peripheral incompatibility, and latency issues” when using non-Windows devices as pseudo-PCs. The Link’s barebones on-device software is only there to launch users directly into the cloud.
What’s more, the 365 Link is a closed ecosystem. Microsoft VP of OS security David Weston told The Verge to think of it like “Xbox or phone.” It’s not running win32, and everything that does run is “signed by Microsoft, and it’s isolated in sandboxes.” That may be a nice thing for security, but not for anybody hoping to take their cloud PC beyond the most rudimentary use of Windows.
The port selection includes a single USB-C, three USB-A, one DisplayPort, one HDMI, and ethernet. For connectivity, it will support WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. It all seems rather standard. By comparison, the Mac mini includes two USB-Cs in front and three in the back (either Thunderbolt 4 or 5, depending on whether you pay more for the M4 Pro chip).
It’s a business-end device, so cloud PCs probably won’t have all the juice you would find on a dedicated gaming PC or even the GPU power of today’s laptops. I don’t have much use for it, but that’s not the point. Microsoft would much rather have legions dedicated to its own OS and the onboard Windows 365 services. That’s why the company behind the world’s most popular desktop OS keeps dropping ads for apps like OneDrive in Windows 11.
The 365 Link also wants you to ignore other mini PCs with fair specs that sport Windows 11 in full and cost around the same. Sure, this device might be sold in bulk for offices, but what you inevitably give up with cloud-only platforms is versatility. Eventually, people want to feel like they own the thing they use rather than renting it over the internet.
