Little computers for little people, Intel has come out with their next generation Classmate PC. We have to say its a serious upgrade to their first generation, which I’ve had to leave in Taipei City. Actually, every time Intel sends me a review sample I seem to heading out of town, I can’t wait for their 4th generation!! So you’re going to have to wait for the side by side showing off exactly what has been upgraded, with out using video the biggest upgrade is size & software. Its 1″ bigger but this inch and makes all the difference as it gives the machine a 90% full size keyboard. Also the software pack seems much more user friendly & there are hard keys on the screen to help you use it more efficiently as an e Reader.
The Classmate PC has a Atom N450 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD and is a convertible tablet. It offers eReading applications, water-resistant keyboard, touchpad and screen, improved ruggedness with drop test from desk height, bump and scratch resistance surfaces and structures, and an optional anti-microbial keyboard. In tablet mode, the “palm rejection” feature ignores the touch of hands resting on the screen, allowing students to write and draw intuitively. If the unit comes stocked with the 6 cell battery you’re looking at 8.5 hours of battery life with WiFi and provides the options of 3G, GPS & WiMAX.
Netbook News is going to be launching a series of videos over the next few weeks focused on education for kids. We’ve had two of the previous generation Classmate PCs at an English School here in Taiwan, The English House. We have decied to focus on a school that teaches English as they are an integrated part of life in most Asian countries. Paired with traditional education the English School is charged with drawing students out of their shell and getting them to talk. Most schools out there, especially once that teach english don’t have huge budgets for computers, but they do want to use them to teach their kids.
We’ve interviewed the kids as well as Scott McIntosh director of The English House to learn about how they integrated 2 units into their school of around 60 students. Having always had a very progressive attitude towards technology, even have a online learning section on their website, they were eager to incorporate these rugged machines into their classroom. To find out more, you’ll have to stay tuned over the next few weeks. For now you’ll have to be satisfied with my hands on video of the latest Classmate PC and tomorrow my review of the software.
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