Putting computers in classrooms is a noble cause, and one that’s so far been dominated by Intel’s Convertible Classmate PC design. Today, though, HP’s joining the fray with a tot-focused tote-able netbook of their own. More »
Intel’s refreshed Convertible Classmate PC’s never going to be your everyday laptop, but it’s more than equipped to be your kid’s. And it may be showing up in his or her school before you know it. More »
Intel’s Classmate 2 was never intended for manufacture by Intel; the PC was simply a reference design provided for OEMs. Well, the first one is here: meet the Computer Technology Link 2Go PC.
After playing with a prototype of Intel’s Convertible Classmate, it more or less confirmed what I had suspected: there are some neat ideas at play, but there’s a reason why it’s aimed at schools. galleryPost('intelclasstabhands', 3, '');
Laptop Mag scored a hands-on with a pre-production unit of the upcoming Intel Convertible Classmate. And they seemed to like it.
When I met with Nicholas Negroponte not long ago, he laughed at the coverage he’d received through the past few years, including our own portrayal of Intel chairman Craig Barrett and him as Beavis and Butthead. Far more hurtful have been the admonitions of his own former staffers who feel he has mismanaged the OLPC project. Nearly every one of the original staff had abandoned the project by 2008, often in disgust. But Negroponte remains stalwart: “My elephant skin is the thickness of steel,” he told me. Perhaps his resistance to criticism has been one of the project’s fatal flaws.
When news of the Classmate tablet broke yesterday, it was hard to know what to think. In terms of specs, the devices is a far sight better that the Classmate 2.0, but aside from the new tablet form factor, the diminutive netbook didn’t seem to include any truly innovative new features. During the Intel Developer Forum today I got to fold around with the new Classmate, and my suspicions were confirmed: barring a late-stage killer feature, this iteration of Intel’s OLPC killer will be sort of lame.
Brazilian blog Zumo unearthed these pics of the Classmate Tablet PC at IDF, but the touchscreen netbook apparently isn’t the Classmate 3.0. Zumo says this is a Classmate 2.0 in tablet form. The touchscreen netbook will have a 1.6 GHz Atom Processor, SSD, 8.9-inch screen, SD card slot, 2 USB Ports, and VGA out. Details, such as price and release date, were not announced. [Zumo via Engadget]
That mystery tablet PC that appeared at the end of Intel’s presentation at IDF last night is no classmate, or super-powered Speak&Spell either: It’s a Panasonic Toughbook-alike tablet. More specifically it’s a “Mobile Clinical Assistant” device, aimed at doctors and nurses who are under an increasing burden of digital data and imagery nowadays, though there’s not much more info available than that fact yet. Shucks… and there we were hoping for something a little more Classmate-y. [Ubergizmo]
