Intel has developed ultra-low-cost
laptops for school children in developing countries. The so called "ClassMatePC" is available in Linux or
Windows XP versions.
According to the company these laptops are part of a project where the company has planned to spend $1 billion in the next 5 years.
The laptops are equipped with Intel
Mobile Celeron Processor with a 900MHz and 400MHz Front Side Bus (FSB) and zero L2 cache
memory . The
PC has a flash storage device rather than a traditional
hard drive disk. It also has 256 MB of RAM.
The machine has two-channel audio, with built-in speakers and mike, and an external audio out/mike, plus 802.11b/g wireless
LAN, and a
touchpad with left and right buttons.
The system measures 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.7 inches and weighs 1.3kgs. It has a 7-inch WVGA (800 x 480) LCD module attached via Low-Voltage, Differential Signal (LVDS) interface, and is illuminated by an LED backlight.
The PC has a solid six-cell battery with an adapter that lasts for four hours.
As far as the
software package is concerned, the company provides an "integrated educational feature set" that is believed to elevate teacher-student and teacher-parent collaboration. The system will include Mandriva Discovery 2007 or Metasys Classmate 2.0. Additional software may include OpenOffice, Pegasus Note Taker (by Intel), and other teacher and parental control programs. However, the system may come with Microsoft Office.
It is believed that the
PCs will be shipped in large volumes to countries like Chile,
China,
India, Indonesia, Libya,
Malaysia,
Nigeria,
Pakistan, Philippines,
Thailand,
Turkey and
Vietnam . The system will support nine languages during its first year of production. These are - English, Arabic, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai and Turkish.