This post was written by Maureen Jones
Intel will show off its next-generation Classmate laptop, which includes a touch screen and new features that make it easier for students to use, next month. The new Convertible Classmate is a tablet PC, with a touch screen that swivels to make data input easier. Intel will show prototypes of the laptop at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) to be held in Las Vegas between Jan. 8 and 11. Intel bills the Classmate as an educational laptop for kids in developing countries, but it will also be available in the general market.
HCL Infosystems Ltd. launched the HCL “Leaptop Series 39”. Designed for Indian conditions, where the ambient temperatures are higher and the surface temperature of laptops tend to become uncomfortable, the HCL Leaptop Series 39 is designed to achieve a lower temperature differential of below 6 degrees on its palm rest surfaces. With excellent thermals and meeting the Energy star 4.0 compliance standard, the product starts at a price range of Rs. 39990/-. The HCL Leaptop Series 39 is based on Intel’s Centrino & Centrino2 Processor technology and comes in both Microsoft and Linux versions.
Intel Corporation has signed its biggest low-cost laptop deal with the Portuguese government to provide elementary school students with 500,000 computers. The designs of these computers will be based on the company’s Classmate PC design. The deal strengthens Intel’s competition with the One Laptop Per Child nonprofit organization in the race to market low-cost laptops for schoolchildren, mostly in the developing countries. Intel’s Classmate PC and OLPC’s XO are among a growing field of small, cheap computers aimed at ensuring that students have access to technology and the Internet.