We’ve talked a few weeks ago about the XO-3, the plans for a new generation OLPC laptop and now it’s time to bring into discussion another educational project, the Classmate PC series from Intel, which will come soon with upgraded hardware, the new generation of Intel Atom CPU on Pine Tail platform. This means an increase in performance from 1.66 GHz to 1.83 GHz and a slightly lower power consumption which will turn up battery life.

    Intel also said they intend to lower the size of the convertible netbook but without affecting ruggedness as the Classmate is intended for use in under developed countries where a rugged device has better chance of surviving. Also as technology has evolved in past years, new connectivity options are now available and will be included with the Classmate: Wireless, 3G and WIMAX. New screen sizes (bigger) are also in development. What intrigues me is that Intel said it will also include graphic chips capable of 720p HD video decoding. Why do small children HD videos? Shouldn’t they learn in school.

    According to Intel, Argentina already ordered 250.000 Classmates and Brazil, Turkey did that too. Other models from the Classmate seris will be distributed by the United Nations in 1500 schools from 24 countries.

    Classmate convertible netbook

    Classmate convertible netbook

    Source: PCWorld