It’s still technically a netbook, but this new Classmate PC keeps up with the times with a touchscreen for ease-of-use. Like the rest of the Classmate PC line that Intel has helped develop for kids, it’s also pretty rugged to survive accidental drops and upturned juice boxes. It’s no Fisher-Price toy despite the made-for-kids design though. In fact, this kit is more likely to be better than your old netbook.
The system features Intel’s new 1.66GHz Atom N450 processor, 1GB of memory, and a 160GB hard drive—enough to probably match up with the netbook that you’d normally buy last year, but faster thanks to the updated processor.
The rest of the build should probably trump last year’s standards too, with a twisting 10.1-inch touchscreen that folds down to turn it into a touchscreen slate, a 1.3MP webcam, an anti-bacterial keyboard, and a Windows XP OS modified with Intel’s Blue Dolphin interface to make it kid-friendly.
Prices start at $499, but if you’re looking to own one without the kiddie interface, there’s a made-for-everyone-else version that replaces the XP operating system with Windows 7 Professional for $599.
Tags: Classmate PC, Intel, Netbooks, Tablets
