Intel Introduces Second Generation of Classmate PCs

You'll recall that Intel pulled out of the OLPC program in January, basically over conflicts regarding Intel's Classmate PC. Well, Thursday at IDF, Intel unveiled the second generation Classmate PC and, although looks aren't everything, it continues to pwn the OLPC in terms of looks. At the same time Intel issued a press release regarding the announcement, which occurred during a keynote by Andrew Chien, Intel vice president, Corporate Technology Group and director of Intel Research.

The second-generation classmate PCs are built on Intel Celeron M processor with 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and mesh network capabilities. The top range of these netbooks includes a 9-inch LCD screen, 6-cell battery life, 512 MB memory, a 30 GB HDD (hard disk drive) storage and an integrated webcam. An Intel powered classmate PC supports Microsoft Windows XP and variants of the Linux operating environment. When pre-installed with the education software stack, these netbooks are ideal for classroom-learning environment. Software and content will be available in more than eight languages.

Chien also said future Intel-powered classmate PCs will be built with the Intel Atom processor. It is an energy-efficient, low-cost computer chip designed to provide wireless capability to small mobile computing devices such as netbooks.

As you may know, when Intel announced the Atom CPUs, it coined the term "netbook" for PCs in this type of format.

Don't forget also, that the second-gen Classmate is going to be rebranded and sold in the U.S. by CTL as the 2GoPC, with shipments beginning in mid-May, according to the FAQ on CTL's site.

I'm happy to see a more sizable hard drive in the second-generation Classmates, as opposed to the 2GB SSD drive of the first version, despite the power consumption, noise, etc. tradeoffs. However, while given a larger 9" screen, the new Classmates still have the 800 x 480 screen resolution; I really wish they would have upped that.